Series of Five Booklets - pandemic themed
Letterpress Printed

[Abstract Orange]
Emeritz, Lauren, book artist.
Pandemic Printing (2021 - 22).
Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2021-22.

Number 5 of 20 copies. According to the artist: "Pandemic Printing (2021-2022) is a series of five booklets wrapped in paper covers, conceived during the "long dark winter" of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of being isolated, I returned to the studio. With excess time, due to a lack of work, I decided to create my own quarterly periodical about art and design.

Issue 1: The debut issue centers on winter. The paper used is gray and cold, reflecting the season. The text relates to winter and offers coping strategies. The layout consists of reader spreads and is saddle-stitched with copper staples. This issue includes four layers and over 600 runs through the press. To imitate a traditional periodical, it features page numbers and folios, although as the project evolved I found these less essential.

Issue 2: The second issue, published in Spring 2021, employs yellow paper and bright inks. The pages are designed as printer spreads and bound using a drum leaf technique. This issue explores more abstract layouts and vibrant colors.

Issue 3: For Summer, the format reverted to a saddle-stitched booklet, now with an extra detachable cover. It features bright neon paper and a mix of typography and carved blocks.

Issue 4: In the fall, as life began to pick up again, I had less time to dedicate to the project. This issue is also a saddle-stitched book with a cover, using only two shades of orange ink printed on blue paper.

Issue 5: It took a year (2022) to produce this final issue. The cover contains all elements from inside the booklet printed together. The orange paper features two layers of graph paper printed in the background, and four colors of ink on top. It is foil-stamped and saddle-stitched with metallic thread. This piece reflects what is possible when one has, or makes, the time."

All five booklets are housed together in a stiff yellow paper wrapper with orange title to front and spine panels. The wrapper has a velcro closure and is signed and numbered by the artist. Size: 8.5 x 5.5 inches. Fine. (#37880)

Price: $2,200

Collection of 36 Prints with Pandemic Themed Words and Phrases from Spring 2020
Hand Printed from Wood Type

[Abstract Orange]
Emeritz, Lauren, book artist.
Printing in the Time of Covid-19. March - May 2020.
Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2020.

Just before the Pandemic lock-down started in March 2020, Lauren Emeritz participated a letterpress workshop with Amos Paul Kennedy. Inspired to print, but not able to use the press in the studio due to the Pandemic, Emeritz began printing in a makeshift print studio in her home. Using wood type, a Vandercook 99, and hand-inking, she printed on chipboard, an inexpensive and accessible substrate. The prints include words and phrases from during that time early in the pandemic (March to May 2020).

Number 9 of 10 copies. This collection of 36 prints is housed in an orange folding case with velcro closure and title on the spine and front panels. Size: 8.5 x 5.5 inches. Fine. (#37834)

Price: $1,200

Representation of the Passage of Time During the Quarantine
Unique Sewn Tapestry with Beadwork - in English and Spanish

Akhmadeeva, Ioulia and Diane Jaime.
248 Hours of Tangible Poetry.
Morelia City, Mexico: 2020.

Unique Book Art Object. A physical representation of the passage of time experienced during the quarantine, expressed beautifully and painstakingly with elaborate beadwork and poetic embroidery.  A five-foot square of white linen embroidered with thread (with collaboration of Diane Jaime) and glass beads by artist in the images of natures element. The author’s personal poems, haikus-like, are in English and Spanish. They were composed and embroidered in the Mexican countryside in a house nestled in a copse of pine trees during the Covid-19 quarantine. The verses repeat many times and read like a meditation. The English language portion of the verses is below:

•              The threads of the rain in tangible writings          
•              Time in rocks     
•              Your name written in time          
•              Intimacy of tangible writings embraces me          
•              Frozen time in moments of happiness    
•              The All in Pine Branch    
•              It's a moment to collect stones of silence              
•              The wind takes my time               
•              Time of recollect the stones        
•              The wind takes my time               
•              Sea of hugs in difficult times       
•              An animal walks among the branches, silence...   

This exquisite textile piece is meant to be hung and displayed. It has a narrow fabric slot along the top edge for a dowel to be inserted (for hanging). Folded and housed in a clamshell box covered in green Japan jacquard silk with brass title label to front board. Size: about 58 x 58 inches. Box size: 15.5 x 15.5 inches.

Ioulia Akhmadeeva (1971 - ) was born in Russia but has resided in Mexico for nearly 30 years. She is professor of Fine Arts at the Michoacan State University San Nicolás Hidalgo in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. She has participated in many international exhibitions and won awards and grants for her work. Fine. (#36431)

Price: $5,000

Disease Themed Parody of Carroll's Hunting of the Snark
Letterpress Printed with Wood Engraved Portraits Underprinted with Virus Imagery

[Cheshire Cat Press]
Tannenbaum, Alison; Catherine Richards, introduction; illustrations and endnote by George A. Walker.
The Hunting of the Snark: A Decimation, in Nine Zoonoses.
Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2023.

