Inspired by Emily Dickinson's Poem "Hope"
American Book Artist - Washington, DC

[Abstract Orange]
Dickinson, Emily, Lauren Emeritz, book artist.
Hope.
Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2021.

Number 9 of 10 copies of this inventive work by Lauren Emeritz in honor of Emily Dickinson. The artist's statement: "This book was based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson and released on her birthday, December 10th. The book started as visual interpretation of the words 'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul' with a thing of feathers perched in a box." The simple construction mimics that of a case-bound book, with a spine and fore-edge but it is actually a box. The box is made of basswood and the spine is white birch wood veneer. A gentle wire clasp holds the book shut, but not locked shut. "Inside the box is "the thing with feathers. "The 'thing' is not a bird with a beak and feet, but a grouping of brightly colored orange feathers. They do not represent a specific bird, but rather a fictional idea of a thing with feathers. The feathers are made from cut paper that is scored to looks like feathers and held together by a simple wire. The cover is a bright, glowing yellow with the title in orange letterpress printed type, and a wooden “inlay” with the author's name. This represents that the while the poem is by her and she was the inspiration for the piece, the piece is not just about her, but the idea of hope [artist's statement]." In fine condition. Measures 5.25 x 7.25 x 1 inches. 

Lauren Emeritz is a book artist, letterpress printer and graphic artist who founded and runs Abstract Orange. She creates prints and books by hand using a Vandercook press and wood type, including type she designs and carves herself. Lauren holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Delaware. She is the President and Creative Director of Abstract Orange, a graphic design firm in Washington, DC, and a letterpress associate at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Maryland.  Her work can be found in many institutional and private collections. (#36523)

Price: $450

Embroidered and Hand Beaded Tapestry on Life During the Covid-19 Lockdown
In English and Spanish
Mexican / Russian Book Artist

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. 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. Size: about 58 x 58 inches. Box size: 15.5 x 15.5 inches. Fine. (#36431)

Price: $5,000 

History of a Philadelphia Block - from Botanic Garden to Cemetery to Factory to Community Garden
American Book Artist - Philadelphia

Austin, Alice.
To the Garden.
Philadelphia: Alice Austin, 2019.

Number 5 of 15 copies, signed by the artist. A short history of one city block in Philadelphia - 1000 Block of Washington Avenue - which began as Mr. Parker's botanic garden in 1820, then became Machpelah Cemetery in 1830, then a factory (which burnt down in 1993), and finally, in 1995, the Bel Arbor Community Garden. The text is poetically written by the artist and illustrated with a colorful array of linoleum prints of plants from the garden. An accordion book bound in light green Twinrocker handmade paper with title to cover and linocut illustration wrapping around the binding. The text is hand-set in Cheltenham type and is printed on Somerset paper. Includes a pamphlet with linocut illustration of a maiden hair fern and computer printed text describing the history of the garden in more depth including the artist's personal involvement in starting it in 1995. Both items are housed in a grey archival box with paper title label to spine panel. Book: [12 pages], 9 x 9.75 x 1 inches. Pamphlet: [8 pages], 5.5 x 4.25 inches.

Alice Austin is a printmaker, book artist and painter living and working in Philadelphia. She has been on the faculty at the University of the Arts, teaching book structures, and has also taught workshops at the Center for Book Arts in New York, Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland, The Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, and other institutions. She earned a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and has been an active member of the Guild of Book Workers since 1998. She worked as a rare book and paper conservator for over 20 years at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Alice has also been awarded several artist residencies in Europe, and her work is widely held in private, public and special collections worldwide. Fine. (#37149)

Price: $1,200 

Mythical Story About Beauty Personified
American Book Artist - Virginia

Bagby, Monalisa.
The Good Woman.
Richmond, VA: Monalisa Bagby, 2020.

One of four copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Lisa Bagby describes this intricate and mysterious book as "a magical tale of how beauty enters the world and the intertwine of fate and potential." She explores her theme by following the journey of an unnamed good woman who realizes that as she responds to circumstances over which she has no control that she is realizing her potential in ways she could not have imagined.

The artist incorporates striking visual and structural designs throughout this book to trace the course of the good woman's journey. They include screen printed patterns of foliage and shapes, the use of colors and various papers to delineate the text, pop-ups and reverse pop-ups, and images from a Lichtenstein print, and a Chagall painting. The backs of the pages of this concertina book are also screen printed using the colors black, orange, and gray. All of the images on the back relate to the story unfolding on the front side. They include the constellation Ursa Major to refer to the mention of a black bear, while an image of a polar bear refers to stories told to the good woman about the North people. Postage stamps of birds pasted in pertain to their cacophony. Printed in Roboto on Rives paper, with insertions of various other fonts. It is bound in grey cloth with maroon floral designs on the front cover, with a black string tie with a maroon and cream button attached. In fine condition. Measures 8.25 x 8.25 x 1 inches. (#34616)

Price: $1,200 

Celebration of Gardens
American Book Artist - California

[Bay Park Press]
Rubottom, Sibyl and Jim Machacek.
Gardens of Delight. Bouquets of Flora and Botanical Poetry.
San Diego: Bay Park Press / False Bay Editions, 2009.

