Arion Press - The Nose

Soon to be released by AP:

Comic satirical relief is in progress in the form of Nikolai Gogol’s The Nose. Our edition will feature artwork by William Kentridge (his second book with the press) in a new, original translation by Stanislav Shvabrin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Russian at UNC Chapel Hill. The Arion type casters and presses are lined up to work on The Nose as soon as Sea of Cortez is completed. Publication is planned for December 2020.

Great story! Might be worth whatever price they put on it. Depends on the illustrations.

Am very interested.

According to AP's site, The Nose is now expected in Spring 2021

Here is the summary for the Nose from AP:

This publication of The Nose is a new original translation by scholar and author Stanislav Shvabrin. The presentation is playful and elaborate, inspired by the exuberant typography and avante-garde book arts of early 20th-century Russia. Artist William Kentridge created 16 altered and collaged images for the book, composed on tear sheets of 19th-century tabloid The Illustrated London News, which have been reproduced in full-color offset lithography on tinted backgrounds.

The 116-page book is an oblong format, 9-⅛ x 10-¾ inches, and is printed by letterpress on mouldmade 160 gsm Magnani “BFK Rives.” Monotype Gloucester metal types used to print the edition were cast on site for the project in the M&H Type foundry. Cheltenham and various selections from the press’ historic type collection were composed by hand for display text.

All copies of The Nose are signed by Kentridge and presented in foam-lined clamshell boxes which open to reveal the embedded book and flip book companion volume "His Majesty Comrade Nose.” The flipbook depicts Kentridge in the guise of the socially climbing Nose, ascending a ladder and tumbling down in pieces… over and again.


The forty limited-edition Deluxe copies are accompanied by the photogravure “Surveying His Escape”, pictured at top in a preliminary proof. The prints are 14-⅞” x 18” (image area 9-¼” x 13”) on 300 gsm Somerset with gampi chine collé and kozo insets and with red pencil markings overlaid by the artist, valued at $3,750. Available only as part of the Deluxe edition package ($4,400 with Subscription / $5,500 Retail).

Click here for the prospectus.

The Nose is offered in 3 options
*Final products may differ from prototypes shown here

The Limited Edition
Bound in maroon book cloth with paper sides printed with cork pinboard motif

Square-backed, hand-sewn binding

Includes flipbook “His Majesty Comrade Nose”

Presented in a handmade clamshell box of yellow book cloth binding with maroon stamping, paper sides of cork pinboard print, and thick black foam lining

Limited to 190 copies

$875 with Subscription / $1,250 Retail



The Variant Edition
Bound in quarter maroon leather with real cork paper sides

Square-backed, hand-sewn binding

Includes flipbook “His Majesty Comrade Nose”

Presented in a handmade clamshell box of flax-color book cloth binding with bright red stamping, paper sides of cork pinboard print, and thick black foam lining

Limited to 20 copies

$1,400 with Subscription/$1,750 Retail

The Deluxe Edition
Bound in the same style and clamshell box as the Variant

Includes flipbook “His Majesty Comrade Nose”

Accompanied by signed photogravure “Surveying His Escape” with red pencil markings by the artist

Limited to 40 copies

$4,400 with Subscription / $5,500 Retail

Received my copy today. Will be curious to hear other opinions from subscribers but my reaction is underbaked and overpriced.

You'll pay through the nose for AP's edition of The Nose.

>6 LBShoreBook: Agreed. Am considering cancelling my subscription. Feel like I threw my money away.

>8 Sport1963: Everyone needs to learn this lesson first hand unfortunately.

>8 Sport1963: I think it's a hard choice. I'm on the opposite side and about to become a member. The Nose doesn't particularly excite me but what I enjoy about Arion is their originality in both titles and production. A don't know many other publishing companies that take risks that Arion do. I also appreciate the fact that they haven't gone mainstream like many publishing companies (I'm looking at your Folio Society.) Arion could make a killing if they went this route (science fiction, popular fiction, fantasy) but I respect and appreciate them all the more since they haven't and produce unique works like The Nose. Sure there will be duds but they also have some fantastic productions.

>10 Joshbooks1: I generally agree with your assessment on both AP and Folio (it is getting easier for me to skip Folio each season as they print more and more SF/horror/fantasy). As an AP subscriber I am a bit ambivalent - I like that they take risks but I am kind of stuck with the duds. You will almost certainly unload any books you buy at the subscriber price at a steep discount to that price (I did not like the Steinbeck book for example and sold it at about a 30% discount to what I paid). If they go too far afield on the risks (i.e., there are more misses than hits) that is an expensive proposition when there are other shops doing such interesting things like Thornwillow.

On The Nose specifically I looked up the artist and he appears to be a well-known South African artist - original works selling for six figures. This may be a similar case to Sappho where the artist fee materially impacts the price. Again, great they are taking risks but a short story in a foam-lined clamshell box for $875 (at subscriber price) is a tough pill to swallow.

I’m not a subscriber and I didn’t buy this, but printing a single short story in a luxurious format is not in principle a dealbreaker for me. The LEC edition of The Secret Sharer is a good example of doing this well, and while the price for that book is reasonable on the secondary market now, presumably it was more expensive when new (after adjusting for inflation), though maybe not quite as much as Arion’s edition of The Nose (I am unsure).

