Part of a Portrait Series of a Book Artist - Lauren Emeritz

[Abstract Orange]
Emeritz, Lauren, book artist.
Neon Portrait.
Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2022.

Number 8 of twenty copies initialed and numbered by the book artist. 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.

This book is part of the book artist's portrait series. It has an accordion structure with text in orange and black printed across the bright yellow unfolded pages. The text reads "I have so many ideas & only so much time I am ready." The text is printed from Lauren's hand carved wooden type. Bound in bright pink paper covers with the title printed vertically in purple on the front cover. In fine condition. Measures 4.25 x 9 inches. Unpaginated [6 pages]. (#37871)

Price: $200

Islamic Patterns & Design
Egyptian Book Artist

Aly, Islam.
Metamorphosis 4.
Cairo, Egypt: Islam Aly, 2018.

Number 22 of 30 copies, signed by the artist. According to the artist: "In the Metamorphoses series, I am focusing on Islamic art and design. I want to reveal how patterns develop and morph in a book that makes the viewer experience their beauty, elegance, harmony, intricacy, and complexity."

A coptic binding with engraved and laser cut wooden boards with title on front board. The interior is laser cut mould-made Johannot paper featuring simple shapes that ultimately form more intricate patterns and designs referencing those found in traditional Islamic art. The edges of the textblock are green with laser cut designs. Size: 3.5 x 3.5 x 4.5 inches. Unpaginated.

Islam Aly is an Egyptian-born book artist and teacher based in Cairo, who studied book arts and art education at the University of Iowa. 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." Fine. (#37830)

Price: $700

Stars in the Galaxy on an Obscured Musical Score
Chilean Book Artist

[Anémona Editores]
Edwards, María.
Puntos Luminosos [Luminous Points].
Mexico City: Anémona Editores, 2019.

Number 1 of 12 copies, signed and numbered by the artist in the lower tray of the box. This wordless artists' book uses the imagery of a obscured musical score, light, and blackness to suggest the interconnectedness of stars in the galaxy. It was created from repurposed pages from a music book, which have been overprinted with black ink. It is still possible to see several staves and notes through the painted textures and silkscreened layers on each page. The artist chose some of the notes and punched through them with a needle to form connections. These pinpricks, especially when held up to the light, also appear to form constellations.

Hand-sewn with an exposed binding. Housed in a grey clamshell box with black linen side panels. The box is silkscreen printed with the title on the front panel, colophon on interior panel, and a short text on the inside of the box lid as well as on the outer rear box lid. The text on the box is printed in Spanish. The full text with English translation is below:

1. Puntos luminosos / Luminous points
2. oscuridad puntos de luz /  darkness points of light
3. …puntos luminosos, conectados, forman una galaxia… / ... luminous points, connected, form a galaxy...

[46 pages.] Book size: 8.5 x 5.75 inches. Box size: 9.25 x 6.25 inches.

María Edwards (1982 - ) is a Chilean visual artist known for her sculptural works. Her work has been in exhibitions around the world including Argentina, Colombia, Perú, México, Spain, the U.S.A., Paris, and the U.K. She has won several awards including the "Prix Ars Electronica Award" from the Ars Electronica future Lab in Linz, Austria. Fine. (#37814)

Price: $760

New Barbarian Press Title
Collection of Odes, Lyrics, and Sonnets
Inspired by Birth of a Grandchild

[Barbarian Press]
Wordsworth, William; Crispin, Jan, and Apollonia Elsted, book artists.
An Eye Made Quiet: A Selection of Odes, Lyrics, & Sonnets.
Mission, British Columbia: Barbarian Press, 2024.

