Carol Schwartzott, The Old Bamboo Hewer

(Schwartzott, Carol) The Old Bamboo Hewer: A Japanese Romance of the Tenth Century. Artist’s book by Carol Schwartzott. [Freeville. New York. 2000.] n.p. 13” x 7.75” x 1.625”. Made with a combination of Japanese papers, some are chirogami or of printed design, others have been decorated by the artist; these include paste, stencil, water marbling, handmade Japanese papers, linen and mitsumade combinations. Letterpress printed from plates, with some of the Kendo decorative initials gold leafed or gilded. Illustrations started as linoleum cuts in black and white, and were hand-colored and collaged to represent small hanging scrolls, using watercolor, gouache, acrylic paint, gold and silver lead. Accordion fold book in tan-blue Japanese cloth with endpapers of paste/stencil and block printed motifs. Decorative paper label on frontboard. Laid in a board box with sliding door, covered and lined in a combination of decorative papers.Inset at the bottom of the box is a piece of bamboo, serving as a divider for the two replications of the actu­al texts in Japanese and English. These are soft bound with variations of paper on their covers. No. 6 in an edition of 10 signed copies. Fine.

Schwartzott states that she is a strong believer in the philosophy that a book should not only be beautiful, but should contain some sort of information. Those who know and collect her books can confirm that this is the case with all her work. This book is a delight. Schwartzott decided to include the facsimiles of both the English and Japanese versions as she felt the footnotes are very interesting and helpful, and for those that can read Japanese, the subtle nuances of that language are available.

Related items: Artists' Books, Calligraphy, Carol Schwartzott