Civil Rights Act of 1964 (60th Anniversary)
Letterpress Printed from Hand-Carved Wood Letters

[Abstract Orange]
Emeritz, Lauren, book artist.
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2024.

Number 4 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. This is another powerful work by Lauren Emeritz in which she addresses social and political issues and events. It is based on the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964. The book has a series of 10 sheets of brown cardboard paper, each with text from provisions of the Act printed in green from hand-carved wood letters of the alphabet. The texts include "equal access to public accommodations," "access to public education," "expand civil rights commission," "equal employment opportunities," and more. The ten sheets are housed in a bright green paper folder with the title printed in darker green on the cover and a velcro closure. In fine condition. Measures 7 x 11 inches. (#37259)

Price: $1,200

War Between Russia and the Ukraine - a personal connection
Russian / Mexican Book Artist

Akhmadeeva, Ioulia.
Witnesses and Testimonies.
City of Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico: Ioulia Akhmadeeva, 2024.

Number 3 of 5 copies. A powerful new work by Russian born artist, Ioulia Akhmadeeva about the atrocities occurring in the ongoing war in Ukraine. She has both Ukrainian and Russian heritage and makes visual comparisons between the current war and prior wars in the region with inclusions of personal relics, photographs, and familial memories. Each book / box contains a different object and photograph. This copy includes a personal object - a pin of VLKSM (Komsomol - a communist youth organization) and a personal photograph of the artist from when she lived in Russia, studied art at the Art College in her hometown of Krasnodar, and was a member of this organization (1986 - 1990), just before the USSR dissolved and with it the Komsomol organization.

"In the dark corner of history, between 1941 and 1945 (Great Patriotic War in the USSR) and now since 2022, Ukraine and Russia are involved in a brutal war that leaves indelible scars on their land and lives of those who inhabit them. The harsh reality of the conflict is intertwined in the book with the family stories that lie behind each photographic image-testimony from one's own family album, old photographs or current images on the internet. It is also a journey to the heart of everyday life, intertwining personal experiences with the collective history of my native country, which no longer exists. In "Witnesses and Testimonies" the images of the war before and now coexist with my family photographs, and the treasured objects stand as silent witnesses of an era. These objects, more than simple artifacts, are fragments of identity and have their own history, a narrative that speaks both about society and the people who owned them. Each one becomes a portal-connector with the past. These objects, carefully preserved over time, are more than mere witnesses; they are silent narrators of everyday life that persists even in the midst of any war. Wars not only destroy lives, but also the memories. The pages of photographic albums and everyday objects become collateral victims of conflicts that irreversibly alter the previous life. I try to reflect on what remains after us: the sewing thimble, a knitted collar, a fork, an empty matchbox or a wad of bills that witnessed another era. Both photographs and objects are keepers of stories, bearers of identities and silent witnesses of time lost but not forgotten" (artist statement).

Bound in brown cloth with Japanese stab binding and paper title label to front board. A series of photogravures printed on Kozo paper with rubber stamp texts. The book, the pin, an original photograph of the artist, and an envelope containing five inkjet print cards of the authors drawings of sentimental objects with information about the book in Spanish and English are all housed in a custom box. The box is covered in matching brown cloth with paper title label to front panel. [20 pages].

Ioulia Akhmadeeva (1971 - ) was born in Russia but has resided in Mexico for nearly 30 years. She is professor of Fine Arts at the Michoacan State University San Nicolás Hidalgo in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. She has participated in many international exhibitions and won awards and grants for her work. Fine. (#37139)

Price: $2,500 

Mediterranean Immigration Crisis
Stories of Migrants - In English and Arabic
Egyptian Book Artist

Aly, Islam, book artist.
Mare Nostrum.
Cairo: Islam Aly, 2022.

 Number 32 of 50 copies signed, numbered, and dated by Islam Aly, the artist. Mare Nostrum is a bilingual book in English and Arabic that spotlights the Mediterranean Immigration Crises, with people from sub-Saharan Africa, the middle and far east going to north Africa to cross the Mediterranean using primitive boats and the help from traffickers of immigrants. According to the Missing Migrants Project, more than 23,600 missing migrants have been recorded in the Mediterranean since 2014. This book records the words of some of the migrants who survived the journey. "Mare Nostrum," Latin for "Our Sea," was the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. Also, the Italian government uses the name Mare Nostrum for the military and humanitarian operations to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants.