One of 50 copies. There were 50 copies each of the deluxe and the regular versions. This copy is from the regular state; the deluxe copies are out of print. This is the 54th book from the press and their first in honor of their new grandson. Jan Elsted writes: "This book has been inspired by the birth of our first grandchild, Michael, in November of last year. As soon as Michael seemed to become aware of the world around him in the first weeks of his life, he looked out with intense concentration, his gaze seemingly fixing us for study. Those moments of connection were absolute, simple, and perfect, and I was reminded of Wordsworth’s ‘spots of time’ in The Prelude when everyday reality ceases to exist and time seems suspended. Everything else falls away. I felt again as if I was ‘seeing into the life of things’. With the advent of Michael I had expected joy, I imagined wonder, but not this.

The natural Barbarian response to such a life-changing event is to make a book, and so that is what we are doing. The ’spots of time’ led me to think more generally of Wordsworth’s poetry, and the poems that sprang to mind at once were first, ‘Intimations of Immortality, from Recollections of Early Childhood’, and second, ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey’ – both odes that recreate and reflect upon the experiences and insights of childhood. These became the foundations for the selection. Other familiar lyrics such as ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ and ‘Calm is the fragrant air’ followed, along with the sonnets ‘The world is too much with us’ and ‘It is a beauteous evening, calm and free’. As we developed the text, we unearthed lesser known poems that seemed to find a natural place in this selection: ‘Personal Talk’ forms a prologue introduction to the whole, and ‘Most sweet it is with uplifted eyes’, an epilogue. The goal with this, as with all the great texts we have chosen to revisit in Barbarian editions of the classics, is to refresh and explore what is new in the remembered and to discover the unknown in the familiar. In a world that often seems ‘too much with us’, poetry can be a balm to the spirit. If we read with an eye and mind made quiet, we can remind ourselves that a field of daffodils, an inquisitive butterfly, or a sweet fragrance in the air can bring calm and a sense of balance to our lives. All of this I remembered in Michael’s eyes."

This lovely volume is a Small Crown sized book that is hand-set in Garamond and Van Dijck and printed in blue, deep yellow, The 50 copies of the regular edition are printed on Zerkall smooth white mouldmade and bound in half cloth and printed paper with no slipcase. In fine condition. A quarto volume measuring 10 by 7 inches. 56 pages. (#37894)

Price: $450

Bhutan Inspired Papercut Book

Coron, Béatrice.
Happy Clouds: Bhutanese Memories.
New York: Béatrice Coron, 2025.

One of 3 copies of this striking new work from Coron, with her inimitable complex paper cuttings that here illustrate her renderings of Bhutanese memories showing people, animals (including a dragon), temples, and nature. She created the book after a recent visit to Bhutan in which she taught a workshop on paper cutting and design. There are eight pages of papercuts done on black paper that are presented in an eight page accordion structure. The paper cut suite is housed in gold cloth folder with a black ornament to the cover. Paper cuts and folder measure 4.5 x 6 inches. In fine condition.

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. Cristina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes her work in Coron's "artfragments" portfolio: "There is a palpable joy in the work of Béatrice Coron, the kind of joy we felt as children in unwrapping a particularly enticing holiday gift. But...for Béatrice the gift is a sheet of Tyvek...or paper, and the stories to be unearthed and unleashed within and through the medium."

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]. Fine. (#37889)

Price: $1,500

A Look at Social Advice / Rules Given to Neurodiverse People and also Women

[Deeply Game Publications]
Press Sara L, book artist.
Veilings.
San Francisco: Deeply Game Publications, 2025.

Number 17 of 24 copies, signed and numbered by the book artist. This is a fascinating and inventive book by Sara Press, the highly regarded book artist.The work looks at the intersection of neurodiversity and femininity, and VEILINGS is a catalog of best practices for appearing normal and being attractive. Each veil has a label attached with advice about a practice that must be layered on top of one’s natural behavior in order to fit in with neurotypicals. The advice was culled from two types of source material:

1) Masking tips shared by high-functioning neurodiverse individuals in 21st Century discussion groups and publications, &
2) Dating tips from women’s magazines published in the mid-20th Century.