Number 18 of 42 copies. Signed by Tannenbaum, Richards, Malcolm, and Walker. Quarto. A parody of Lewis Carroll's "Hunting of the Snark", written during the COVID-19 quarantine, that involves an expedition to cure infectious diseases by procuring a tissue sample from the elusive Snark, which is said to have immunity to all germs. Unfortunately, all but one of the crew members takes ill and dies from one of the diseases they set out to cure. Includes the Snark Map and a table of diseased crew members. The author of the introduction, which discusses infectious diseases during Carroll's lifetime is Catherine Anne Richards (1963). She is a retired English paediatric surgeon with a passion for Carrollinia. The author of this parody, Alison Crane Tannenbaum (1946), is a neurobiologist that spent most of her career in biomedical research at the National Institute of Health.

Bound in red cloth boards with leatherette title label to front cover and gilt title to spine. Printed in New Caledonia type on Velin BFK Rives paper by George Walker and Andy Malcolm. With wood engravings by Walker, made from end grain end grain maple wood. The engravings of each crew member are underprinted with engravings based on photographs of viruses, which were provided by the author. Housed in slipcase covered in same cloth as book with gilt titling to cover and spine. In fine condition. 54 pages. (#37392)

Price: $550

An Exploration of the Thumb and Its Uses
Created in Response to Social Separation and Virtual Life During the Pandemic
Letterpress Printed with Pop-Ups

[Crooked Letter Press]
Knudson, Ellen, book artist and author.
Rule of Thumb.
Gainesville, FL: Crooked Letter Press, 2020.

Number 31 of 40 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Crooked Letter Press is the imprint of book artist and graphic designer, Ellen Knudson. Ellen is currently Associate in Book Arts at The University of Florida. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from The University of Alabama. Ellen has been a book artist for 17 years and a professional graphic designer for 20+ years . She has taught letterpress printing and Book Arts at The University of Florida, The University of Alabama, and graphic design at Mississippi State University and Wayne State University. Her work is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Yale University (CT), The Library of Congress (DC), and many other national and international collections.

From the artist's website and colophon: "Rule of Thumb is a moveable book about the historical human obsession with ourselves and with approval from others. In the last 10 years, we have become obsessed with living online instead of actual living. We seem to only care about how many "thumbs up”, likes, or hearts we can accumulate on social media platforms. We practice a psychological social separation. We live virtual lives. Now, with the proliferation of the COVID-19 virus, we are living with the physical reality of "social-distancing". How will we make it back? Can we make it back? I hope we will realize how much we don't want to live without one another." Rule of Thumb considers the ways in which humans have used our thumbs to, at best, twist reality, and at worst, ruin ourselves.

The serious questions addressed in this book are approached through a seemingly whimsical description and movable depiction of various expressions with the word thumb - the pricking of my thumb, rule of thumb, sticks out like a sore thumb, under my thumb and more. These are accompanied by information about the phrase's origin and a few relevant quotations. Printed on and constructed from Colorplan paper (350gsm, Natural). Letterpress printed from linoleum blocks and photopolymer plates. The orange and red binding is a storage book binding with a green concertina spine made from Tyvek hand-tinted with acrylic inks. It is housed in a red portfolio with thumb images and with soft flaps (made using directions by Peter D. Verheyen). The spine of the portfolio and the book cover are foil stamped in matte black foil. In fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 11 inches. Portfolio measures 7 x 11.5 inches. Unpaginated. (#37863)

Price: $950

Created in Response to Isolation, Anxiety, and Helplessness Experienced During Pandemic
A Textile Book Inspired by Ecosystem of Lichens
Features Embroidered Symbols of the Time Period

Greenwood, Anne.
Nowhere.
Portland, OR: Anne Greenwood, 2023.

Number 2 of 4 copies signed and numbered in stitching by the book artist. Well-known horticulturist and artist Anne Greenwood Rioseco created Nowhere to convey her sense of wonder at the complexity, interdependence, and beauty of constantly transforming ecosystems, both tiny and vast. This complex book chronicles the physiological characteristics of lichens channeling between the personal, the scientific, the philosophical, and the poetic, and Anne employs a layered visual narrative that conceptually mirrors these collective relations. The title "Nowhere" reflects the power of solitude the artist found in the natural world, while in Iceland making the weavings, and the overwhelming shared cultural experience of uncertainty, isolation, loneliness, anxiety and helplessness, felt within the recent Covid epidemic, and the subject of this books: lichen. While lichens are not widely recognized, they are almost ubiquitous in natural environments - everywhere and nowhere.

The collaborations and ideas in the book unfold in its materials and construction; for example all the threads are dyed with plant or insect extracts and are then woven into the fabric. Anne cut up hand-woven Jacquard fabric for the base fabric of imagery in the book, and the fabric was then layered with appliquéd wool felt collage illustrations. She added hand-embroidered cosmological symbols to convey further information about the period of time in which the book was made. Each image thus consists of collaged layers: digital weave structures; photographs of fungus; hand-drawn text; wool felt pieces; and patterns of migrating Arctic Terns. It incorporates digital Jacquard weaving, hand-embroidery, appliqué, natural dyes, wool, silk & cotton fibers. The black linen accordion binding was fabricated by Portland Garment Factory.

