Visible Cities from High Tide Press, based on Italo Calvino’s work, a Venetian fable

$4,250.00

Click on thumbnail(s) below to enlarge

(High Tide Press) Visible Cities. With excerpts from ‘Invisible Cities’ by Italo Calvino. Translated from the Italian by William Weaver. Prints by John Ross. New York. [1993.] 18″ x 13″. 12 architectural collagraph images, each on an 18″ x 26″ spread. Plates printed by John Ross with the help of Tim Ross on a Brand etching press at the High Tide Press on Rives BFK; text in Palatino printed on a Vandercook 219 press. Headlines and display type are from the High Tide collection of antique wood type. Bound in 30-year-old cream handmade paper from India. Black cloth dropback box by James DiMarcantonio with original cream collagraph plate and thick card title label laid-on in recess of box front. Box lined with black and white marbled paper. In an edition of 25 signed copies this is one of 3 Special copies in color.

Fine.

Ross writes: “A student in my New School [N.Y.] printmaking workshop saw some of my architectural fantasy prints and asked if I were affected by Italo Calvino’s writings. When I said “No” she brought me a copy of Calvino’s Invisible Cities and I found a distinct relationship between his fables and my prints. It was possible to complete my Visible Cities using Calvino’s text and my images without having to design a single new work. All the prints were just waiting for his text. This was one of the rare times when I paid Calvino’s publisher the required royalties to use 10 paragraphs of his writings. We had both been inspired by the magic of Venice.”