This catalog is printed on loose transparent sheets of paper with designs and taken from the original veil samples catlog titled Veilings, published in 1939. Each page has a small label stapled to the upper right corner with text from one of her sources on how to behave and interact with others in order to be successful. The pages are wrapped in tissue paper with the words "Impress Neurotypicals" repeatedly printed on the page.
Housed inside of a 12” x 8.5” black box with letterpressed title and colophon. There are 30 images and 60 pages. In fine condition.

Sara is a photographer, printmaker and book artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Under her imprint Deeply Game Publications, she has published nineteen interesting and well-designed book works in editions that range in size from 3 to 100 copies. Her projects have looked at neurodiversity, peculiar areas of overlap between nature and culture (for example: dog fighting, feral children, and our co-evolution with snakes); constructions of masculinity and femininity in our culture (e.g. bloodsports, military survival manuals, and mis-remembered fairy-tales), and the relationship between emotional and scientific reasoning.Her work is intended to expand peoples’ capacity for non-dichotomous thinking, which she feels is becoming something of a lost art.Sara’s work can be seen by the public in more than 50 rare books collections including those at the Library of Congress, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and dozens of universities’ collections. Fine. (#37895)

Price: $1,100

Letter Against the Hanging of Abolitionist John Brown
Mezzotint Illustration
In English and French

[Editions Verdigris]
Hugo, Victor; Judith Rothchild, mezzotints.
Aux États-Unis D'Amérique.
Octon, France: Editions Verdigris, 2007.

Number 42 of 45 copies signed by the renowned mezzotint artist, Judith Rothchild. A re-printing of Victor Hugo's letter to the editor of the London News in which he condemns slavery and champions abolitionist John Brown (1800 - 1859) for his rebellious raid at Harpers Ferry. Written on the occasion of John Brown's trial, he compares John Brown to Sparticus and implores the U.S. not to hang him. Brown was the first person to be found guilty of treason in the history of the U.S. and was executed on December 2, 1859 - the same day that Hugo originally wrote his letter.

Bound in black and brown marbled paper over black cloth covered boards with title label to spine and embossed title to front board. The text is printed in both English and French. Includes a single, but powerful mezzotint illustration of a feet in shackles. Housed in a brown marbled paper covered slipcase.

From the press website describing this prolific and important press: "With their well equipped workshop in the south of France enabling them to be completely independent, Judith Rothchild and Mark Lintott imagine and produce artist’s books from start to finish. Concerned by the rhythm between text and image, the visual and literary relationship between the blocks of print, the mezzotints and the white page, the artist’s book becomes a spatial adventure. The book as art, a singular typographical, visual, boxed object. At the helm of this creative process, Mark Lintott, passionate about letterpress on antique presses, paper and serigraphy. Each project taken on by Verdigris is a new technical and visual challenge. The ideas often start with Judith’s mezzotints or with a text of a contemporary author they wish to work with: Marie Rouanet, Claude Ber, Ruth Fainlight, James Sacré, Frédéric Jacques Temple… or a classical author they feel a connection to: Charles Baudelaire, Pablo Neruda, Paul Valéry. The first surprise, the wide variety of formats (nothing is forbidden, everything is possible), the mezzotints by Judith, the centre of this sensual ritual and not simple illustration, the precision letterpress of Mark and finally the boxed object. The book is finely finished, reflecting the love of work perfectly done. The chosen texts are in French, English, bilingual, and recently in Portuguese, always printed with the desire to communicate and for the artists to reinvent themselves." Size: about 8 x 5 inches. Fine. (#37856)

Price: $750

Handwoven Scroll Book
Song Lyrics by Aly Halpert - Written to Heal Personal and Societal Grief

Greenwood, Anne.
Loosen.
Portland, OR: Anne Greenwood, 2024.