Number 12 of 20 copies. An exquisite production fr. Hardcover. Number 12 of 20 copies. Founded by Sibyl Rubottom and Jim Machacek in 2000, the Bay Park Press produces artists' books, offers classes, and holds book arts' exhibitions. Their books address a wide range of subjects from the universe to gardening to opera to Yiddish and more. Most are letterpress printed, many have moveable pieces, and all are illustrated.

This out-of print book is an exquisite work from Sibyl Rubottom and Jim Machacek. It was inspired by Sibyl’s interest in all things botanical and Jim’s family heritage. The result is what they hoped for - "a riotous colorscape for your senses” - with rich and luminous colors and beautiful illustrations. It includes 14 unbound folded folio sized leaves that are housed in a folding case. Twelve of the leaves are dedicated to different types of gardens, each in a different color, with designs and writings to reflect that garden. The gardens are: Japanese, butterfly, desert, night, orchid, primordial, mystical, rose, water, Eros, secret, and herb. Each features a poem or prose by such writers as John Milton, Rumi, Homer, Lord Byron, Robert Frost, Oscar Wilde, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The two other folded leaves are for the title and for the colophon. Printed on Fabriano Rosapina Blanco paper in Venus, Edwardian Script, and Palatino typefaces using letterpress, monoprint, and intaglio techniques. Housed in a custom box in brown cloth lined with handmade paper. The covers open from the middle with a title label on one side and a small metal rectangle with wooden peg closure on the other. In fine condition. Unpaginated. [56 pages.] (#26103)

Price: $1,500 

Unique Manuscript - Apocalyptic Visions and Social Critique
American Book Artist - California

Beck, Anne.
State.
Brooklyn, NY: Anne Beck, 2000.

Anne Beck is an interdisciplinary artist working collaboratively & independently in a wide variety of media from paper, print & book making to painting & textiles to social practice. Through her work, Anne explores the roles of amateur naturalist and lay surveyor of the current landscape – collecting specimens & recording data, cataloguing that which seems useful, and investigating further that which seems impermeable. This is all in the context of envisioning a sustainable path forward for herself and the planet, which is often a playful exercise in the face of absurd & complex circumstance. Anne lives & works in Northern California. She also a core member of The Printmakers Left, an international collective working together for over 20 years now on artist books, printed matter & installations. She is also half of the collaborative team behind The Rhinoceros Project exploring the communal & revolutionary power of sewing circles & hand papermaking.

This provocative work is a unique manuscript. It begins with whimsical pictures and apocalyptic visions of a high-tech synthetic mechanized culture and evolves into a loose social history and critique. The pages were originally painted in a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as individual paintings but then coalesced into this evocative book. The images are varied in design and image, and sometimes mysterious as there is no text. They were hand painted and drawn with casein, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, ink, graphite, and collaged intaglio on heavy watercolor paper. The endpapers are hand-made cotton rag paper. It is handsewn and casebound in found gray suede printed with a black outlined map of the American West. In fine condition. Measures 12.375 x 8,75 inches closed. 56 pages. Fine. (#36515)

Price: $5,900 

Catalog of Miniature Books from the Bo Press
American Book Artist - California

[Bo Press Miniature Books]
Pat Sweet and Tom Knechtel.
History of the Bo Press. 2 Volumes.
Riverside, CA: Bo Press Miniature Books, 2021.

Pat Sweet describes herself as creating illuminated miniature books of curiosity, humor, and delight. She creates both miniature (under 3 inches) and macro-miniature (under 1 inch) books. This book is from a limited edition, which is signed by the artist. Number 29 of 30 variant copies. Each copy is in a different box, bound in papers to match the box.

According to the book artist: "Bo Press Miniature Books began in 2007 with a little book called Celestial Variations. Since then, another one hundred and forty-seven (one hundred and forty-eight now) books have emerged with subjects as diverse as maps of real and imaginary places, poetry, architecture, history, flea circuses, and books themselves. The History of Bo Press is a collection of every book I’ve ever written, illustrated, designed, and published (that I can remember) since then. This is a fairly easygoing bibliography, and a few lacunae are to be expected from someone like me who hates to keep records. The book listings include title, author, illustrator, pages, dime."

Both volumes are bound in tan marbled paper with paper title labels to spines and front boards. Housed in a clamshell box covered in tan marbled paper with black and red dragonfly accents. Lined with black and red dragonfly paper. Each volume is 170 pages. Size: Books: 2 3/4 x 2 1/8 inches; Case: 3 x 2 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches. Fine. (#36784)

Price: $300 

Papercut Book - Inspired by Persian Poem "The Conference of Birds" - with additions of guns and warships to reflect current conflicts
American Book Artist - New York

Coron, Béatrice, book artist; Monique Lallier, binding.
Wings Valleys.
New York: Béatrice Coron, 2022-2023.