This intricate book, bound in silk-screened white and blue cloth with boat images, has several sections of eight pages, each with a quote from a migrant in English and Arabic. There is also a laser cut out of a boat and five laser cut circles. When each page of the section is turned, the text and boat image start to fade until they are virtually invisible by the last page. The book, with a Coptic binding, is accompanied by five small brass boats that are housed in a separate compartment in the book's box. The boats can be inserted to stand up in the laser cut circles. The box holding the book and brass boats is covered in dark blue cloth with title label to box lid. It has a long blue leather tie with a brass boat attached. Box size: 14.5 x 5 x 2.5 inches. The book is 9 x 4.5 inches. A beautiful production in fine condition.  (#37537)

Price: $1,500 

A Call to Action Addressing Numerous National Concerns: Healthcare, Leadership, Environment, etc.
Letterpress Printed

[Angel Bomb Press]
Thyberg, Todd M.
American Manifesto.
Minneapolis: Angel Bomb Press, 2014.

Open edition. Todd Thyberg writes of his powerful and timely book: "With a tip of the hat to printers and activists of the past, American Manifesto calls the United States citizens to action on a number of national concerns—our country’s health, leadership, and environment, to name a few. This book was devised as a piece of activist artwork; utilizing my vintage presses as they were originally intended: to make important statements about important issues." He continues: "If America really is the best country on earth…why do so many of our people go hungry? Why do our leaders consistently work for corporate interests rather than individuals’ rights? How can our leaders, the media, and we the public still be ignorant to the factual reality of climate change? Why can someone go to prison for a minor drug offense while the people who brought our economy to its knees still receive bonuses? Why are we still taking off our shoes to fly? How can 2/3 of America’s population be overweight when people here and around the world are going hungry? How is it acceptable to make fuel from food? Why don’t we Americans question policies?” Printed on 100% cotton Crane Lettra paper and bound in bright red paper covers. 12-pages, 3-colors, letterpress printed in three colors on a Heidelberg 10x15 Windmill at Angel Bomb. In fine condition. Measures 6 x 8.5 inches. Unpaginated [12 pages]. Fine. (#34242)

Price: $85 

The U.S. Constitution - Letterpress Edition by the Arion Press

[Arion Press]
Burger, Warren, preface; Daniel Boorstin, introduction; Thomas Ingmire, illuminated initials.
Constitution of the United States: Published for the Bicentennial of its Adoption in 1767.
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1987.

One of 500 copies printed by the Arion Press in association with the Library of Congress. This is an elegant and fitting typographic tribute to the Constitution of the United States. In his thoughtful introduction, Daniel Boorstin, then the Librarian of Congress, writes that this work is also a tribute to typography, the art or process of printing from type....and says we should call this the first printed constitution and surely the oldest printed constitution by which a nation still lives.

Designed, printed and bound under the direction of Andrew Hoyem at the Arion Press. Bound in white vellum with red vellum tapes laced through. The title and the dates 1787 and 1987 in blue on the front cover The paper was handmade especially for this edition by the Twinrocker Mill. The type is handset Deepdene, and the two initial letters were drawn and illuminated by calligrapher Thomas Ingmire. In a dark blue portfolio that is turn housed in a dark blue cloth covered slipcase with a white and red spine label. Accompanied by photographic prospectus. In fine condition in near fine portfolio and slipcase. Measures 6.5 x 10 3/8 inches. Fine. (#37526)

Price: $1,400 

Unique Artists' Book - a reaction to September 11th and ongoing turmoil in the Middle East

Beck, Anne, book artist.
Void.
Garberville, CA: Anne Beck, 2003-2024.

A beautiful unique book from artist Anne Beck. 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. Anne is 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 paper making.