This stunning work was included in an exciting exhibition in Iceland, "Threads | Þræðir Intertwined" held in 2023. About the exhibition: "Textile Books and textiles are the two forms of artistic expression that have the longest history and tradition in Iceland, but it is rare that books and textiles are intertwined. This exhibition showcases artists’ books and textile pieces by Icelandic artists and visiting artists who have been inspired by the country’s landscapes, people, language and textile traditions. The works in this exhibition are connected through stitching, weaving, knotting, tying, binding, pattern and storyline. The artists have found parallel lives in each other, unintentionally approaching art and life in similar fashions across oceans and between generations."

The book has an accordion structure and can be opened up to 223.5 inches. Held in a yellow cloth bag with the title embroidered on the front side. This is.a beautiful creation by an exceptional artist. In fine condition. Measures 10 x 11 x 3.5 inches closed. (#37013)

Price: $5,200

A Humorous Work Created to Document to "Regrettable" Behaviors During the Pandemic
Over 300 People Contributed Their Own Small Regrets

[Grey Zone Press]
Sollod, Ellen, book artist.
The Book of Small Regrets.
Seattle: Grey Zone Press, 2022.

Number 30 of 50 copies signed and numbered on the colophon by the book artist, Ellen Sollod. This is a witty and engaging book from this accomplished book artist that she states "has all of your woes in one place." Ellen writes on her website: "Neither a literary work nor a graphic novel, it is a sequential visual experience, creating an empathetic and heartfelt journey through these small difficulties we all encounter." The Book of Small Regrets was conceived in response to the forced isolation of COVID when even small missteps could seem catastrophic. As an antidote, Ellen decided to create this artist book to help vanquish these little black clouds that immediately overwhelm, then linger and fade, only to be replaced by another when one least expects it. Like getting over anything, admitting your regrets is the first step to recovery. Naturally, Ellen wanted others to be able to be rid of theirs too. So, she reached out through her social network to over 300 people, asking them to contribute their own small regrets (to be presented anonymously) as a way to “unburden themselves” as part of the generative process of making the work. Later she solicited impulse purchases made and comfort foods eaten during the pandemic. The responses served as prompts for Ellen’s watercolor paintings, photographs and text, embracing irony, humor and generosity. Neither a literary work nor a graphic novel, it is a sequential visual experience, creating an empathetic and heartfelt journey through these small difficulties we all encounter."

Ellen is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Pacific Northwest. Her practice includes large scale, site-specific public art, multimedia temporary installations, artist books, photography, photo-based works, and occasional sound and video projects. Her work is deeply embedded in research and experimentation. Diverse in form and subject matter, much of her studio-based work weaves the personal with the political, while her site-based works explore the psychological intersection of landscape and memory. Ellen complements her independent studio practice with interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists, landscape architects and other artists. Sollod is an artist/activist, grounded in a commitment to civic, environmental and social responsibility.

The book is digitally printed on Mohawk Superfine paper by Girlie Press. It includes hand drawn and water color images, photographs and text. Free endpage and and endpapers done with “small regrets” printed in multiple lines in white over blue paper. Hardcover bound in black linen with a metallic blue foil stamp on the front cover and spine. Binding by Phil’s Custom Bindery. Illustrations, photography, writing and design by Ellen Sollod. In fine condition. Measures 6.25 x 5.25 inches. 136 french-fold pages. (#37927)

Price: $250

Diary-like Writings Reflecting News and Death Tolls During Pandemic
Letterpress Printed with Images of Coronavirus Molecules

[Intima Press]
Belloff, Mindy, book artist.
Pandemic.
New York: Intima Press, 2022.

Number 6 of 10 copies signed and numbered by the noted book artist. Mindy Belloff writes of her book: "This book developed through the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, beginning in March of 2020. The diary-like writings helped me to process the overwhelming information in the news media about the global spread and daily death tolls from Covid-19....As of the final printing and even with the vaccine rolled out, there are over 1 million deaths in the U.S. and over 6 million deaths recorded world-wide." The book was created using materials found around Mindy's studio. The text was handset in Bodoni and printed on a variety of thick cotton rag papers in white, tan, and greys, including Somerset and Arches. She ran the press without ink, printing in blind emboss. Hand written text on the bottom of the pages was printed from photopolymer plates with grey ink to mimic the original pencil writing, and images of coronavirus molecules were letterpress printed with metallic gold ink. The book is Coptic bound in cream cloth with a letterpress printed design and printed title label. In fine condition. Measures 5.75 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [about 32 pages]. (#37224)

Price: $775

Book Art Object Created During the Pandemic

Kokin, Lisa.
Classified.
El Sobrante, CA: Lisa Kokin, 2022.