Number 3 of 6 copies. French born Béatrice Coron is a renowned artist whose work includes book arts, fine art, and public art. Her work can be found in major museum collections, libraries, as well as private collections. Her books are fascinating creations made through cutting images in paper or Tyvek.

Coron describes her book work: "For the last 20 years, I have been exploring visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Collecting memories from individuals and communities, I stage narrative allegories in silhouette to create a dialogue with the viewer in playful fantasies. These visual chronicles record archetypal stories that transcend time and space. I have been fascinated by the relation of people to their space and the sense of belonging. Using papercutting where everything is cut from a single piece of Tyvek, the profusion of individual stories makes a coherent whole world." [From her website]

This book was inspired by "The Conference of the Birds," a Persian poem of 1177 by Sufi poet Farid ud-din Attar. Ab mid bin Ab Bakr Ibr h m (c. 1145 – c. 1221; Persian, is better known by his pen-names Far d ud-D n and A r of Nishapur (Attar means apothecary), was an Iranian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Sufism. He wrote a collection of lyrical poems and number of long poems in the philosophical tradition of Islamic mysticism, as well as a prose work with biographies and sayings of famous Muslim mystics. The Conference of the Birds, The Book of Divine, and Memorial of the Saints are among his best known works [Wikipedia].

Coron states that the papercuts created for this book display the journey of life through the seven valleys. While keeping the symbolism of the epic poem, the images also represent the environmental and conflictual challenges of today. Her marvelous papercuts were done with dark blue hand-cut Lokta paper, backed in white paper to showcase the papercut images. Each panel has a word: Start, Believe, Explore, Forget, Merge, Trust, and Fuse that reflect the meaning of the images. The book has an accordion structure that allows either to be opened like a codex or to be unfolded to show all of the panels at once. The book is housed loosely in a green leather folder with the images of a bird and the artist's name made in tin affixed to the cover. The book in turn is housed in a bright yellow leather clamshell box with tin images of birds and a title label affixed to the cover. The edges of the box are covered in decorated tin. Each box binding in the edition is unique. Noted bookbinder Monique Lallier made the bindings for both the book and box. A striking production in fine condition. The book measures 7 x 6.5 inches when closed and 7 x 49 inches when opened. (#36766)

Price: $2,250

Catalog Raisonné of Book Artist Maureen Cummins
American Book Artist - New York

Cummins, Maureen.
Retrospective.
Kingston, NY: Maureen Cummins, 2022.

1 of 30 copies. A delightful play upon the traditional catalogue raisonné, this book makes visual reference to scrapbooks, archives, and exhibitions. The text, which culminates in a list of works printed from 1985 to 2021, is comprised of one-page vignettes that speak to a variety of subjects: growing up with books, the artist's early art training and interest in book illustration, apprenticeships and early projects, the influence of travel, research, and history in her practice, and a variety of topics which illuminate - for students, researchers, and collectors alike - the nature and scope of an artist’s life. The text of Retrospective is juxtaposed against a variety of images: actual and reproduced bookpages; a diary page from age 18 describing Cummins's desire to be a book illustrator; documentation of early art projects, edited-out images from editions; and photographs of seminal places in her career, including the Yolla Bolly Press, where she apprenticed; her first printshop, in Brooklyn; the American Antiquarian Society, where she was an artist-in-residence, and Kinngait Studios, a printshop in the Eastern Arctic that she made a pilgrimage to. The structure of the book is staggered pages which fan out like a card deck, allowing the reader to see a slice of each image simultaneously. This presentation creates a blur of color and pattern that invites the reader to explore.

Housed in a wooden box that was specially designed and crafted by Jim Lee. The box contains a side piece which lifts up for easy access to and handling of the book. The cover of the box, constructed out of plexiglass and laser-etched by Sarah Pike, allows the book to be displayed even when it is safely stored. Size: 8.5 x 32 inches. 66 pages. (#36021)

Price: $2,750 

A Documentation of Life's Small Moments - drinking coffee, a phone call with a good friend, etc.
American Book Artists - California & Oregon

[Flying Fish Press & Triangular Press]
Julie Chen and Barbara Tetenbaum.
Glimpse.
Portland and Berkeley: Triangular Press; Flying Fish Press, 2011.