Number 4 of 10 copies. A scroll book handwoven on a Jaquard loom featuring lyrics from the song "Loosen, Loosen" by Aly Halpert from the album Loosen released by Rising Star Records in 2022. In the background images of the moon's phases shine through the words. According to the book artist: "This song / prayer / meditation was written to heal personal and societal grief. For ordinary grief, extraordinary grief, the unbearable kind and the unseen kind and the enduring kind, in service of the exhales and letting go of what is ours and not ours, of compassion, lightness, and becoming who we are after and through it all." This scroll book is made from lambswool and cotton fiber with a hand carved cherry wood dowel made by Piers Rippey. It is housed in a red, blue, and black hand woven bag with black string ties. It was created at the Praxis Textile Workshop in Cleveland, OH. Size: 9 x about 33 inches long.

Anne Greenwood is a well-known artist who has exhibited widely and whose works can be found in museum and library collections around the country. She was born on the high Dakota Plains and was led to an art degree by her artist grandmother. In 1990 she moved to Portland, Oregon and began her career as an artist and horticulturalist. Anne’s artwork explores an interest in folk art and speaks of her kinship with the natural world and how this influences her connection to daily life. In 2002, Anne set up a textiles studio integrating handwork, book arts, and textiles into an interdisciplinary practice. From Anne's artist's statement: "My artistic practice navigates an infinite network of connections: narrating the simple and complex, physical and ephemeral, past and present, within the context of place, history, and transformation. I form relationships that expand and fortify admiration and reverence, leading to the discovery of new truths about the world around us." Fine. (#37841)

Price: $950

Erotic Poems and Engravings
Mexican Book Artist

Guerra, Antonio, book artist and author.
Trazos / Sentimientos [Traces / Feelings].
Mexico: Antonio Guerra, 2024.

Number 3 of 5 copies. A sumptuous collection of three original erotic poems (in Spanish) illustrated with twelve engravings of nude figures of both male and female forms. According to the artist: The "text and images are closely linked ... [in this piece, I] describe the deepest human feelings, with a subtle touch of eroticism. The reader, in a game-like way, must build [their] own story with the moving nudes and the texts presented by the author."

English translations of the three poems follow:

"There is never darkness in the night
when our bodies
burning the sheets they melt
tireless fire and light."

"last night I dreamed of you...
between fire your skin and mine
burned with our humidity."

"Sink into my hummingbird flower of a thousand colors
and use your tongue to drink the honey
that causes your fluttering between my legs"

The unbound sheets including 12 linocut engravings, 3 poems, and colophon are housed in a beautifully crafted folding box. The box is covered in grey cloth with interior panels lined in floral patterned silk. The poems were hand typed on a typewriter. The small-format linocuts are printed in black ink on Hanemuhle fine art paper. Box size: 8.25 x 11.5 inches. Page Size: about 8 x 10.5 inches.

The book artist Antonio Guerra trained as an architect and also studied sculpture and graphics. In 2009 he began working in the book arts. His books are completely handmade in his workshop, either as unique pieces or in very limited series. They are impeccably produced and each one is signed and numbered. His work is found in private and public collections worldwide. Fine. (#37821)

Price: $3,200

Criminalization of Undocumented Immigrants
A Unique Mixed-Media Collage (hanging piece)

Kokin, Lisa.
Our American Way of Life.
Cambridge: Lisa Kokin, 2006.

A unique mixed-media collage book from book artist Lisa Kokin. She is a noted visual artist and 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 people in the arts. Her work is in collections across the U.S. She describes her approach and techniques for creating a book or book object. Her description of her techniques aptly applies to this work. "In my never-ending quest to find different ways to eviscerate books, I stumbled upon the book collage. First I find a book which interests me, either for some element of the text, image, or marginalia, or for the look of the book itself. Sometimes I remove some of the pages and glue and/or sew the book open to the particular page of interest. Other times I remove all the pages and use the inside covers as the collage surface (as she did in this work). I build upon what initially interests me by layering images and text from the same or other books, found photos, and other small objects using a variety of collage and transfer techniques....Many of the books have sculptural protrusions and extensions because I feel that the shape of books shouldn't be limited to a rectangle."