Part of The Wordless Library series, which were created by the artist during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kokin describes this series: "I have no words for what we as a world have been going through since Covid arrived and the response by many governments, including our own, has been grossly inadequate. My internal word and story repository is empty; the narrative has been rendered asemic. In The Wordless Library series, I make conceptual book-like objects by sewing on metal with my beat up old jalopy of a Kenmore sewing machine, circa 1975. It is immensely satisfying, even cathartic, to puncture the metal with my machine. I start each piece without a preconceived notion of what it will become. I patinate, I puncture, and I perforate. At times I include scraps of fabric onto which the patina bleeds, creating a blue-green tint. The threadless stitches follow lines reminiscent of text; sometimes they are even grouped into “words.” Other times they look as though an animal has bored into them, creating uneven lacunae. Some are books with pages, unreadable and repetitive, forming random lines and patterns, stark and minimalist, artifacts of the times we are living through."

Made from a sheet of patinated copper, thread, and linen. Size: 6 x 6.75 x 3 inches. In fine condition.

Lisa is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts. Since 2010 she has worked one-on-one with dozens of artists both locally and through Zoom. Her program is an outgrowth of many years of experience mentoring graduate students in colleges and universities. Her artists’ books can be found in a number of public collections. (#37521)

Price: $850

Book Art Object Created During the Pandemic

Kokin, Lisa.
Devoured.
El Sobrante, CA: Lisa Kokin, 2021.

Part of The Wordless Library series, which were created by the artist during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kokin describes this series: "I have no words for what we as a world have been going through since Covid arrived and the response by many governments, including our own, has been grossly inadequate. My internal word and story repository is empty; the narrative has been rendered asemic. In The Wordless Library series, I make conceptual book-like objects by sewing on metal with my beat up old jalopy of a Kenmore sewing machine, circa 1975. It is immensely satisfying, even cathartic, to puncture the metal with my machine. I start each piece without a preconceived notion of what it will become. I patinate, I puncture, and I perforate. At times I include scraps of fabric onto which the patina bleeds, creating a blue-green tint. The threadless stitches follow lines reminiscent of text; sometimes they are even grouped into “words.” Other times they look as though an animal has bored into them, creating uneven lacunae. Some are books with pages, unreadable and repetitive, forming random lines and patterns, stark and minimalist, artifacts of the times we are living through."

Made from a sheet of patinated copper. Size: 8 x 10 x 5 inches. In fine condition.

Lisa is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts. Since 2010 she has worked one-on-one with dozens of artists both locally and through Zoom. Her program is an outgrowth of many years of experience mentoring graduate students in colleges and universities. Her artists’ books can be found in a number of public collections. (#37522)

Price: $975

Unique Textile Artists' Book
Inspired by Images of Grave Sites in Brazil

Kokin, Lisa.
Fray.
El Sobrante, CA: Lisa Kokin, 2022.

According to the artist: "I had been making work using repetitive rectangles when I saw a photograph of a Brazilian graveyard for people who had perished from COVID. Some of the graves were embellished with flowers and other mementos, while others were bare or minimally decorated. Using stitching and fiber collage and working intuitively, I made hundreds of small rectangles and pieced them together to form the work that comprises Raw Edge.

Part of my practice involves mining past unsuccessful pieces and reworking them. I do this by reducing the work to tiny snippets, often using the “wrong” side, and reassembling them into asymmetrical grids made of rectangles of synthetic felt, upholstery samples, clothing, metal, sewing notions and other easily available materials which are often not considered aesthetically interesting."

Fray is hand sewn using the artist's collection of French grain sacks for the base pages which were then embellished with buttons, pins, ribbons, bits of patterned cloth and trim. Each page is embroidered with a maze of white, red, and black threads outlining symbolic grave sites and encapsulated bodies. It is stab bound with knotted threads. It is housed in a plain handsewn off-white bag made from the same material. [24 pages.] In fine condition.

Lisa is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts. Since 2010 she has worked one-on-one with dozens of artists both locally and through Zoom. Her program is an outgrowth of many years of experience mentoring graduate students in colleges and universities. Her artists’ books can be found in a number of public collections. (#37517)

Price: $6,000

Book Art Object Created During the Pandemic

Kokin, Lisa.
On the Margins.
El Sobrante, CA: Lisa Kokin, 2022.

Part of The Wordless Library series, which were created by the artist during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kokin describes this series: "I have no words for what we as a world have been going through since Covid arrived and the response by many governments, including our own, has been grossly inadequate. My internal word and story repository is empty; the narrative has been rendered asemic. In The Wordless Library series, I make conceptual book-like objects by sewing on metal with my beat up old jalopy of a Kenmore sewing machine, circa 1975. It is immensely satisfying, even cathartic, to puncture the metal with my machine. I start each piece without a preconceived notion of what it will become. I patinate, I puncture, and I perforate. At times I include scraps of fabric onto which the patina bleeds, creating a blue-green tint. The threadless stitches follow lines reminiscent of text; sometimes they are even grouped into “words.” Other times they look as though an animal has bored into them, creating uneven lacunae. Some are books with pages, unreadable and repetitive, forming random lines and patterns, stark and minimalist, artifacts of the times we are living through."