Number 71 of 100 copies. Signed by the highly regarded book artists, Julie Chen and Barbara Tetenbaum. In their statement about the book, they write: "Working together again after almost a decade (Ode to a Grand Staircase, 2001), Glimpse is a new collaboration … inspired by a conversation about how a person translates their life experience into a narrative form: prominent events may stand out as the nameable moments, yet it is the space between these events that life, in fact, is lived." The mid-century photo album structure contains text written by Chen, examining this question. Her text is printed on both surfaces of each of the fifteen hinged sleeves. Windows in the sleeves reveal small glimpses of pull-out cards, each written and printed by Tetenbaum. The cards contain dates and events of the non-important moments of her life illustrated with diagrams, grids, and mundane imagery. Glimpse is letterpress printed using a combination of photopolymer plates, found images, wood blocks, wire, and handset type. It is enclosed in a brown cloth covered box with a multi-color title label and a magnetic closure. In fine condition. Box size: when closed: 8 1/8 inches x 11 3/4 inches x 1 1/8 inches. Unpaginated. Fine. (#37163)

Price: $1,500

Embroidered Book on Lichens and Ecosystems
American Book Artist - Oregon

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

Number 2 of four copies signed and numbered in stitching by the book artist. Well-known horticulturist and artist Anne Greenwood Rioseco created Nowhere - an edition of four fabric art books - 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 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 conditon. Measures 10 x 11 x 3.5 inches closed.  (#37013)

Price: $5,200

Iconic American "Vessels" from 60s and 70s
American Book Artist - Illinois

Hanmer, Karen.
To Serve and Protect: containers, conveyances, and cosmic happenings.
Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2014.

Number 9 of 100 copies. Signed by the author. This book was inspired by a call for entries by the Guild of Book Workers with the theme of "vessel." Karen describes the text of her response as 60% memory and 40% casually researched, mostly on Wikipedia. Karen's book focuses on the iconic containers and conveyances of her childhood and adolescence between roughly 1962-1979. She juxtapositions her text with photographs of such "vessels" as the Chevy Nova, Crock-Pot, Electric Frying Pan, Mood Ring, Frye Boots, the 747, and more. Her words are often amusing, but they also offer astute observations on her family and our society during the period covered. This is the deluxe edition with marbled paper covers by Pamela Smith. Digitally printed and housed in a purple paper covered slip case. Digitally printed. In fine condition. 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [26 pages] (#28829)

Price: $400 

Hand Sewn Book - exploring principle of "tension" using string drawings
American Book Artist - Colorado

Hiebert, Helen, book artist.
Intensio.
Red Cliff, CO: Helen Hiebert Studio, 2021.

Number 16 of 25 copies. Helen Hiebert is a noted paper artist who constructs installations, sculptures, artists’ books and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work internationally and online, and is the author of the several how-to books about papermaking and papercrafts. She writes about this inventive and fascinating work: "My father was a physicist who studied how the universe began, and my mother has degrees in psychotherapy and divinity. My thoughts linger between them as I find myself comparing the tangible puzzles I explore in my work to the invisible physical properties my father researched and the emotional tensions my mother explored. Tension is a pulling force in physics. The strings within these pages cannot be pushed to form a definitive shape: when a page is closed, the thread – without tension – goes slack, lying in chaos between the folds. As you turn the page, extending it to 180 degrees, the single thread pulls taut, and the invisible property of tension creates beauty and order. Each of the eight string drawings is composed with a single piece of linen thread – one continuous line, ranging from six to sixteen feet in length – with one exception: two threads were used to create two parabolas in drawing 7. I constructed each drawing on a flat sheet of paper, punched a pierced pattern, and then stitched in and out of the holes across the scored centerfold – the axis of the page. Two surprisingly different drawings were created in tandem as the needle and thread moved from the front to the back of each page, and there is a sequence to the stitching that is not readily visible."

Hiebert designed this book and created all of the handmade paper in this book with a 90% cotton rag/10% abaca fiber blend. She composed the string drawings and stitched them with the assistance of Will Katauskas. The end sheets are machine stitched. Tom Leech printed the text at the Press at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe from polymer plates made by Boxcar Press. The typeface is Dante. Claudia Cohen bound and made the green cloth covered box with a white spine label. In fine condition. Box size: 9-1/4 x 6 x 1-1/4 inches. Book size closed is 8 3/8 x 5 3/8 inches. (#35586)

Price: $2,800 

Linguistic Exploration of the Passage of Time and Idea of Multiple Universes - Using Reconfigurations of Modern Fiction
American Book Artist - Massachusetts

Hulsey, Sarah book artist; Jorge Luis Borges; Italo Calvino; Alan Lightman.
Allochronologies Three Volumes.
Somerville, MA: Sarah Hulsey, 2024.

One of 50 copies. There were a total of 75 copies of this book, with a deluxe version lettered A - O, 50 standard three-volume sets numbered 1-50, and ten individual volumes numbered i-x. Sarah is a renowned book artist whose complex and inventive works are widely recognized in the book arts world and are extensively collected by university and other institutional libraries. From her website: "Sarah Hulsey is a visual artist whose work draws upon on her background in linguistics, which she studied under Noam Chomsky at MIT. She was first attracted to the field because of the surprising, apparently contradictory fact that language is incredibly complex and yet universal throughout humankind. Though languages appear to vary greatly, they have deep commonalities, and this underlying “universal grammar” represents a rich, subconscious knowledge that we all possess, with little awareness of its inner workings."

