The Left-Handed Punch, by Circle Press, signed

sold

(Circle Press) The Left-Handed Punch. By Roy Fisher and Ron King. Guildford, Surrey. 1986. 35p. 15.5” x 11..5”. Puppets, created with screenprints by Ronald King, handcut by Mary Adams and Anne Forgan, assembled and collated by Jessica King. Set in Castellar and Baskerville with manuscript stage notes, all in red and black, on french-folded sheetsof heavy Somerset rag made paper. Printed silkscreen and letterpress. Loose sheets in a titled wrapper. Housed in ared cloth-covered portfolio, titling in gilt on white on the front cover and spine. In a blue and cream striped cloth slipcase, die-cut to expose the portfolio title. One in an edition of 80 copies signed by Ronald King and Roy Fisher. Fine. Scarce.

Ron King has created an amusing and grand production of Punch with puppets assembled from screenprint images ingeniously constructed on the page.

“This book was the fifth collaboration between Roy Fisher and Ronald King, being, in the words of the prospectus, ‘a new version ofthe comical tragedy of Punch and Judy’. The story is based upon the anonymous text first published by George Routledge & Sons in1860 and illustrated by George Cruikshank, which King had found in a small modern paperback version … Fisher and King’s version was presented in the form of a play, consisting of a prologue, six scenes, and an epilogue, illustrated by numerous photo-collagevignettes and seven … drawn tableaux. … the chief feature of the book [is] thirteen cut-out articulated figures, the principal dramatis personae - the production of which alone involved more than 120 printings - ten of which [have] movable parts but remain attached to the page.” - Cooking the books, p. 82.