The Hexagon in Islamic Art

Aly, Islam.
Sacred Meanings.
Cairo, Egypt: Islam Aly, 2017.

Number 16 of 40 variant copies. "'Sacred Meanings' is based on the hexagon, one of the main shapes in creating grids and patterns in Islamic art. The form of the book, its words, and progression reveals the fading and development of a pattern. The book invites the viewer to consider his experiences with the transcendent and indivisible. 'Sacred Meanings' presents an encounter that deals with the dichotomies of life, fall and rise, suspicion and faith, disorientation and orientation, chaos and order."

A Coptic bound hexagonal book with laser engraved Plexiglass covers featuring the title on the front cover. The interior pages are laser cut on mould-made Johannot paper. Each page features geometric images, many with corresponding words such as "chaos" on a page with random forms and "structure" on a page with well-ordered shapes forming a pattern. Size: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches.

Islam Aly is an Egyptian-born book artist and teacher. His books explore the possibilities of historical bindings in contemporary book art practices They have appeared in international exhibitions in the United States and abroad, and in private and public collections including the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Library of Chile, Yale University, and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In an artist's statement he writes: "When I make a historical book structure, I go through a learning process. I learn the history as well as the different physical aspects of the binding such as how a book form is constructed in a specific sequence. I learn about the use of different materials such as paper, wood, leather and dyes. I learn to make choices in selecting and replacing traditional materials that I don’t have access to. I use these different experiences to enhance my work in making artists’ books and to use historical and cultural references from these structures in the actual content. In essence, I wish to explore new ways to use the rich structures of historical books in contemporary artists’ book practice and incorporate contemporary content into strictly historical structures." Size: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches. Fine. (#38107)

Price: $700.00

History of the Work of Maureen Cummins

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. (#38072)

Price: $2,750.00

A Shimmering Rotating Sailboat

McCallion, Barry.
She Describes Infinity.
[Geneva Switzerland]: écart publications, [1979].

One of 550 copies printed on utoplex 100gm paper and produced by Écart Publications ini Geneva. This mysterious and intriguing book is comprised of reoriented and rotated drawings of the same sailboat and its pilot, printed on translucent paper. In brown paper wrappers decorated with an image of the sailboat. There are 31 unnumbered plates. In fine condition. Measures 8 inches square. Fine. (#38051)

Price: $70.00

Inspiration, Patience, and the Life of an Artist

[Canto Press] Ceballos, Maria Carolina, book artist.
Impresiones Sobre Agua.
Bogotá, Colombia: Canto Press, 2025.

Number 3 of 10 copies of the deluxe edition There were a total of fifty copies. . Maria is a talented young Colombian book artist with an interdisciplinary focus. She has exhibited her work in various cities in Colombia, the United States and Japan. She received an MFA in Book Arts at the University of Iowa where she worked as a book conservation technician and digital book design instructor. In her recent artistic practice, she has been exploring traditional book related crafts and applying them to a body of work with creative multilingual writing.

This is a stunning and engaging work from Maria. The text is a poem in Spanish about inspiration, patience, and the life on an artist. The title in English is "Prints in Water." The illustrations are intertwined Suminagashi prints with embroidery, ink, and color pencils. The book is digitally printed and hand bound. This copy from the deluxe edition is bound in gray leather with embroidered and foil stamped details. There are also hand painted details with metallic paint on the interior pages. Housed in a gray paper covered slipcase. In fine condition. Measures 7.5 x 10 x 1/8 inches. Unpaginated. Fine. (#38031)

Price: $900.00

The Beauty of Diversity

[Inkswine Press Book Arts] Hagner, Dirk, book artist.
Compound: A Celebration of Diversity.
San Juan Capistrano, CA: Inkswine Press Book Arts, n.d.

Number 3 of 30 copies, signed and numbered by the book artist on the colophon. Hagner describes this book as a "little gem that is about the beauty of diversity, an exquisite corpse as it were, in society, art,, and language." This lovely miniature book features eight compound animals reminiscent of chap-book style woodcuts, with letterpress titles in the Cromwell typeface. The book is printed in two shades, plus foil on hand-made paper for wrapped covers and back covers, and handmade endpapers with gilt screen printing. There is a dedicated page with the words "To Diversity." Dirk's compound animals connect two diverse breeds with the two breeds printed on the front and back of a page, with the names of each animal in the compound.The book is a 16-panel accordion-style work bound in magenta paper covers with the title in white against a black background. Gilt and black images of the front and back of one of the compound animals decoate the covers. In fine condition. The book measures 5.625 x 4.375 x .05 inches closed, and opens to display at 5.625 x 78.75 inches. In fine condition.