This book was made from discarded citizenship handbooks and juxtaposes the theory of America as a land of opportunity with the reality as experienced by many people, including immigrants. The empty silhouettes speak to the criminalization of undocumented immigrants that Kokin calls an alarming human rights violation. She also expresses her observation that her work from decades ago continues to be relevant today. This book collage is constructed from the covers of a citizenship book titled The American Way of Life and was part of the federal "Becoming a Citizen Series." The left side of the interior cover has a hole cut through, with odd scraps of paper affixed and a short pencil that dangles from a string. The right side of the interior cover has cut-out silhouettes of people's heads with names written faintly in red on the margins. The result is a striking and evocative collage. In fine condition. Measures 10 x 15 inches. (#37878)

Price: $1,800

Unique Artists' Book Dos-à-dos
Questioning Religion and Being Jewish in a Christian World

Kokin, Lisa, book artist.
The Art of Being a Jew / How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.
CA: Lisa Kokin, 1999.

This is a unique artists' book by Lisa Kokin, and signed by her. She is a noted visual artists and 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. Her work is in collections across the U.S.

An improvised, stitched dos-à-dos book made from rearranged text taken from Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" and Morris Norman Kertzer's "The Art of Being a Jew." The resulting surreal, non-linear text is a mix of humorous questioning of religion and thoughts on being Jewish in a Christian world, with a healthy dose of existential angst. The book is oblong with covers made from bits of cloth and the original spine panels of both books.

Kokin says about her altered books: "I alter, appropriate, and combine text from books about religion, history, self-help, business and sociopolitical ideology. I am fascinated by the random juxtapositions of words that occur when parts of text are removed to create other stories, or when texts from two sources such as business and religion are combined. It gives me great pleasure to subvert the original meanings of books which were written to keep people in their place, and to do it with humor and levity." Size: 8.5 x 1.5 x 1 inches. Very Good. (#37860)

Price: $2,500

Unique Artists' Book
Non-Linear Story of Marginalization, Queerness, and Questioning the Status Quo

Kokin, Lisa, book artist.
Perhaps You Have Wondered.
CA: Lisa Kokin, 2002.

This is a unique artists' book by Lisa Kokin, and signed by her. She is a noted visual artist and 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. Her work is in collections across the U.S.

This work is made from a repurposed photo album featuring rearranged found text paired with found snapshots form a non-linear story of marginalization, queerness and a general questioning of the status quo. Includes vintage photo album parts, found photos, and text from book titled "Perhaps You Have Wondered." The found photos depict African Americans, a drag queen, heterosexual couples, homosexual copies, children, and others.

Kokin says about her altered books: "I alter, appropriate, and combine text from books about religion, history, self-help, business and sociopolitical ideology. I am fascinated by the random juxtapositions of words that occur when parts of text are removed to create other stories, or when texts from two sources such as business and religion are combined. It gives me great pleasure to subvert the original meanings of books which were written to keep people in their place, and to do it with humor and levity." Size: 7.5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. Very Good. (#37861)

Price: $2,800

The End of Democracy in the U.S.A.
An Artists' Book

Krause, Dorothy Simpson.
Post Constitutional.
Pompano Beach: Dorothy Simpson Krause, 2025.

A variable edition of two copies. An artists' book addressing the U.S. Constitution, amendments, and the current "post constitutional" movement which consolidates power with the President - leading to the end of democracy. Accordion bound in red paper covered boards with title to front cover. The interior is filled with quilt-like collaged images that incorporate fragments of the U.S. founding documents. It is housed in a red and black paper covered box with paper title label to front panel. The rear panel of the box includes text about the founding documents of the U.S.A., constitutional amendments, and troubling current events.

The text reads:

"Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, the Constitution established three branches of government, legislative, executive and judicial, to create a system of checks and balances and to prevent one branch from becoming too powerful. In 1789, ten amendments to the Constitution were ratified as the Bill of Rights and in the succeeding 235 years it has been amended only 17 times -- abolishing slavery, promising freedom and equality, and extending the right to vote to women and African Americans.