An introduction to a talk that Sarah gave at the 2024 Codex Symposium describes this book as follows: "Allochronologies explores alternate notions of time, all conceivable according to the laws of science, that do not adhere to our ordinary experience. Hulsey takes some of the more surprising ideas of modern physics (multiple universes, a universe that oscillates, reversal of time's arrow) and translates them into a multi-volume artist book. Each volume takes one kind of chronology and using fragments of fiction by some of the great 20th century writers, creates a book that physically embodies that conception of time."

Bound in gray cloth covers with small black image on front covers. Housed in a black cloth slipcase with title in silver to spine. The texts of all three volumes were printed letterpress from Univers type on Mohawk Superfine paper. The images were printed from polymer plates. The The contents of each volume is as follows. Volume One: "April March," the central story in this volume is excerpted from "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain" by Jorge Luis Borges, originally published in 1941. Translated from the Spanish by Andrew Hurley" and appearing in "Collected Fictions" published by Penguin Books in 1998. This volume has pages 9-44, including several pages of symbolic representation. Volume Two: The story in this volume is excerpted from 't zero' by Italo Calvino, originally published as "Ti con zero' in 1967. Translated from the Italian by William Weaver as "The Complete Cosmicomics" and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2014. The image running throughout is a wave form of the soundtrack of Carl Sagan discussing an oscillating model of the universe on the PBS series "Cosmos." The text is printed both at the top and bottom of the pages, with the bottom text appearing to be upside down. Unpaginated. [17 pages] Volume Three: "2 June 1905' is excerpted from "Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman by Pantheon Books, 1993. Numbered pages 9-18. Fine. (#37116)

Price: $1,250 

Portfolio for 3 Book Artists: Dorothy Simpson Krause, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, and Karin Schminske
Deluxe Edition with Additional Prints
American Book Artists

Krause, Dorothy Simpson, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, Karin Schminske, book artists; Carol Pulin and Harald Johnson, essays.
Digital Atelier.
Dorothy Simpson Krause, 2009.

This is number 66 of a limited edition of 100 copies. It is signed by each of the book artists. This beautiful book is accompanied by three signed editioned print portfolios, one for each artist. The three artists met at a workshop in 1994. From that meeting they worked together as Digital Atelier, combining traditional studio and media techniques with digital imaging. In addition to their studio work, the artists' Digital Atelier also existed as a traveling educational forum to illustrate and evangelize the potential of digital tools The artists of Digital Atelier took the concept of showcasing their work to a new level. In addition to a standard version of a hardcover coffee table book of their fine art, Digital Atelier, they used a variety of cutting edge digital printing technologies to create a special collector’s boxed set that accommodates a piece of original art by each artist and includes essays by Carol Pulin, Director of the American Print Alliance and Editor of Contemporary Impressions, and Harald Johnson, author of Mastering Digital Printing. The book was printed on an HP Indigo press, and case bound with Sierra black book cloth. The title is foil stamped on the front cover and spine. The book and print portolios are housed in an archival black anodized aluminum Pina Zangaro box with engraved title. In fine condition. Measures 11 x 14 inches. 74 pages. (#37044)

Price: $600 

Hearts & Heart Disease - with cardiac systems of 31 animals and their heartbeats
In English, Spanish, and Catalan
Spanish Book Artist

March, Sandra.
I hear(t) you.
Barcelona: Printed at The Folio Club for Sandra March, 2014.

Number 83 of 100 copies signed and numbered by Sandra March. Text in Spanish, Catalan, and English. March is a talented young book and installation artist. With this work she draws a metaphorical, graphic, and auditory journey captured by words, illustrations, and sound. Thus the contents comprise the book, two posters, and a CD. She writes that this project has a scientific basis with a therapeutic and artistic impulse, starting on a subconscious level after losing both her sister and her father from heart diseases. The journey goes from a symbolic loss of the heart until its restoration, through a tour of the beautiful and varied morphology of the cardiac systems of thirty-one different animals and the sounds of their heartbeats. The heartbeat sounds are from a jellyfish, starfish, black widow spider, giant tortoise, Nile crocodile, frog, parakeet, and human being among many others There were a number of contributors to this project, including the biologist Francesc Uribe Porta, sound engineer Vicente Rosati, and illustrator Raquel Bullon. Bound in a white cardboard CD case, with posters attached to the back cover by a pink elastic band and CD held on the middle fold of the case. In fine condition. 58 pages.  (#28187)

Price: $200 

Descriptive Bibliography of Carolee Campbell and the Ninja Press
American Book Artist - California

Maret, Russell, printer, book artist and afterword; Nina Schneider, bibliographic descriptions; Carolee Campbell, commentary; Harry Reese, foreword; Annie Schlechter, photography.
Dispatches From The Lizard Brain: A Descriptive Bibliography of Ninja Press.
New York: Russell Maret, 2022.