Made from a sheet of patinated copper, thread, and cotton. Size: 6 x 6 x 3.5 inches.

Lisa is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts. Since 2010 she has worked one-on-one with dozens of artists both locally and through Zoom. Her program is an outgrowth of many years of experience mentoring graduate students in colleges and universities. Her artists’ books can be found in a number of public collections. Fine. (#37518)

Price: $850

Collection of Stick Puppets Featured in Madness: Reading Hamlet in the Time of Covid-19 and Other Plagues

Martin, Emily, book artist.
Hamlet Stick Puppets.
Iowa City: Emily Martin, 2023.

One of 6 copies and the last one available for sale. The Hamlet stick puppets are the same as the puppets fixed in the pages of my artist’s book Madness: Reading Hamlet in the Time of Covid-19 and Other Plagues, with the additional character Horatio. Here the puppets have been released and given stick supports so they can be played with, performed with, or just admired as a gaggle of interesting costumed characters. Horatio is costumed differently from the other eight, he is more covered up, possibly armored. The others have their soft under-bellies exposed. Horatio is also the only one left alive at the end of the play. The creation of the puppets allowed me to consider each of the characters as individuals with their own motivations and personalities. The puppets and subsequent book were created during the pandemic and the appearance and content were very much shaped by my time in isolation. I struggled to make sense of the project in a world gone crazy. A booklet describing the project with selected lines for each of the characters is included.

Emily Martin earned an MFA degree in painting, from the University of Iowa in 1979 and made her first artist’s books at that time. She joined the faculty of the University of Iowa Center for the Book in 1998 where she teaches artists books, paper engineering, and traditional bookbinding classes. Martin makes limited edition artists books first as the Naughty Dog Press, now using her name only. She has produced over fifty artist’s books, often using movable and/or sculptural paper engineering techniques. Martin’s books are included in public and private collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; the Tate Britain, the Library of Congress and others.   
The eight puppets were printed letterpress with polymer plates from Boxcar Press on University of Iowa Center for the Book Chancery paper and are costumed in papers of wheat straw, sisal, daylily fibers, and abaca paste papers made by Andrea Peterson. The puppets, booklet, and the support sticks are housed in a black cloth covered clamshell box. There are four sets of puppets. All of the Madness projects were funded in part by a grant from the College Book Art Association and I thank them. In fine condition. The puppets measure about 10 inches each. The clamshell box measures 9.50 x 13 x 2.75 inches. A white paper label with the title is affixed to the spine of the box. Fine. (#37234)

Price: $600

Crazy Quilt Printing of Hamlet - with interspersed thoughts by the artist on BLM, fear, insurrection, death, isolation, and other topics of the time
Includes Bound In Puppets

Martin, Emily, book artist; William Shakespeare.
Madness: Reading Hamlet in the Time of Covid-19 and Other Plagues.
Iowa City: Emily Martin, 2022.

Number 19 of 25 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Emily Martin says of this personal and inventive book: " Madness was created during the pandemic and went through many forms before it became what you see here. It’s appearance and content are very much shaped by my time in isolation. Initially, I copied out the play Hamlet by hand starting in March 2020 because I was too anxious to sit and read. I also was making paper puppets for companionship. The project kept changing as events swirled around me. I struggled to make sense of the project in a world gone crazy. The text is a crazy quilt arrangement of lines from Hamlet and my writing on repeating themes of fear, disease, Black Lives Matter, Asian hate crimes, the insurrection, so much death and isolation. " She further comments on her colophon: "Madness went through many forms before it became what you see here. It has taken me much longer to figure than any book I have ever made before. The combination of subject matter that was centuries old with happenings in the minute complicated my thinking beyond measure."

About the artist: Emily Martin earned an MFA degree in painting, from the University of Iowa in 1979 and made her first artist’s books at that time. Martin joined the faculty of the University of Iowa Center for the Book in 1998 where she teaches artists books, paper engineering, and traditional bookbinding classes. Martin made limited edition artists books first as the Naughty Dog Press, but now uses her name only. She has produced over fifty artist’s books, often using movable and/or sculptural paper engineering techniques. Martin’s books are included in public and private collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands; The Victoria and Albert Museum; The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; the Tate Britain; the Library of Congress and among many others.

Madness was printed letterpress with polymer plates from Boxcar Press on Arches Text wove paper. The background pattern of the pages is made up of my renderings of tears, drops of blood, Covid-19 particles and bullet holes. The paper puppet inclusions were printed on University of Iowa Center for the Book Chancery paper and are costumed in papers of wheat straw, sisal, daylily fibers, and abaca paste papers made by Andrea Peterson. The puppets are attached to their pages but are engineered to be able to be lifted away from them and gently move. The book was constructed as an accordion and the pages can be extended and displayed. The non-adhesive brown covers are flax and abaca papers made by Mary Hark for the outside and flax papers from the University of Iowa Center for the Book for the inside. White title label is affixed to the front cover and to the spine of its box. Housed in a black cloth covered clamshell box. A fascinating book in fine condition. Measures 8 x 11 inches. Unpaginated. (#36424)

Price: $1,500

Created During the Pandemic - Addresses Climate Change, Covid, Racial Injustice, and More
Includes a Making of Booklet and Video

[Moving Parts Press]
Rice, Felicia, book artist and printer; Theresa Whitehill, poet; Inge Bruggeman, preface to The Heavy Lifting Companion.
Heavy Lifting.
Mendocino CA: Moving Parts Press, 2022.

