Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Petronius. Satyricon mis en images par Enrico Montalto alias T. Marco Leontino. Texte latin intégrale, traduction libre et commentaire de Heinz Peter Barandun. Postface de Roger Peyrefitte.

With 15 blind-stamped vignettes by Enrico Montalto and with all 15 vignettes tooled in pure silver medallions, mounted on cardboard and housed in a separate box. 4 leaves, 243, (7) pp. Folio. Red half morocco over 5 raised bands with tooled silver medallion on front boards. Slipcase. – Glarus, HPB Editeur, 2003.

First edition of the new French translation by H. P. Barandun. One of 10 numbered copies (no. IV) on vergé Amatruda of the edition B with the extra suite of the vignettes tooled in pure silver, of a total limited edition of 99. Printed in Garamond type by Studio Arte Tipografica Angelo Rossi, Napoli. The metal plates for the vignettes were engraved by Giorgio Guccione in Rome. The paper was manufactured by the Antica Cartierea della Valle dei Mulini, Amalfi. The translator, the Swiss businessman H. P. Barandun (1940–2020), was a profound connoisseur and collector of Petronius’ „Satyricon“ and member of the Petronian Society. His translation, published here together with the Latin original text, „rend à merveille l’esprit et la sensibilité de l’original latin“ (R. Peyrefitte in his postscript). The artist Enrico Montalto (1920–2000, anagram of T. Marco Leontino) was the last descendant from the noble Neapolitan Montalto family to which belonged Pope Sixtus V in the 16th century. His cameo-like erotic vignettes, for which he worked for almost twenty years, are of most excellent beauty and accompany the fifteen chapters in a most sensitive and congenial way. – Mint. – Best.-Nr. 24472