Number 38 of 102 copies, signed by the authors and craftspeople involved in making the book. This is one of the 77 numbered copies that includes tip-ins of original material. This magnificent production documents the life and work of Carolee Campbell, founder of Ninja Press and one of the country's most noted book artists. The foreword and afterword beautifully describe Campbell's ethos as an artist and bookmaker that has informed her work since she began making books in 1984.

Russell Maret writes of her: "It takes a special kind of person to know that what one is working on is not ready to be discussed. It takes someone...who unhurriedly allows her books to germinate in her lizard brain until they are ready to be dispatched into the world. With each new book Carolee teaches the rest of us how it should be done - not how to make books like hers , but like her, to make books the way the books want to be made."

The extensive annotated bibliography of the works produced by the press includes books, broadsides, commissions and collaborations, ephemera, and writing, reviews, criticism. The annotations include comments by Carolee on the making of each book or broadside. There is also a section describing the Ninja Press type collection and an index. There are beautiful vintage paper tip-ins throughout of papers used, and pages from some of the books and broadsides. Accompanied by a booklet reprinting two essays by Carolee. Dispatches from the Lizard Brain was designed and edited by Russell Maret, and printed by him and Sarah Moody. The primary text face, Carolee, was designed by Maret and printed from photopolymer plates on Twinrocker Handmade Paper. The titles are set by Felix Titling. The cover design was design was adapted from an ornament by Campbell. The blue green binding with a leather spine was designed and executed by Amy Borezo at Shelter Bookworks. The book is housed in a handsome brownish orange cloth covered portfolio with a white title label. In fine condition. Folio measuring 15 x 9 inches. 128 pages.  (#35605)

Price: $4,000

Sympathetic View of Olympic Ice Skater Tonya Harding
American Book Artist - Washington, DC

Pearson, Jennaway.
A Lady's Champion.
Washington DC: 2017.

Number 5 of 10 copies. Initialed and numbered by the book artist. Jennaway Pearson is a printmaker and book artist residing in Washington, DC. She teaches at American University and George Washington University. Her work is held in institutional and private collections across the US including the Museum for Women in the Arts, the Library of Congress, and UCLA.

In this provocative work, Jennaway explores the meaning of “champion” by connecting figure skater Tonya Harding with the goddess Juno, protector of women. Despite being a record-breaking skater, Harding was a victim of her family, a demanding sporting organization, a tragic marriage, and an insatiable tabloid culture. Pearson suggests that Harding, like many women, would have benefited from the protection of Juno, whom the Romans saw as presiding over all aspects of a woman’s life. The book begins with three pages of text printed as handwritten script on yellow tablet sheets. It offers a sympathetic telling of Harding's life, drawing from an early documentary and a later media reports. This is followed by striking images representing both her life and the themes of the book. The text and images are each in a gathering with a cover sheet with two white squares and black numbers representing skating competition scores.

The book was supported by a grant from the College Book Arts Association. Bound in black cloth with title in blue script on front cover. In a coptic-style stitched binding. The book is entirely screen printed on Arches 88 and Rives BFK papers. Housed in a black cloth slipcase with title on front. In fine condition. Measures 11.5 x 13.25 inches. Fine. (#32366)

Price: $1,900 

A Book of (Bad) Workplace Personalities - Animated with Waterfall Cards AND with phone app
American Book Artist - New York

Petit, Marianne R.
The Person You (Don’t) Want to Be.
New York: Marianne R. Petit, 2020.

Number 3 of 20 copies. An anti-personality book drawn from workplace encounters. According to the artist, this project "began with a long list of 'personalities' built over numerous meetings and encounters." She then asked her friends to choose one 'personality' from the list and record themselves demonstrating it. The undesirable personalities depicted include the smartest guy in the room, the silent (and delighted) bystander, the bully, the compromised coward, the shallow prophet, the constant schemer, the intentionally marginalized, the opportunist, the palpably ambitious, the hypocrite, the self-aggrandizing narcissist, the insufferable bore, and more. Using the video clips received, the artist used 8 - 12 frames to create short animations which she then produced in two formats: a set of cards and a swatch book. Each of the 21 printed cards features a movable waterfall sequence that can be manipulated to show an animated sequence of one of the personalities. They are digitally printed with archival ink on Moab paper. The personality swatch book features single images of the same undesirable personalities, and is meant to be viewed with a companion augmented reality (AR) app, through which the 21 short animations can be accessed. This limited edition set includes the 21 hand-assembled waterfall cards plus the open edition swatch book. Readers are encouraged to download the artist's AR app in order to view the digital animations that work with the swatch book.

Following are links for downloading the free app:
ANDROID / GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MarianneR.Petit.PersonYouDontWantToBe
IOS APP STORE: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/person-you-dont-want-to-be/id1500287968

An innovative, modern artist's book that explores workplace dynamics and relationships. Each card is about 12 x 5.5 inches. The swatch book is 8 x 2 inches. The collection is housed in a brown paper covered box with the artist's calling card adhered to the front panel.