Number 38 of 60 copies, signed by the book artist, the poet, and the binder, Craig Jensen. There were 48 copies of the standard edition and 12 copies of the deluxe edition. The books are accompanied by a digitally produced book The Heavy Lifting Companion, and the film On Heavy Lifting, all housed in a clamshell book box. Every book in the two editions is accompanied by the film, "On Heavy Lifting" on an SD card, but the deluxe edition also includes a second clamshell box that holds a laser cut printing plate and a digital viewer loaded with the film and eight other shorts.

This magnificent bookwork from Felicia Rice and Theresa Whitehill is a complex production that conveys the important messages that the artist and poet created from their collaboration. From the press website: "Heavy Lifting is a fierce work that names the darkness in the belief that the first stage of recovery from grief is acknowledgment, and that the precursor to action can be anger. It is a response to a call sounded by artist/educator Paul Soulellis in 2021: 'Publishing has always been political, but has it ever felt as urgent as it does right now in the global distress and intersecting crises of the past year? There’s a desperate need for new language to express publishing’s renewed urgency and importance. …let’s turn away from old, legacy publishing models towards something new: an ethics, craft, and politics of urgent making.”

The genesis for this project sadly was a devastating megafire in August 2020 that destroyed almost one thousand structures in Santa Cruz, where Rice had lived and worked for fifty years. The fire took her home, her letterpress shop and an entire inventory of artists' books. She and her husband were able to relocate to her family home in Mendocino to try to start over. She fought back by starting work on a new book project that addressed the personal crisis of losing her home and shop to fire, but also what she termed the collective crises experienced during this time - Covid, climate change, racial injustice, the threat of totalitarianism, and immigration among them. Her collaboration with her friend and colleague Whitehill began after the poet sent her a poem that Rice knew she could use as the driving force for the new book. Whitehill subsequently composed fourteen deeply emotional poems for their now joint project. Ultimately this project grew into much more than an edition of sixty artist's books. Rice and Whitehall developed a commercially printed companion book, an experimental video, and a listening tour throughout northern California. (Rice and Whitehill were interviewed and wrote in detail about their collaboration and its broad influence and effects in the Mendocino Real Estate Magazine issued in January 2023. It is available on the website: https://realestatemendocino.com).

This is an accordion-fold book and clamshell book box covered in Brillianta book cloth by Craig Jensen of BookLab II. Typeset in Stempel Garamond and Faster One types and printed from lasercut and photopolymer plates on Arches Watercolor paper. Images created by Rice and printed from lasercut wood plates made by Rice and photopolymer plates made by The Artichoke Press. Letterpress and relief printing by Rice using a Vandercook proof press. The book is comprised of two nested accordion-fold panels: Panel 1 “Birds”: 10 x 14.5 x 80 and Panel 2 “Crises”: 10 x 12.5 x 100 ; Panels extended: 15 end-to-end. Book: 10 x 14.5 x .75 Clamshell Case: 11 x 15.625 x 1.625 . In fine condition. (#37238)

Price: $2,700

Poetry & Images - Created in Response to the Pandemic
In English and Spanish

Orozco, Olga (poet); Catalina Chervin (illustrator); Melanie Nicholson (translator); Patricio Gatti (printing); Mariana Pariani (graphic design).
Sol Negro | Black Sun.
Buenos Aires: LIBRO UNICO, 2022.

Number 10 of 10 copies, numbered and signed by the artist, printed on handmade paper made by Vicky and Pablo Sigwald at Molino del Manzano's Mill and illustrated with two giclée reproductions of the drawings using archival-quality pigment inks. An additional 6 copies were printed on Indian Khadi handmade paper with two original illustrations. Letterpress printed at Imprenta Ideal by Patricio Gatti. Most of the copies in this series have been hand bound in unique bindings by Sol Rébora; however, this copy is unbound and is issued in sheets. The leaves are in the original handmade paper wrapper with blind stamped circle design to front panel. Text in Spanish and English. Housed in a brown paper case with paper label to spine panel.

"Orozco's verses force us to acknowledge the stubbornness that stirs us to create ambiguities in our many facades, eager to hide what has torn us apart or to show off what makes us proud. To our delight, Catalina Chervin and Melanie Nicholson have added several elements to Orozco's original potion: the former with her drawings and the latter with her translation. Together, they show us that those moments of darkness, such as an eclipse or black sun, confinement or the pandemic, push us to reckon with the true skin we live in, the one we tirelessly and unyieldingly use in the construction of our countless identities" (prologue). Size: 8.5 x 12 inches. Unpaginated. [24 pages.] Fine. (#37879)

Price: $600

A Backyard Book of Birds and Behaviors - Documented During the Pandemic
Letterpress Printed

[Pie in the Sky Press]
Chamlee, Rebecca. book artist.
Dreams of Flight, The Nesting Season.
Simi Valley, CA: Pie in the Sky Press, 2022.

