Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny the Younger on the Eruption of Vesuvius

by Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder

Book Overview

Barry Moser's extraordinarily detailed and evocative relief engravings decorate this translation of Pliny the Younger's two famous letters to Tacitus about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder. The text includes a brief description of the eruption of the volcano, concise biographies of Tacitus and of both Plinys, and a summary of how the texts of the two letters have survived until today.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892369000
• ISBN13: 9780892369003
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

Pliny the Younger Writes About the Eruption of Vesuvius

This book was all that it was advertized to be. It is a translation of two letters that Pliny the younger wrote to Taticus describing the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. The real interest of this book is not the translation so much as the "woodcut" illustrations by Barry Moser. This was an ideal medium to portray the dark and foreboding conditions that ensued during and after the eruption. There is enough introductory material included in the book to assist if the reader is not familiar with the history of this epic catastrophe. I enjoyed the text as well as the dramatic woodcut illustrations.

Moser on Vesuvivus

I bought this book because the illustrations were done by Barry Moser. As always, his art does not disappoint. The brief text by Pliny is equally worthy of admiration.

Moving Art

Much of what we know about the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius - the eruption that sealed Pompeii and Herculaneum in time and volcanic ash - comes from the letters written by Pliny the Younger to his friend Tacitus. Pliny was an eyewitness, and his uncle died in the eruption.These texts have been available for a long time. What is new and impressive about this book are its illustrations, relief engravings by artist Berry Moser, Professor in Residence in the Art Department of Smith College in Massachusetts.The letters are freshly translated by Benedicte Gilman, who has also provided biographies of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, as well as an essay describing how it was that the letters themselves came to be preserved into modern times. This is solid, readable, exciting work in and of itself.But the real force in this book is the illustrations. Using a technique generally confined to wood engraving, Moser has given us a series of 16 vital illustrations that bring a terrible life to the horrible events of the eruption. As slim as it is, this volume is a literal "must have" for all lovers of art and history.