A “Post Constitutional” movement contends that these amendments have destroyed the constitution by treating it as a living document which can be modified and that truly radical measures are needed to restore the family as the centerpiece of American life; dismantle the administrative state; defend the nation's sovereignty and borders; and secure “God-given individual rights to live freely”. To accomplish these radical measures requires the implementation of a “unitary executive theory”, consolidating power in the office of the President.

The “unitary executive theory” places the entire federal bureaucracy under direct presidential control and abolishes or restructures agencies such as the Federal Reserve, Department of Justice, Department of Education and FBI, replaces government employees with political appointees, redraws the boundaries of citizenship, deports immigrants, imposes tariffs on foreign goods and cuts taxes on corporations and high wealth individuals.

Overthrowing the existing constitution and consolidating power in the presidency challenges democracy as we know it and risks enshrining a dictator. May we avoid this extreme."

[18 pages.] Size: 6.375 x 4.375 inches, closed; 79 inches, open.

Dorothy Simpson Krause is a painter, collage artist and printmaker who incorporates digital mixed media into her art. Her work is exhibited regularly in galleries and museums and featured in numerous current periodicals and books. Her archives and the books featured in her Book + Art reside at the University of Miami. In her artist's statement she says: "My work includes large scale mixed media pieces, artist books and book-like objects that bridge between these two forms. It embeds archetypal symbols and fragments of image and text in multiple layers of texture and meaning. It combines the humblest of materials, plaster, tar, wax and pigment, with the latest in technology to evoke the past and herald the future. My art-making is an integrated mode of inquiry that links concept and media in an ongoing dialogue – a visible means of exploring meaning. (#37850)

Price: $1,350

Homage to Joseph Cornell
This Artists' Book comes in a box with buttons and scraps of materials

[Lilliput Press]
Schwartzott, Carol.
A Dossier for Joseph Cornell.
Niagara Falls, NY: Lilliput Press, 1996.

Artist's proof from an edition of only 10 copies. The book artist, Carol Schwartzott, writes about her work: "A book for me is like a journey; along the way the road twists and turns, and sometimes I get lost, but my aim is to arrive at my destination and enjoy the trip along the way. Curiosity, investigation, observation, objects, words or images, intuition, connections and creative application accompany me on my journey. Processes are part of the reason I choose to make books. I love the processes involved in researching, writing, designing, drawing, painting, printing, constructing and binding. Very often, one idea will lead to another, ... My books are assemblages of thoughts, much like the collages I make, layering pieces of fact and fancy, bits of memory, objects mixed and matched, all added (and sometimes subtracted) to explore a theme. It becomes an adventure in searching for connections."

This is an intricate and evocative production from Carol that pays homage to the work and thoughts of the famed visual artist Joseph Cornell (1903 - 1972). Cornell was an American visual artist and one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. He was described as a premier assemblagist who elevated the box to a major art form, Joseph Cornell also was an accomplished collagist and filmmaker, and one of America's most innovative artists. His art has been described as romantic, poetic, lyrical and surrealistic. Self-taught but amazingly sophisticated, he created his first collages, box constructions and experimental films in the 1930s. By 1940, his boxes contained found materials artfully arranged, then collaged and painted to suggest poetic associations inspired by the arts, humanities and sciences [Smithsonian American Art Museum]. Carol's book captures the qualities that informed Cornell's work and made him the major figure in the art world. In an accompanying statement about this fascinating production. She writes: "Flea markets, wandering in secondhand bookstores ...I knew someday there would be a use for all these bits and pieces...collected, sorted and organized....Listened to Schumann, Cornell's favorite music...enlightening yet gentle, and almost somber at times, I think ...perhaps like Cornell....