Number 8 of 30 copies, signed and numbered by the book artist. Rebecca Chamlee is a book artist, printer, writer, and bookbinder who has published innovatively designed, letterpress printed, limited-edition fine press, and artist’s books under the imprint of Pie In The Sky Press since 1986. Her work is in prominent special and private collections throughout the U.S. and has been exhibited widely. As a self-taught naturalist and citizen scientist, Rebecca’s artist’s books examine the intersection of her artistic and scientific interests by collecting and cataloging the natural world. Rebecca retired in 2023 as an associate professor at Otis College of Art and Design where she taught bookbinding, letterpress printing, and artist’s book classes and headed the Book Arts minor program for over 20 years [from the artist's website].

Chamlee writes about her book: "During the long months of isolation in 2020 and 2021, I began documenting the many birds that came to my backyard feeders and noted their unique behaviors. With a telephoto lens, I was able to record detailed and intimate images of my avian visitors. As often happens, the passion I felt for the birds grew into the idea for an artist’s book. Dreams of Flight, the nesting season is an interconnected story of three different species of birds that nested in my suburban yard during the spring nesting seasons of 2020–21. The book was created entirely at home. Printed in the colors of the birds on the Vandercook Universal III power press in the living room studio using Deepdene and 20th Century type with assorted wood type from the Pie in the Sky Press collection. The original images were captured through the window over the press with a Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 lens mounted on a Nikon D850 camera and printed with photo polymer plates made by Boxcar Press." The blue binding with an abstract gilt image of a bird's wing is a flutter book structure, a type of accordion where the fore-edges of the pages are pasted together but the spine is not. A tan cloth magnetic spine supports the backbone of the book and can be removed for reading and display. Printed on cotton cloud paper that was handmade to order by Tom Balbo. The endsheets are Hahnemuhle Bugra. The text paper is Wa-Mix Kozo and Clairefontaine Simili Japon with sewn-in wings of cloud paper and colored Bugra to match the birds. The book is housed in a blue bookcloth-covered clamshell box and includes a suite of three prints printed in four colors on 320gsm Izumi paper, enclosed in handmade St. Armand Papeterie blue paper folder. The box is housed in a protective blue stiff paper clamshell box with a slightly smudged title label on the cover. In fine condition. Measures 6 x 10 x .75 inches. Box measures 8.75 x 10.75 x 1.5 inches. Unpaginated [24 pages]. (#37387)

Price: $1,250

Alphabet Book - Created During the Covid Lockdown

Plimpton, Sarah, artist.
Alphabet.
New York: Sarah Plimpton, 2021.

Number 2 of 8 copies written and illustrated by the artist. Sarah Plimpton was born in New York City and divides her time between New York and France. She works in several media; oil painting, printmaking and artists’ books and is also a poet. Her books are in such collections as The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The New York Public Library, The Morgan Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In this handsome work, Plimpton illustrated each letter of the alphabet with a drawing and wrote a few poetic words for each on the page following. She did the original drawings for this during the Covid lockdown. She says: "When Covid came I was no longer able to get to my studio. I was forced to work at home. I had always wanted to paint the alphabet.  Now I had the time - so in preparation for painting I drew every letter. I didn't have the intention to make a book but people liked the drawings so much that I went ahead and did the book after Covid was over. The comments after each letter in the book are perhaps more related to my view of the world than to Covid but I would never have made the book without Covid. When I was back in my studio I painted every letter on paper. I had a show at the June Kelly Gallery last year (2023) where all the painted letters were up on the wall."

Set in Caslon 540 type and printed on Somerset paper. The images were printed by Erik Hougan at LESP and the text was printed by Brad Ewing at The Grenfell Press in NY. The book is softcover bound with a Coptic style binding and housed in a green clamshell box with black titling. Both were made by Claudia Cohen. In fine condition. Measures 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Unpaginated. (#35749)

Price: $1,250

Created During the Pandemic
Eco Printed Images

Schiffman, Ellen, book artist.
Sunshine on Delighted Earth.
Weston, CT: Ellen Schiffman, 2022.

Ellen Schiffman has worked as a professional artist for over 30 years in her Connecticut studio. She is a multimedia artist working in a range of modalities including fiber art, collage, sculpture, photography, printing, cyanotype, eco printing and, most recently, book art. She often combines multiple media in a single piece. Throughout her career, she has been an avid explorer of both material and technique, often including found objects and everyday humble items in her pieces. Serendipity and surprise are hallmarks of her singular work. She has exhibited her work nationwide, including numerous museum shows and solo exhibits. She has received multiple awards for her work and has been featured in online and print publications, including several books. Her work reflects a fascination with texture, pattern, color, organic shapes, sculptural forms, the majesty of nature, and the beauty of imperfection.