Artist's statement: "My artist books, broadsides, and loose-leaf editions are published in very small numbers, as low as five. All are hand-printed and hand-bound (in case of books) by me, all are signed and numbered. While I am trying to be perfect, I am human, not a machine. Some variations in the editioned work are to be expected due to the processes, materials, and the artist’s change of mind. It is exactly what makes the work collectible: each piece is an original work of art. The pieces employ printmaking like original etchings, woodcuts, carborundum, screen prints, monotype, monoprint, and letterpress. Nothing is produced using digital reproduction methods." Dirk's books have been widely collected and can be found in a number of institutional libraries. Fine. (#38026)

Price: $850.00

A Hexagonal Lewis Carroll Christmas

Carroll, Lewis; Emil Goozairow, book artist.
Christmas Greetings (From a Fairy to a Child).
Moscow: Emil Goozairow, 2023.

Emil Goozairow is a Russian artist who paints and draws, produces movies, and creates exceptional miniature handmade books that are printed on rare types of paper and published in limited editions. His techniques create unique designs that often are made with natural materials alone or in combination with relief decorations made from metal, polymeric clay, or 3-D printing. He creates books that he describes as "pop up," “kinetic carousel," “liporello” or “3D origami.” He also writes fairy tales, stories and mystical scenes.

This charming handmade edition of Lewis Carroll's well-known Christmas poem from a fairy to a child. The book has a special hexagonal folding design that Goozairow calls a "Bee Book." The book's covers have a three dimensional metallic polymer star-shaped structure. The book playfully rattles when manipulated due to a hidden bead within the covers. When closed the book fastens with a brown cord that attaches to a hook on one of the covers. A delightful Christmas memento from this inventive book artist. In fine condition. Measures about 2.5 x 2.5 inches when closed. (#37999)

Price: $325.00

Tribute to a Massive Oak

[Pie in the Sky Press] Chamlee, Rebecca, book artist and author.
Giant: A Deity with Leaves.
Simi Valley, CA: Pie in the Sky Press, 2019.

One of 50 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].

This work is a beautiful and moving tribute to a massive oak tree that Chamlee loved and admired. She describes it: "A towering native oak has stood in a nearby wildland park for over 400 years. This is the story of how the ancient tree became a cherished presence in the life of the artist; a source of wonder, mystery and connection to the natural world." In her text she writes: "The natural landscape of California was once alive with native oaks....Most impressive of all is the massive Valley oak - reaching heights of more than 100 feet with trunks measuring over seven feet in diameter. Mature specimens have been known to live over 600 years." She visited her special Valley oak for more than twenty years, observing its seasonal changes and growth.

This exquisitely conceived book in homage to this oak is adorned throughout with print and photographic images of leaves, silhouettes of trees, and beautifully printed text. The letterpress printing was done on the Vandercook Universal III power press using Centaur and Arrighi type, cast by M & H Type Foundry and Swamp Press, wood French Clarendon and photo polymer plates on Zerkall Book Wove, handmade Kitakata and Korean Hanji papers. The botanical pages are contact prints on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper. The longstitch binding, sewn with hand-dyed Kinglet Cottage linen thread through a white oak spine, has a cover of contact printed and dyed handmade Indigo watercolor paper with images of leaves. Housed in a protective blue stiff paper box with title label on cover. In fine condition. Measures 7.75 x 11.25 x .75 inches. Unpaginated [64 pages]. Fine. (#37987)

Price: $850.00

History of a City Block in Philadelphia

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

Paperback. Number 8 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. (#37985)

Price: $1,200.00

Self-Expression and Pattern Making

[Careless Press] Es, Ayin (Carol), book artist.
1-SELF.
San Pedro, CA: Careless Press, 2005.

Hardcover. Number 22 of 50 copies, deluxe edition. A catalog of the artist's drawings and mixed media paintings with a brief biography and two essays about the artist and her work by art critics Shana Nys Dambrot and Kristina Newhouse. This catalog takes the form of an artists' book with the additions of handmade papers, letterpress quotations from the artist, an original watercolor drawing, stitchery on the covers, a block print insert, and other hand-done accents. According to the book artist: "The 1-SELF title suggests a dule meaning of both intimate self-expression and the artist's pattern-making background. Garment patterns were often marked '1-self' in manufacturing."

Bound in handsewn stiff grey paper wrappers with letterpress printed black title and author to front wrapper along with a die-cut. Includes an original watercolor on the title page and fourteen archivally printed pages in full color. Features handmade papers, a block print insert, hand-cut collar pattern endpapers, and letterpress printed quotes by the artist throughout. Housed in a white gift box with block printed illustrated label on top lid. A tissue garment pattern piece lines the box. Light rubbing to edges and cover of box, else in fine condition. Unpaginated. [33 pages.] Size: 8.5 x 8 inches.

