The first-ever English translation of Rilke’s landmark poetry cycle, by Vita and Edward Sackville-West ­– reissued for the first time in 90 years

In 1931, Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press published a small run of a beautiful edition of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies, in English translation by the writers Vita and Edward Sackville-West. This marked the English debut of Rilke’s masterpiece, which would eventually be rendered in English over 20 times, influencing countless poets, musicians and artists across the English-speaking world.

Published for the first time in 90 years, the Sackville-Wests’ translation is both a fascinating historical document and a magnificent blank-verse rendering of Rilke’s poetry cycle. Featuring a new introduction from critic Lesley Chamberlain, this reissue casts one of European literature’s great masterpieces in fresh light.

Author: Rainer Maria Rilke
Translator: Vita Sackville-West
Introduction: Edward Sackville-West / Lesley Chamberlain 
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Page Count: 112pp
Size: 5.5 x 9
Notes: hardcover, Deluxe Edition
Date of Publication: February 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1782277798