Marianne is "an artist and educator whose work explores fairy tales, anatomical obsessions, and collective storytelling practices through mechanical books that combine animation and papercraft. My interests are in combining technology, traditional book arts, and sequential storytelling to create new forms of narrative for the 21st century. [Her] artwork has appeared internationally in festivals and exhibitions, been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic, Make, and Wired, and broadcast on IFC and PBS. My movable books can be found in numerous museum and library collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the British Library, the Berlin Public Library, Boston Library, as well as numerous University and private collections. [She is] an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s ITP and IMA (Interactive Media Arts) Program located in the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. I am a co-founder of the Interactive Media Arts Program at NYU Shanghai and I also serve as an Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Network Academic Planning for the University. I received the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016" (artist's statement). Fine. (#35653)

Price: $1,000

Inspired by John Cage's Work
American Book Artist - Florida

Satin, Claire Jeanine.
Dallas Diary II.
Dania Beach, FL: Claire Jeanine Satin, 1987-1997.

A unique artists' book from Claire Jeanine Satin, a well known book artist, sculptor and designer of public art installations. Satin's work has been extensively exhibited and collected in the United States and in Europe, including at The Library of Congress, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Getty (CA), MOMA, and The Victoria and Albert Museum. She is known especially for her conceptual works influenced by the ideas of her friend and mentor the composer/visual artist John Cage, and the conversion of ordinary industrial materials into environmental constructions and book works of layered transparent mass.

She states that the title of the book comes from the fact that the Dallas Library owns one of her books. Materials and techniques used to create this intriguing book include: laser printing on paper, metallic overprinting, ink/handwritten script, hand printed acetate cover, and cotton string with beads The book is housed in a hand sewn black mesh polyester bag. The printing on the cover is as a result of 5 layers of handwritten reassembled text from John Cage’s Book “M” then printed in reverse. The end image is the chance markings of the spaces left in between the letters  The pages of the book have black, white and silver strips of images resembling film reels with cryptic handwritten notes along their bottom edges. Signed and dated on the last two pages. In fine condition. Measures 5.5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated.  (#33513)

Price: $950

Calligraphic Interpretation of Poem on Falling Leaves
Argentinian Book Artist

Soria, Marina; Jose María Toro.
Sacred Geometries | Geometrías Secretas.
Argentina: Marina Soria, 2021.

1 of 10 copies, signed by the artist. This book includes a silkscreen print in white and gold of Maria Soria's inventive calligraphic interpretation of a text in Spanish by Jose María Toro, extracted from his book “La sabiduría de vivir" (Leaves don´t fall they let go). Hand embellishments in pastel and gouache have been added. Small circular cutouts adorn the pages. In an accordion binding by the artist with boards covered in black cloth. Gold silkscreened title to front board. In a black dust jacket. 

Following is the poem in English translation:

Sacred Geometries 
Leaves don't fall,
they let go
starting a wonderful dance of letting themselves go
They let go in a gesture of generosity,
deep wisdom
they are thrown into the air void deep heartbeat of life
generous matrix that will house the bud of a new leaf.
Wind symphony
song of freedom 
remains invisibly united to the breeze
of its own surrender & freedom
creativity, spring 

And – in the original Spanish:
Geometrias Sagradas 
Las hojas no caen,
se sueltan...
Iniciando una danza maravillosa,
de soltarse
Se desprenden en un gesto de generosidad, profunda sabiduriìa
Se lanzan al vaciìo del aire Latido profundo de vida
Matriìz generosa que albergaraì el brote de una nueva hoja.
Sinfoniìa del viento
Canto de libertad
Queda unida invisible a la brisa
de su propia entrega y libertad
Creatividad, primavera 

Size: 15.5 cm x 25.2 cm, closed; 25.2 x 97 cm, open.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Marina Soria is a seasoned artist and educator with degrees in Fine Arts and Graphic Design. Not content to just immerse herself in learning calligraphy at international conferences, and through courses with renown calligraphers, she studied Eastern principles of Beauty in sumi-e (Japanese painting). She distilled and blended these principles with her rich experience and background in the fine arts, typography and graphic arts, employing unique approaches and techniques. She has also dabbled in the textile arts, creating a metaphor for weaving; letters as stitches and text as if it were a textile. Her works, vibrating with a love for nature and exploding with life and color, can be found in calligraphy collections in museums, universities, and libraries in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Marina has received numerous national and international awards, and has been featured widely in calligraphic arts publications. A prolific artist, experimental calligrapher, book artist, and educator, her goal is to mingle diverse disciplines to challenge the limits of conceptual art and technique. Fine. (#37099)

Price: $600 

Catalogue Raisonné of Book Artist Barbara Tetenbaum and the Triangular Press
American Book Artist - Oregon

[Triangular Press]
Tetenbaum, Barbara.
Half-Life. 25 Years of Books by Barbara Tetenbaum and Triangular Press.
Portland, OR: Triangular Press, 2005.

