(PENNYROYAL PRESS.) Moser, Barry. Ashen Sky:Twelve Engravings by Barry Moser Describing the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius Based on the Eye Witness Accounts of the Event by Pliny the Younger Written to the Historian Tacitus in AD 79. 2 printed sheets with text by Goethe and by Vance Studley. 16 relief engravings (12 plates plus three portraits and a map) measure 14 1/2x12 1/2 inches, sheets, wide margins, all signed and numbered 15/20 by Moser, in pencil, lower margin. Laid into publisher's black clamshell case with the accompanying book "Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny the Younger on the Eruption of Vesuvius." Written and translated by Benedicte Gilman. First Edition; Signed by Moser. Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2006. Easthampton and Pasadena, 2006
number 15 of only 20 portfolios signed by moser. There were 5 artist's proofs kept by Moser. 25 impressions of the 16 prints Moser designed, drew, and engraved for Ashen Sky were printed on an archival sheet from the Mohawk Paper Mill in Cohoes, New York. They were struck by Vance Studley at his letterpress studio in Pasadena, California. Mr. Studley has also contributed a short essay about the prints. The accompanying book contains a translation of Pliny's letters and also includes a brief description of the eruption of the volcano, biographies of Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, and Pliny the Younger, as well as a summary of how the texts of the two letters have survived. In 2008, Ashen Sky took first place honors for illustrated books in the American Association of Museums design competition.
