-Audrey Sage

The Phaenomena of Aratus is a co-publication of the Janus Press and Plowboy Press. This third-century work by the Greek poet Aratus describes the constellations and other natural phenomena

The book is housed in a maple and birchwood slipcase with a lasercut label on the spine. The cloth-bound chemise is lined with Durer’s 1515 celestial maps. The binding is long-stitch with pulp-painted covers by Katie MacGregor. There is a 24 page pamphlet of Stanley Lombardo’s original introduction and notes in a pocket inside the front cover. The book is printed letterpress on Barcham Green Boxley by Andrew Miller-Brown. The frontispiece is Durer’s northern celestial map. There are 28 illustrations of the constellations from Caspar Vopel’s 1534 woodcuts and eight full page original digital prints of weather by Claire Van Vliet based on her pulp paintings as well as other smaller images throughout the commentary of the last half of the book. The edition is 74 pages, 9.5in by 11.5in, limited to 120 numbered copies. 2022  -Plowboy Press

“This edition of Aratus was begun in 1989 as a co-publication with Michael Alpert’s Theodore Press. The project died for want of a good translation of the original Greek poem. In January 2019 Andrew Miller-Brown lent me a copy of Christopher de Hamel’s Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; the Leiden Aratus was the second chapter of the book; I showed Andrew the stalled Janus-Theodore material. He started researching for a good translation and found Stanley Lombardo’s which had been published in paperback in 1983 by North Atlantic Books in Berkeley and was out of print. We contacted Stanley Lombardo and he agreed to let Janus-Plowboy publish a special edition. Michael Alpert agreed to let us use the Caspar Vopel images from his copy of Arati Phaenomena et Prognostica printed by Theodorum Graminaeum in Cologne, 1569, that had already been photographed at the Stinehour Press. Luckily, Mark Breen, Senior Meteorologist and Director of the Planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum in St Johnsbury, thirty years on, was still in possession of his original commentary notes from 1989 as a starting point. He joined the project again to write commentary for the modern reader with Andrew working as the overall editor. Both the Durer and Vopel woodcuts were very popular and reprinted many times in the 16th Century so the images were less than pristine. I tried to honour them as much as possible in preparing them for platemaking for letterpress printing. We made the editorial decision to remove the star numbers as these were assigned to the constellations well after Aratus’ time and on the Durer chemise charts we added the reference circles to coordinate with the lines on the Vopel images in the text.” –Translation, Introduction and Notes Copyright c 1983, 2022 by Stanley Lombardo. Commentary Copyright c 2022 by Mark Breen

Aratus was born in Soli in present day Turkey in about 315 BCE. Educated in Athens, he eventually made his way to the Macedonian court where it is believed he wrote Phaenomena. It describes in verse the constellations, their rotation in the night sky throughout the year, various other natural signs, and their uses as a calendar and weather forecasting tool for farmers and sailors. For Aratus these sky signs, from the constellation Ursa Major to the smallest mouse tossing straw with its paws, represent a gift from Zeus to guide human endeavor if only we would take notice.

Phaenomena was enormously popular in its time and afterwards. It inspired many translations, some with a liberal dose of revisions and additions, as well as many commentaries starting in at least the second century BCE. This edition of Phaenomena features a verse translation from the Greek by Stanley Lombardo and a new commentary by Mark Breen, senior meteorologist and director of the planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

The 1515 Celestial Maps by Albrecht Durer were prepared from photographs provided by The National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection. The 1534 Caspar Vopel Constellation woodcuts are from Michael Alpert’s copy of a 1569 edition of Aratus and were photographed at the Stinehour Press.

“In creating this descriptive work, Aratus undoubtedly used a celestial globe, a sphere much like a terrestrial globe, but instead illustrating the positions of the constellations and stars. Perhaps you can imagine, looking out on a starry night, that those unimaginably distant stars lie fixed to an invisible shell or sphere surrounding the Earth. It is purported that Eudoxus replicated this celestial sphere.
However, our view from the ‘other side’ of the stars renders all of the star positions, patterns, and constellations backwards from our view looking up from the Earth. This view became the standard for celestial charts like those by Albrecht Durer, used here. The sky has not changed much since the time of its publication (c. 270 B.C.) and it may be that the literary climate today is conducive to the revival of a work in which visual signs – celestial, meteorological and verbal – form the very stuff of poetry. – Mark Breen

Durer’s star charts, pictured on the inside of the chemise and opposite, create a planispheric representation of a celestial globe, divided at the ecliptic. They were published in 1515, setting a standard for constellation imagery that influenced the 1534 woodcuts by Caspar Vopel in this book. The symbols on the left of the chart lines introduce the zodiac signs to the right. Both the charts and illustrations have been edited for clarity, removing the Ptolemaic star numbering system that postdates Aratus. -Stanley Lombardo

The poetry and observations of nature and the celestial sky provides great comtemplation for directing one’s actions and decisions. Being tuned in to the many creatures of the planet and the skies can provide the best warnings and predictors for guidance within the confines of our world. The halo around the Moon, the color of the Sun, paying attention to the activities of birds and insects before a storm, noting the cloud formations in the skies, and the small creatures on the ground, and listening to vocalizations of birds are some of the many ways in which we can learn from and be guided by what is surrounding us.

“The faint patch of stars called the Manger is only visible when the skies are quite clear, so once it appears after a period of stormy weather, the storm has moved away. And let these be signs to you of the dying storm: the quiet flames of lamps, the night-owl hooting low, the gentle, cackling notes of the crow at evening, and the lonely screams of the rooks: two desert calls followed by full-throated shrieks as they flock to their roost in high vocal rapture, (such shrill and such tuneful sound one must think it rapture) round the tree’s foliage, onto the tree itself, settle, take flight, and wing back again.”

This beautiful work of art and homage to the celestial sky via the poem of Aratus and the translation by Stanley Lombardo is a masterpiece in thought and craftsmanship, within the wonderful birch slipcase. The exquisitely handsewn pages, which are enhanced by the artistic imagery of Albrecht Durer, Caspar Vopel, and the evocative digital prints of weather by Claire Van Vliet based on her pulp paintings, provide a wonderful visual and tactile experience as the reader digs deeply into the words of Aratus and his teachings and observations of the universe and celestial sky .

There is so much to view and read and meditate upon in this amazing work. I find it impossible to whittle my thoughts down to just a few paragraphs. We are fortunate to have this among our collections, to return numerous times to observe and learn from this poem that has been a part of history for such a long time, and to cement in my mind the concepts and positioning of myself among the vast universe, of which I am such a small part.

“The work of Aratus finds few parallels in western literature. Poetry in ancient Greece was the only form of writing considered proper to express such essential, indispensable information on a wide variety of subjects, from farming, to hunting, art, music, love, and so many others. In Aratus’s time, over two thousand years ago, astronomy stood as a practical science, serving a critical role in monitoring and managing time, while encompassing the whole of the cosmos at the same time. Meteorology was no less crucial to the everyday work, and the desired success of the sailor, the farmer, and the fisherman. The genius of Aratus was to assemble and mold this vital information into a literary form accessible to people from all walks of life. His descriptions of the turning of the heavens still evoke the same sense of wonder and awe that continues to inspire today’s scientists to solve the mysteries of our infinite universe.” –Mark Breen