Odas Elementales

Pablo Neruda

Barcelona: Seix Barral

1954

JD Wilson

Sixty-eight poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. French flaps.

Publishers often gild the lily. Authors too. Foil stamps, velvety coated paper, color plates, custom boxes, etc. Good writing, I say, can stand alone without ornamental incrustations. I keep this slim volume of Neruda, purchased in Tokyo thirty years ago, in arm's reach at work as an example of how good writing looks best on a plain pedestal.

The cover art looks like branches laid on a photocopy machine. The caerulean title is the only color in the work. The paper isn’t much heavier than newsprint. The printing is smudgeless, the typesetting clean and workmanlike. The French flaps are its one gesture toward elegance. To me, this is how design works best in the service of the writing.