Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny the Younger on 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.

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.

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.