The artist describes the making of this book, aptly titled Void: "[This book] ventures into the dream realm of a mind trying to make sense of life’s fragility and the difficulty of embodiment as a human being in this shocking world. It begins with Jorge Luis Borges’ magician in The Circular Ruins who dreams into existence a man only to discover that he himself is dreamt; and morphs into symbolic effigies of anonymous casualties as Shock and Awe unfolds above Baghdad on March 19, 2003. The figures in turn are that of the artist and other bodies and minds plagued by psychosomatic manifestations of innocuously mis-named anxiety and stress disorders. Along the way, these floating forms invite the reader to follow them through fields of partial topographies and fragmented vessels; neurons, axons, and dendrites; Usnea and other anastomoses; constellations of ants unfolding the path of Fibonacci’s spiral; and Galen’s anatomical vision of animal, vital and natural spirits. Primarily made in New York between 2000-2003, it is deeply informed by the artist’s response to her near proximity to the events on September 11, 2001 and frustration with the ensuing foreign policy that led to the invasion of Iraq."

It is casebound with an open spine, hand-sewn by the artist. It is covered with handmade book cloth, a mulberry paper backed linen with cyanotype and pisolithus ink staining in shades of blue and cream, with an image of a human figure on the front cover. The pages were created using watercolor, gouache, cyanotype and toner prints, color pencil and graphite. Images of human figures appear on some of the pages. There is a typewritten title page on rag and mulberry papers. In fine condition. Measures 8.5 x 10.25 inches closed. Unpaginated [about 26 pages]. (#37201)

Price: $1,400 

Documentation of the Drastic Changes to whitehouse.gov When Trump Took Office in 2017
Terms Such As: Climate Change, LGBT, and Civil Rights were all removed

Covell, Anne.
The Record.
La Mesa, CA: Anne Covell, 2017.

One of 60 copies. "On January 20th, 2017, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. That same day, the official White House website (whitehouse.gov) began the digital transition to archive and replace Obama’s policies with those of the new administration. Immediately, people began to notice that key issues such as health care, education, and immigration were nowhere to be found. Keyword searches for terms such as “climate change,” “LGBT,” and “civil rights” all returned 404 errors. Even more conspicuously, the Spanish-language version and the disabled-accessible version of the site were no longer available. Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library that has been archiving webpages since 1996, captured 167 snapshots of whitehouse.gov that day. This book records the last snapshots taken of Obama’s policies before they came down, the 404 errors that followed, as well as the Internet Archive timestamps for when the information was last available and when it disappeared" (Anne Covell).

The first layer of this accordion book reveals text from webpages from whitehouse.gov covering topics like "equal pay", "criminal justice", "climate change", "disabilities", etc. from the Obama era. Each of these pages has a tab at the top edge, which the reader can pull down to reveal the content (or lack thereof) of the same page from the day of Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017. The contrast is startling. Government webpages once filled with useful, empowering information, were eradicated in a single day. Covell fills these blank spaces with the haunting outlines of book-like shapes to represent a lost library and consequently imparting a feeling of emptiness and loss of hope. The Record presents a powerful visualization of the turmoil that the Trump administration has imposed since its first day in office.

Bound in black and white paper wrappers with title to front cover. Letterpress printed accordion on Masa paper with sumi wash and hand brayering. Housed in grey cardstock case with red twine legal closure to rear. Size: 6.5 x 4.25 x .25 inches (closed); 13 x 42.5 x .25 inches (open). Fine. (#34509)

Price: $500 

A Meditation on Mankind's Creations and Atrocities

[Editions Koch]
Koch, Peter and numerous other authors and sources.
Speculum Mundi. Ur-text volume ii.
Berkeley: Peter Koch Printers, 2022.

Number 20 of 50 copies numbered 1-50 and bound at the Koch studio by Jonathan Gerken in wrappers simulating a second waste-sheet from Atalanta fugiens and printed on Magnolis Renaissance paper. Signed and numbered by Peter Koch.