Carol's complex production marries quotations taken from several writings about Cornell. She attributes the texts used through footnotes and a short list of authors and works quoted. These musings and commentary are alternated with small collages assembled by Carol. Printed on Somerset Newsprint Grey. Book is enclosed in a gray handpainted box (34 x 29 cm.)--with metal hinges and closure. Top of box holds inlaid display under glass. Box opens to show the book which can be lifted out by means of a cream ribbon. Binding is of gray painted boards with exposed spine, with supports of paper and goatskin. Front cover has a painted paper title label, as well as onlays of four triangular pieces of paper-covered wood with text at corners. Text is interspersed with seven 'magic' windows (cut-out pages) which display collages, under which the artist has written in pencil a description of what it is made of. Laid in at the end on a sheet of painted paper, the artist gives some of her thoughts on making this work. In the box holding the book are an assortment of scraps of paper and other objects symbolic of Cornell's acquired and utilized items for his collages. Both are housed in a black cloth covered slipcase. In fine condition. Book measures 9.5 x 11.25 inches. Unpaginated. (#37875)

Price: $3,000

Racism and Civil Rights in the U.S.A.
Illustrated with Pochoir

[Luminice Press]
Williams, Mary Agnes and Thomas, book artists.
American Progression.
Philadelphia: Luminice Press, 2024.

Number 3 of 12 copies, signed by the book artists. Thomas and Mary Agnes describe this interesting and introspective book about the state of America as follows: "In images and text, our artist book ‘American Progression’ encapsulates the sources of deep fissures in this country: white supremacy, the legacy of slavery, the constant influx of immigrants. And yet, there is progression beyond the fear and hate that separate Americans, as many find community and joy together, and share hope for the future."

The following offers excerpts from the text that capture the realities of both inequality and despair that exist, juxtaposed with the hope and affirmation that also define America today: “In 1950, 89.5% of Americans identified as white . . . By 2050, whites will be a minority (47%) . . . Many on the right bitterly resent losing privilege and power . . . . . They remember the easy days before civil rights . . . When an ordinary white man was always better and smarter . . . When the sheriff looked the other way . . . . Desperate to hold on, they search for a leader who will raise them up again, a savior who will take control and lead them back to the white promised land. …For hundreds of years African slaves were submerged in American soil: endless brutality in endless fields of cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar cane . . . .. Unlike Africans, Latino families have been desperate to escape their homes for a better, safer place, risking everything to migrate north . . . Poverty, injustice and hate are realities in America . . . Despite it all, people still find joy and see hope for the future . . . Black, brown, white . . . We can dance!”

The book is constructed as a double-sided accordion. It is printed on Stonehenge Polar White papers. The cover is multi-colored pochoir using 50 stencils on paper over board. Illustrations on six panels with oil based inks over flood coats. Pochoir using 50 stencils. Letterpress printed from polymer plates. In a black slipcase with mylar insert that allows the brightly colored cover to be seen. Concept, design, illustrations, pochoir, printing, binding by Thomas Parker Williams. Original text, text layout, printing by Mary Agnes Williams. A thought-provoking work in fine condition Measures 12.25 x 4.25 x .5 inches. Unpaginated [12 pages]. (#37884)

Price: $1,200

An Alcoholics Anonymous Flag Book
License Plates of AA Members

Shattuck, Carolyn.
Pasiton.
Rutland, VT: Carolyn Shattuck, 2024.

Number 4 of 8 copies. A flag book about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in Dorset, VT featuring license plates of AA members. Accordion bound in black mat board with a paper title label pasted down to the front cover. Epson matte on Lama Li Canson Miteinte paper. Housed in a stiff black paper slipcase with magnetic closure and title label to front panel. Size: 4.5 x 13.5 x 1 inch, closed; expands to 22 inches when open.

Carolyn Shattuck is a noted printmaker, using monotype, dry point, painting, stencils and mixed media. In addition to her printmaking skills, Shattuck is architectural in the way she executes the intricate constructions for her artist's books, which highlight her interest in social and environmental causes. Her books have been collected by a number of special collections libraries at universities throughout the country. Fine. (#37839)

Price: $800