One of 1000 copies printed on the occasion of an exhibition of Tetenbaum's 25 years of books held at the Collins Gallery at the Multnomah County Library in Portland Oregon in December 2005. The book includes a chronology of events in the artistic life of Tetenbaum, new pages from Gymnopaedia No. 4 and a catalogue raisonné for the years 1978-2005, and a catalog of advertising cuts from the Triangular Press collection.Fine in blue cloth over exposed boards with paper title label to spine and front board. Pristine with color images on every page. Quarto. 48 pages. Fine. (#24936)

Price: $75

Mezzotints of French Inspired Food and Wine
French Book Artist

[Verdigris]
Rouanet, Marie; Judith Rothchild, book artist.
Magie Blanche.
France: Verdigris, 2006.

20 of 30 copies. Copies 26 to 29 were hors commerce, and number 30 was given to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Signed by artist and author. This beautiful work has eleven stunning numbered and initialed mezzotints by artist Judith Rothchild. Rothchild is an American born artist who lives in the Languedoc region of France. Also a pastel artist, she has become famous for her mezzotints, perhaps the most difficult printmaking technique. Rouanet is a well known French writer. The colophon says that the work is a collaboration between the two, who share a deep love for the Languedoc. Rouanet’s text, in French, was inspired by Rothchild’s prints of food and wine and by the spirit of a local restaurant, Le Mimosa. The folio sized pages are loose in a yellow and green box made by Lisa Knoblauch with the front board decorated with mimosa leaves done by serigraph. Printed by Mark Lintott in Vendome Romain type on an Albion press. The prints are protected by tissue guards. 20 pages including the prints. Fine. (#19904)

Price: $1,225

Slavic Fairytale of Baba Yaga - Letterpress with Hand Colored Etchings
American Book Artist - Washington State

[Wiesedruck]
Horowitz, Sarah, etching and design.
Baba Yaga.
Peshastin, Washington: Wiesedruck, 2022.

Number 22 of 40 copies signed by the artist. This artist’s book is of the story ‘Baba Yaga’, the Slavic folkloric witch who lives in a house on chicken legs and flies around in a mortar driven by a pestle. The book artist Sarah Horowitz states: "I am melding the imaginary world of one of my favorite childhood stories with my botanical occupation. Plants weave through the etchings, guiding the story with their meanings- invasive, prickly and toxic plants begin the story with discord." This retelling was based on the folktale originally recorded by Aleksandr Afanas’ev and translated by W.R.S. Ralston. Bound in blue illustrated paper covered boards over yellow leather spine titled in black. It is illustrated by Horowitz with hand colored etchings. The text is set in Maiola, inspired by early Czech typography and designed by Veronika Burian of TypeTogether. Graphic designer Joshua Berger (Plazm) contributed to and edited the typography and layout. Arthur Larson of Horton Tank Graphics printed the text on Zerkall paper with polymer plates made by Boxcar Press. The book was bound and boxed by Carolina Veenstra with assistance by David Myhre and Sarah Horowitz. Size: 11.375 x 8 inches.

Sarah Horowitz has been awarded multiple grants and has held residencies at several arts centers including ArtBellwald in Switzerland. She taught printmaking at Portland State University for over ten years and was a member of Atelier Mars printmaking workshop during her time in Portland. Her press is named for the Wiese stream that runs through her grandparents backyard near Basel, Switzerland. Much of her work is printed on a Charles Brand Press once owned by Leonard Baskin. Her work is held in private and institutional collections across the U.S. Fine. (#36761)

Price: $3,200

Exploration of Interactions, Memory, and Reality
Israeli Book Artist

Zussman, Na'ama.
A Survey of a World.
Washington DC: Na'ama Zussman, 2015.

Number 7 of 12 copies. A beautifully conceived and produced book from Na'ama Zussman, a powerful new book artist from Israel. She describes her book: "'A Survey of a World' scrutinizes interactions between map and territory, along with memory and reality, whether of the surveyor herself - the creator of this artist's book - or of other people. It surveys and seeks to capture the doubt in the role of the surveyor, and the inevitable immersion in this role. 'A Survey of a World' portrays the endeavour of grasping the moment ahead of the impression of the territory, when doubt turns into representation."

Na'ama's exquisite images are interwoven with her evocative text as she ponders interactions, memory, and reality. Bound in brown Cialux book cloth, with a goatskin leather spine. The images throughout the book were created through the screen printing process and are done on lovely Thai Kozo paper. The text is composed in Meta Capitals and Constantia. The book is housed in a surveyor's bag made out of grey cashmere, with a leather string. The colophon is in a pocket on the back of the bag. 7 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Unpaginated. Fine. (#28553)

Price: $1,500