The problem with The Nose for me is not the length of the story, but the overall taste level of the production. Admittedly this is a matter of taste and I haven’t seen it in person, but the style, the form factor, and the gimmicky extras all take the taste level down several notches for me. I think the goal was something playful or whimsical, such as some of the Foolscap releases; Herakles and the Eurystheusian Twelve-Step Program is also not exactly my sort of thing, but it is genuinely funny and joyful.

I have an interesting comparison point: the Officina Bodoni edition of The Overcoat. I would count this as one of the gems in my collection. It is also a single Gogol short story presented in translation alongside the original Russian. It also features high quality reproductions of a fine artist’s work with the artist’s signature (etchings by Pietro Annigoni). I bought a copy in fine (flawless) condition for considerably less than the subscriber price Arion is charging for The Nose.

The change in underlying economics might make this a somewhat unfair comparison, but when your price is on the same order as a rare item by one of the historical masters of the form, it seems like something has gone badly wrong.

>12 abysswalker: "The change in underlying economics might make this a somewhat unfair comparison, but when your price is on the same order as a rare item by one of the historical masters of the form, it seems like something has gone badly wrong".

I couldn't say better. Wish this forum had a like button or something like that to express your agreement.

>13 Lukas1990:

"It seems like something has done badly wrong".

Two things have clearly gone wrong:

1. They no longer have the artistic vision they possessed during their first two decades under the stewardship of a young(er) Andrew Hoyem. This is best illustrated by examining their paperback "Catalogue: Retrospective Check list of Publications 1975-1995". Their first two decades were simply magical and every other books was an important event for private press book collectors. From the forty-five books published during this period I consider one-third to be masterworks.

2. As >12 abysswalker: has astutely pointed out, their prices are unrealistic for the quality of their editions because they have too many mouths to feed. There are simply too many superior alternatives at current Arion Press price points that are far more compelling acquisitions, both past and present. Ironically, many of the earlier Arion Press books (1975-1995) can be obtained for less than current prices for Arion Press publications and they are almost always of superior quality and book design.

>12 abysswalker: "The change in underlying economics might make this a somewhat unfair comparison, but when your price is on the same order as a rare item by one of the historical masters of the form, it seems like something has gone badly wrong."

Fair point but I don't think you can disregard the underlying economics. AP is based in SF, which has to be the most expensive cost-of-labor city in the U.S. outside of NYC. This book was put together by hand in SF, with hand-sewn bindings. Commissioned art from a well-known South African artist. Commissioned translation. It is easy to see where the expenses added up on this production and there is probably not another shop that could pull this together. This is why I like and support AP. The flip side of the coin is I wonder how much time they spend considering what subscribers actually want to receive. I may be way off base but I would be surprised if even a sizable minority of subscribers are happy with this project. Oh well, enough b*tching from me, it is what it is.

>11 LBShoreBook: That makes sense and it's easier for me to see it that way when I'm not yet a subscriber but plan to be so this month or next - although if this edition isn't a hit maybe i'll wait until next release. Especially with Thornwillow's last few title's I completely agree that Arion is too hit or miss at times. I have a huge list of older books still available that look wonderful but, as you said for every two books I like there is one that doesn't do it for me. Hopefully they came in knowing the Nose was more fun than serious and will come out strong with their next publication?

Here's some info on where Arion is going and what's coming up, including an original Margaret Atwood story:

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/arion-press-enters-new-era

https://www.arionpress.com/upcoming-titles-1

I’m a subscriber, though I haven’t received my copy yet (hopefully it will arrive soon). I’ll reserve final judgement after I receive and read it, but at first glance I’m a bit mixed about this one—it’s a fresh take with original art and a new translation, but it’s not something I would personally choose, and feels a bit short for the price (even at the subscription discount). Overall, I’m happy to be a subscriber, though >11 LBShoreBook:’s assessment is pretty accurate. I like the risks they take, even though that comes with a few duds.

>16 Joshbooks1: The next one from their newsletter sounds very intriguing. Margaret Atwood is a great choice, though I suppose I would prefer a full-length novel to a commissioned short story. The description is quoted from the newsletter below.

“We are pleased to announce Arion’s Summer release: Morte de Smudgie, an original work by Margaret Atwood. It’s not every day a literary legend graces us with a new short story, and we can’t wait to share this project with you.

Atwood’s story is inspired by the epic Tennyson poem, “Morte d’Arthur,” a recent year of loss, and her own background as a Victorianist. Deluxe copies of the book will be bound in a unique dos-à-dos structure with illustrations by noted book artist and bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife). With a penchant for gothic, Victorian, and surreal subject matter, her artwork provides a perfect complement to Atwood’s poignant meditation on grief.”

Wow! Patti Smith. Don't think that would have ever happened in the Hoyem years. I've been wanting to read some of her books but haven't got around to them yet. This one is the pick of the three latest ones for me (albeit without seeing two of them and only seeing The Nose on the website and the comments here...)

As a subscriber (and a Russian reader) I think The Nose is a bit underwhelming as a production; I've not seen foam box done before by any fine press and seems like there is a good reason for that ... A relative miss vs some of their recent productions which I had quite liked (I for one think the Sea of Cortez is very well executed; Frankenstein, Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales imho are excellent too). I generally lean deluxe on Arion's recent editions, and the art work with The Nose deluxe copy is worth framing albeit a bit of an acquired taste.