(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 posts:

1. Schwartzott, Carol – Mirror.
2. Carol Schwartzott – A Brief History of the Basket
3. Schwartzott, Carol – Spix’s Macaw: The Race to Save the World’s Rarest Bird.

(Rilke, Rainer Maria/John Gerard) Herbst. (Autumn.) [Text in German.] [Poem by] Rainer Maria Rilke. [Reinbach. 2008.] Leporello format. 22” x 10.5”. Design by Ati von Gallwitz with paper paintings and cutouts. Calligraphy by Rol Lock. 6 handmade papers by John Gerard. Bound in pale lemon cloth over board, with a copper leaf recessed into the front cover. Laid in a matching pale lemon cloth dropback box with black title on front and spine. No. 11 in an edition of 20 copies, signed by Ati von Gallwitz. New. English translation laid in.

A visually beautiful book with superb poetry. As each sheet of paper is made individually each copy will have slight variations.

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1. John Gerard – House of Cards
2. Refinery – a 3-d book from John Ross
3. Metropolis, an artist’s book from John Ross

(Folsom, Rose) My Century in Your Face. Poem by Maria Elena Cruz Varela. Book design, calligraphy and binding by Rose Folsom. Silver Spring. Maryland. 1998. 108p. 10.5” x 8”. Xerography on vellum paper, photography. Cream cloth boards with stitching on spine. In an ochre card folder, with title written in calligraphy on front. No. 8 of 15 signed copies. Fine. Inscribed to a previous owner by the artist.

This book won First Prize at “Book Explorations ‘99’”, sponsored by The New Art Forum in Kingston, MA.

Folsom writes: “In 1996, I began to reflect on the end of the century. Mycentury. Even though I have only lived half of it, I identify with the 20th century as I do my country of birth. I cannot picture myself outside of it. I am aware of how it has formed me, and how I cannot separate myself from it. The next century will, in a way, belong to somebody else. It will be mine only second-hand. There will be people born in the 21st century who never knew the 20th, my century. This book is a collection of larger-than-life photos of faces of the people who formed my century, ranging from Elvis Presley to Igor Stravinsky; from Mahatma Gandhi to Robert Oppenheimer to Rudolf Nureyev. The photos are accompanied by a poem entitled ‘Love Song for Difficult Times’ by a Cuban poet who was born the same year I was.

“This book is a way of saying farewell to my century, as all of us, about to be refugees, are nudged by time over the border from our own century into the unknown of the next.”

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1. Cummins, Maureen – Phantasies of a Love Thief.
2. Ninja Press – The Real World of Manuel Cordova.
3. Satié, Alain – Ple? Plon Sca Screlonu Ipilore Plisou. Hé? On T’a Reconnu Isidore Isou.

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1. Melia Press – A Private Fall.
2. Paul Delrue binding of a John Clare poem
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Provenance: From the collection of Kathryn Ida Hill Rickard. With her Bookplate.

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1. Janus Press – Bread and Puppet: The Dream of the Dirty Woman.
2. Shahn, Ben – Ecclesiastes or The Preacher.
3. Cummins, Maureen – Phantasies of a Love Thief.

(Laura Wait) T-crossed. Unique variant artist’s book by Laura Wait. [Steamboat Springs.] 2007. 20 paper leaves, 8p. of mylar. 10” x 4” 1”. Etchings, letterpress, handwriting and painting. Handwritten in manuscript on the half title and throughout the book. The pages and the Mylar sheets were first printed with wooden type on an etching press, and the paper versos were printed with etchings. Paste-painting completed on both sides of all paper in many layers. Handwriting on many pages. Sewn onto a concertina with linen thread. Spine of brown Harmatan leather with a gold “T” handtooled at the top. Boards are aircraft plywood covered in etchings printed on Japanese paper. Multiple layers of acrylic paint and varnish were applied to the covers. Brown endpapers of Walnut dyed Cave paper. Black cloth dropback box lined with brown painted paper; paper title label on spine. One in a series of seven unique variants on the intertwined symbols of “T” and the cross. Colophon handwritten and signed by the artist. Fine.

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1. Laura Wait – Momentum Arbusti
2. Davidson, Laura – Tender Buttons, tenderly pays homage to Gertrude Stein’s 1914 writing called ‘Tender Buttons’.
3. Johnson, Paul – Watch and Wait for the Surprise.

(Silver Thimble Press) February by John Clare 1793-1864. [East Sussex.] March 1987. 2.5” x 2.75”. Original calligraphy and color illustrations by Gordon Murray. Bound in light brown fabric with inlay of winter scene on paper. Black card slipcase with paper title label on side; black ribbon for ease of removal of book. No. 2 in an edition of 32 copies, signed by Gordon Murray. Very slight fading to spine. Erratum Slip on front free endpaper as the first 8 copies were bound with first 3 verses out of order. Provenance: From the collection of Kathryn Ida Rickard. With her Bookplate.

Related posts:

1. Paul Delrue binding of a John Clare poem
2. Refinery – a 3-d book from John Ross
3. More About Rudy Pozzatti, book artist