WILSON, Emily (trans.); Homer

The Odyssey [together with:] The Iliad

Two vols, 241 x 165mm; pp. [10], 582 and lxxv, [8, maps], [3], 761.

AN EXCEPTIONAL SET OF FIRST PRINTINGS OF THIS LANDMARK TRANSLATION OF HOMER, BOTH FLAT SIGNED TO THE TITLE PAGE BY EMILY WILSON.

The translation behind Christopher Nolan's epic film version of The Odyssey, here offered in a signed first printing, together with a similarly signed first printing of The Iliad. The first printing of The Odyssey in particular is scarce in its own right, and even more so signed. We also include a print-out of an email from Emily Wilson clarifying the publication details; this was obtained because (as Wilson relates) all first printings of The Odyssey bear the date 2018, in contrast to the official publication date, given by Norton as November 2017. The Iliad is a 2023 first printing. Both volumes have full number lines (0-9).

Writing in the Washington Post, Madeline Miller said of Wilson's translation: "It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered. Her Odyssey is a performance well-deserving of applause."

Anna North, in Vox, writes: "Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English, is as concerned with these surrounding characters as she is with Odysseus himself. Written in plain, contemporary language and released earlier this month to much fanfare, her translation lays bare some of the inequalities between characters that other translations have elided. It offers not just a new version of the poem, but a new way of thinking about it in the context of gender and power relationships today … It is a version of the Odyssey that lays bare the morals of its time and place, and invites us to consider how different they are from our own, and how similar."

And for Emily Higgins (Guardian), "Emily Wilson's crisp and musical version is a cultural landmark."

Speaking to Empire magazine, Christopher Nolan said "I think it’s the Emily Wilson translation that begins, 'Tell me about a complicated man'. The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me. He's not just a soldier. He's an amazing strategist, a very wily person."

Both volumes are in near fine condition, in like dust-jackets. We note only some very minor creasing to the top edge and corners of the jackets, and a tiny knock to the left-hand edge of the front panel of the jacket to The Iliad. But it is hard to find fault with these exceptional copies. Wilson's signature is bold and clean; both volumes are flat-signed to the title-page.