Gardiner’s Greek & Roman Hell Published

This December saw the publication of Greek & Roman Hell, the latest volume in Eileen Gardiner’s series, Hell-on-Line, a comprehensive collection of over 100 visions, tours and descriptions of the infernal otherworld from the cultures of the world: principally from the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Zoroastrian, Islamic and Jewish traditions from 2000 BCE to the present. 

The literary texts of the ancient Mediterranean present a fairly clear picture of an underworld and bear witness to the changes in its nature and purpose. The strong stamp of Hesiod and Homer defines the geography and inhabitants of later underworld descriptions. Plato and the mystery religions leave their mark on the genre, while satirical and comic works provide us with a different perspective on ancient beliefs. 

Works written during the long interval between the Iliad and the Odyssey (c.700 BCE) and the works of Lucian of Samosata (2nd century CE) span almost a millennium and show a remarkable consistency in terms of the underworld’s physical features and denizens. They also provide a backdrop to the significant changes in Greco-Roman understandings of the nature of the soul and thus of the fate of the dead in the otherworld. 

This anthology includes seventeen texts that range from epic poems by Homer and Virgil to plays by Aristophanes and Seneca, dialogues by Plato, satirical pieces by Lucian of Samosata, to novels and narrative poems. It provides a comprehensive overview of the nature of Greek and Roman hell.

Seventeen texts, 168 pages. Preface, introduction, glossary, notes, bibliography & web resources. Illustrated.

The Miracles and Translatio of Saint James

We are happy to announce the publication of The Miracles and Translatio of Saint James: Books Two and Three of the Liber Sancti Jacobi, translated, with an introduction, commentaries and notes by Thomas F. Coffey and Maryjane Dunn

The pilgrimage route to Compostela is graced with an exceptional witness from its early days: the Liber Sancti Jacobi or Book of Saint James. This book is found most famously in a twelfth-century manuscript from the library of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as well as in various other manuscripts. The text provides an encyclopedia on Saint James the Great and on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional site of his burial in Galicia in northwestern Spain.  

Of the five books included in the manuscript, Books II and III, published here in English translation, deal directly with the cult surrounding Saint James. In twenty-two chapters, Book II recounts twenty-five of the miracles attributed to the saint after his death. These occurred across a wide geographic area between the years 1100 and 1135. Although these represent a limited period, it is a very important one in the development of the cult of Saint James and the establishment of his cult site at Compostela.  

Book III gathers elements from a variety of sources and weaves them together into a prologue and four chapters describing the transfer of Saint James’s body to Santiago de Compostela from the Holy Land, where legend says he was beheaded by Herod. 

Together these two books of the Liber Sancti Jacobi provide a comprehensive description of the power and importance of the saint, reflecting his significance and the significance of Santiago de Compostela as one of the three major Christian pilgrimage sites during the Middle Ages. 

This new title is part of the ongoing Italica Press Compostela Project, designed to publish in English translation, all five books of the Codex Calixtinus. 

230 pages. Preface, introduction, notes, bibliography, index, and illustrations. 

New Review for Edson Edition of Buondelmonti

Evelyn Edson’s new edition of Cristoforo Buondelmonti's Description of the Aegean and Other Islands has just received a very good review from Bert Johnson, vice president of the Washington Map Society, writing in the most recent issue of The Portolan.

Among the many things Johnson and The Portolan liked were the “precise reproduction of the manuscript itself (43 pages recto and verso, for a total of 86 pages). The beauty of the hand colored manuscripts and the maps they contain is striking. The maps are large and handsomely colored, accompanied by commentary on the history and current status of the island.… there follows an easier-to-read transcription of the text. This is followed by an English translation of the text…. The work closes with an extensive bibliography and index.… Evelyn Edson has done a magnificent job of ensuring that the reader will have full access to all that Buondelmonti has to offer, in both text and illustration. For his part, Buondelmonti has been fortunate in having his work examined by such a skilled exponent.”

Please have a look!

Boccaccio, The Downfall of the Famous, Published

We are happy to announce our first New York-Bristol UK title: A new edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Downfall of the Famous (De casibus virorum illustrium).

This edition is based on the elegant 1965 translation by Louis Brewer Hall. Hall’s edition was selective, concentrating on classical lives. But Hall did include Boccaccio’s frames: his “visions” of a parade of historical figures passing before him and engaging in lively moral debates; and his direct musings on fame, private and public vice and virtue, and good and bad fortune. In fact, Fortuna emerges as this work’s most important character and theme. Along with contemporaries like Giovanni Villani, Boccaccio saw history and biography as moral arts, underscoring the civic virtues and personal failings of famous men and women, Fortune balancing every success with its inevitable reversal.

Newly typeset and paginated, this volume presents Hall’s complete English translation. It adds numerous historical, biographical, interpretive, and bibliographical notes reflecting a half-century of new Boccaccio scholarship.

We’ve Moved!

Our big news this season is that Italica Press has moved. Our new offices are:

Italica Press, Inc.
99 Wall Street, Suite 650
New York, NY 10005
TEL: 917-371-0563
E-MAIL: inquiries@italicapress.com

As usual, all submissions, acquisitions, editorial, production, ordering and fulfillment questions should first be directed to inquiries@italicapress.com. All business and editorial desks continue without interruption at this new address.

In addition, Italica Press continues to fulfill orders either directly via orders@italicapress.com, via Amazon.com and other online vendors, and via the same network of US, UK, EU, Australian and other worldwide distributors.

For our most recent CONTACT Information, please see: http://www.italicapress.com/index147.html.

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We look forward to hearing from you with book proposals in our special fields and to fulfilling your book orders.

Thanks for your ongoing support!