The pandemic shut-down provided Ellen with an abundance of time to explore and experiment with some media that were new to her. She started making books during this time. She felt an immediate connection with the materials and the techniques of this compelling art form and found the process of making books a meditative balm for stressful times. Books have allowed her the opportunity to present her work in new and exciting ways. She celebrates the fact, unlike most other forms of art, the viewer gets to touch and interact with a book, thereby becoming an active participant in the process of the book becoming a meaningful piece of art. She frequently uses her books to present a body of related art work, while just as often she uses them as vehicles to capture the essence of memorable places, issues and moments in time. As the worst of the pandemic has subsided, Ellen has continued her book making journey, exhibiting her books in notable book art exhibits nationwide. Sunshine on Delighted Earth is an eco-printed books made during the pandemic. Eco-printing is a multi-step technique where either live or preserved plants are processed in such a way that they yield both their image and their colors onto paper, fabric and other substrates. The process is serendipitous, with resultant images that can be crisp and realistic, amorphous and dreamlike, brightly colored or muted.".

Ellen's book includes 8 lovely eco printed images of leaves and branches in muted colors of yellow, green, and brown. They are mounted on sheets of cream paper and presented in concertina form. Found twigs and raffia ties separate the images in the mountain and valley folds of the book, serving as stilts to hold the book open for display on a shelf. Bound in textured brown covers which enhance with the overall earthiness of the book. An eco-print and title label appear on the front cover. Rustic fabric ties close the book. In fine condition measures. 5 x 12.5 inches. Unpaginated. (#37361)

Price: $550

Created During the Pandemic
A Meander Book Structure with Images from Nature

Schiffman, Ellen, book artist.
Wander.
Weston, CT: Ellen Schiffman, 2023.

Ellen Schiffman has worked as a professional artist for over 30 years in her Connecticut studio. She is a multimedia artist working in a range of modalities including fiber art, collage, sculpture, photography, printing, cyanotype, eco printing and, most recently, book art. She often combines multiple media in a single piece. Throughout her career, she has been an avid explorer of both material and technique, often including found objects and everyday humble items in her pieces. Serendipity and surprise are hallmarks of her singular work. She has exhibited her work nationwide, including numerous museum shows and solo exhibits. She has received multiple awards for her work and has been featured in online and print publications, including several books. Her work reflects a fascination with texture, pattern, color, organic shapes, sculptural forms, the majesty of nature, and the beauty of imperfection.

The pandemic shut-down provided Ellen with an abundance of time to explore and experiment with some media that were new to her. She started making books during this time. She felt an immediate connection with the materials and the techniques of this compelling art form and found the process of making books a meditative balm for stressful times. Books have allowed her the opportunity to present her work in new and exciting ways. She celebrates the fact, unlike most other forms of art, the viewer gets to touch and interact with a book, thereby becoming an active participant in the process of the book becoming a meaningful piece of art. She frequently uses her books to present a body of related art work, while just as often she uses them as vehicles to capture the essence of memorable places, issues and moments in time. As the worst of the pandemic has subsided, Ellen has continued her book making journey, exhibiting her books in notable book art exhibits nationwide.

Ellen describes the interesting meander structure she used for this book. "A meander book is a type of concertina made by folding a single sheet of paper sideways, upside-down and backwards, creating many delightful iterations, both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional.” This book is composed of original nature photographs reduced to black and white, and printed on red paper on one side and white on the other. It can be laid out flat, exposing either the red side or the white, or it can be folded willy-nilly to expose some of each. It is engaging conversation piece of bookmaking fun. The nature photographs used for this book are affixed to stiff red paper boards. The images printed the white side have decorative red threads that emphasize the black and white image. The book is housed in a custom-made box with light gray cloth covers and red cloth sides to the box, with black and white images affixed. Box cover has black and white image and title label. It closes with a red ribbon. In near fine condition. Book measures 5 x 5 inches; Box is 5.75 x 5.75 inches. Unpaginated. (#37366)

Price: $425

Broadside Promoting Vaccinations - in response to Covid-19 vaccine push back

[Starshaped Press]
Farrell, Jennifer, book artist and printer.
Vaccinations Save Lives - Broadsided.
Chicago: Starshaped Press, 2021.

1 of 50 copies. Printed as part of the Project Chicago campaign - which involved working with the Design Museum of Chicago to invite artists to help spread the word about getting vaccinated. The project called for only digital art, but the Starshaped Press decided to create a set a of limited edition posters that encompass the elements of Chicago - from its buildings and gardens to its neighborhoods, with a message to consider both self, family, and community. This poster is not only intended to promote the Covid-19 vaccine, but all vaccines. It is a reminder of the good work that these shots do. Letterpress printed in 7 colors on recycled white card stock. Proceeds from sales benefit Heartland Alliance and Howard Brown Health, two Chicago based organizations working hard to get vaccines to marginalized populations of the city. Size: 14 inches square. Fine. (#35444)

Price: $100