Contemporary abstract artist, Ayin Es was born and raised in Los Angeles. They identify as nonbinary or genderqueer. Known primarily for their unusual mixed media oil paintings and artist's books, their work is considered raw and highly personal. At a glance, brightly colored surfaces suggest children's art, but upon deeper inspection there is evidence of abuse, disability, queer and transgender subject matter, family dynamics, and other thought-provoking themes. Widely collected, Ayin's imaginative artworks reside in museums such as the Getty, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Centre Pompidou, and more. A two-time recipient of ARC Grants from the Durfee Foundation, they've also won a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, the Wynn Newhouse Award, an Artist Achievement Award from the National Arts & Disability Center, and the Bruce Geller Memorial Award from the American Jewish University. Los Angeles Art Critic, Peter Frank wrote: "An autodidact, Es has long embodied their interests and their struggles - in painted and drawn and even sculpted and sewn imagery - darkly whimsical forms and figures whose deft fluidity have the eye "going for a walk with a line" (in the words of Paul Klee, who strongly influenced Es) but aggressively trouble the mind." Fine. (#37949)

Price: $400.00

Story of Earth's Past From 104 Million Years in the Future

[Salt Point Press] Gail Wight, book artist.
Ostracod Rising.
Jenner, CA: Salt Point Press, 2024.

Number 6 of 26 copies signed by the book artist. This is a spectacular new artist's book from Gail Wight's Salt Point Press. She offered the following as background on her creation and thought processes for this work: "The main images, timeline clouds and globes are my original watercolors that were then scanned and then added to the page layouts before printing. The main images focus on small creatures from each time period, rather than the more familiar macro animals. For instance, a parasite symbolizes the Triassic, rather than early dinosaurs. The only visual of a mammal is the wooly mammoth tusk in the Pleistocene. All information is factual – and fact checked by a naturalist from the CA State Park system – up through the mid Holocene. After that, the future is imaginary. However, it’s based on conversations with scientists about what they think the future might hold, and further reading on the topic. I chose 104 million years in the future as an ending date for two reasons:

1) It’s long enough for significant changes to take place, but not so long as to lose the focus of the book (our role in those changes).
2) 104 is the fever temperature at which humans start to lose their minds, so it seemed like a nice poetic number."    

Ostracod Rising tells the story of Earth’s past from 104 million years in the future. Beginning with the formation of Earth in the Hadean Eon, each page factually describes a distinct period of time throughout the ages. It then moves from our current Holocene into an imaginary yet highly plausible future consisting of the Anthropocene, Benthoscene, Silerecene, and finally the Ostracocene. Each page’s timeline covers the emergence and extinction of species, changes in atmosphere and climate, geologic and oceanic events, and the occasional asteroid collision. Large watercolor images of small creatures dominate each page, alongside other elements including day length, atmospheric content, continental drift, and the distance to our slowly receding moon.   This edition of Ostracod Rising is pigment printed on individual Hiromi asuka papers and bound with Awagami moenkopi unryu. Text is in Broadway and Cochin types. The Portfolio in which they are housed is bound in luxurious Asahi bookcloth in deep eggplant, and lined with lokta. The wrapper is heavy Hiromi asuka printed with  drawings of single-celled organisms. An inner 4-flap wrapper holds the book.

From the colophon: Ostracod Rising was originally produced as an installation for Future Tense at the Beall Center for Art + Technology, part of Getty’s 2024 Pacific Standard Time Art: Art & Science Collide. Thank you to both the Beall and Getty for support. Thank you also to Charon Vilnai and Steve Wight for editing, and to Rhiannon Alpers for problem-solving. Thank you to Allison Stegner, Elizabeth Hadley, Tony Barnosky, and Jasper Ridge at Stanford University for inspiration and for my first deep-time introduction to the extraordinary, ubiquitous, and full-of-possibilities ostracod. 

Gail Wight is a well known book artist whose work is in many public and private collections, including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Baylor University, the British Library, California Polytechnic State University, George Mason University, Harvard University, Lafayette College, Monserrat College of Art, New York Botanical Gardens, Philadelphia Free Library, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Tufts University, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, University of Southern California, Yale University, and numerous private collections. Her handmade books focus on the resilient yet precarious flora and fauna that live at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in the southern territories of the Pacific Northwest. They explore hybrid practices combining new mediums and technologies with the traditional craft of bookbinding. Wight works in experimental media focusing on issues of biology, the history of scientific theory and technology. She is a Professor Emerita at Stanford University, where she served as Director of Experimental Media Arts and Graduate Studies in Art Practice. This complex and fascinating work from Gail Wight is in fine condition. It measures 16 x 22 inches. Unpaginated. Fine. (#37944)

Price: $3,000.00