This work is an astonishingly complex and compelling production from Editions Koch. Peter writes: "[This work addresses] the concept of a twenty-first century Liber Chronicarum spanning the totality, from Genesis to the Apocalypse. The majority of my personal observations were written and annotated as I composed each bi-folium, revising and editing at each stage along the way right up to and including the final press run. The texts include the entire Book of Genesis (Jerome’s Latin translation), select fragments from Ecclesiastes, The Apocalypse of St. John, William Temple Horniday’s The Extermination of the American Bison (Washington D.C. 1889) and The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (Washington, D.C., 1957) together with additional marginalia, commentary, and the entire text of my long poem Magnus Annus, first published by The Aldebaran Review (1968), and L’Alchimie du Verbe published as Bone Black & Vermillion by The Real Lead Saloon (2021.) The biblical texts (especially Genesis) are what I have posited as the core-texts of our perception, the lenses through which we interpret our culture and our nature. The sub-text (appropriated from The Effects of Nuclear Weapons) is, in its altered format, not so much a lens through which we perceive as the swamp in which we are mired—an ever-present, existential, war-riven, and increasingly poisoned world. The images were collected from divers sources, including: Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum; I Modi by Pietro Aretino (Venice, 1527); Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Hamburg, 1595); Uranometria by Johann Bayer (Augsberg, 1603); Robert Fludd’s Utriusque Cosmi ... metaphysica, physica atque technica Historia, &c. (Oppenheim and Frankfurt, 1617–24); with additional images from the United States Department of Defense, Library of Congress, Montana Historical Society Photographic Archives, my personal collection, etc. All are reconfigured, altered, and collaged to varying degrees to suit my project of a re-envisioned creation story and atrocity exhibition of some of mankind’s more questionable accomplishments."

Housed in a gray cloth covered slipcase. Accompanied by a 10 page illustrated announcement for the book. This remarkable work is in fine condition. Measures 11.5 x 17.5 inches. 128 pages.  (#37337)

Price: $3,500 

Poems & Mezzotints of Disorder & Decline - inspired by politics and the pandemic

[Éditions Verdigris]
Vas Dias, Robert, poet; Judith Rothchild, book artist; Mark Lintott, typographer and printer.
Images of Entropy.
Octon, France: Éditions Verdigris, 2023.

Number four of four deluxe copies presented in a clamshell box and accompanied by one of the original copper plates used to create the mezzotint illustrations. There were also 23 copies of the standard edition that are housed in a slipcase. Judith Rothchild's exquisite mezzotints were inspired by the images of disorder and decline evoked in this powerful poem by Robert Vas Dias. Fittingly, the verso of the free front endpaper has the famous line from W.B. Yeats:"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.", Vas Dias is an Anglo-American poet born in London in 1931. He is the author of seventeen poetry collections in the USA and UK, has edited or co-edited four literary journals – two in the USA and two in the UK – and is the editor-publisher of Permanent Press, which he founded in Michigan in 1972. Signed and numbered by artist Judith Rothchild and also signed by poet Vas Dias.

The book is structured as a hard-cover leporello, a style of parallel folding with the folds alternating between front and back; a concertina fold. that can also be opened as a codex. The binding has brown paste paper covers with the title printed in gray on the front cover and black titling to orange spine. The text is letterpress printed on Hahnemüihle paper in Garamond 16 pt. type by Mark Lintott. Printed both in black and in debossed text. The four mezzotints are protected by loose tissue guards. Housed in a clamshell box covered with the same paper as the book on its front cover and with a similar design on the back cover. The original copper plate is framed on the inside front cover of the box. In fine condition. Measures 8.5 x 14 inches. Unpaginated [about eight pages]. (#37190)

Price: $2,200 

Poems & Mezzotints on the State of Democracy in the U.S.

[Editions Verdigris]
Whitman, Walt; Judith Rothchild, mezzotints.
Poems for Democracy.
Octon, France: Editions Verdigris, 2017.

Number 21 of 30 copies signed by the renowned mezzotint artist, Judith Rothchild, and the typographer and printer Mark Lintott. The book quotes poetry from Walt Whitman to address the state of democracy in the United States when the 45th president took office. The three poems are "To the States," "Long Too Long America" and "For You O Democracy." With two stunning mezzotint illustrations by Rothchild printed on Hahnemühle paper. The book is bound in dark blue paper as a leporello, with the title debossed on the cover.. The handset Vemdôme type used was letterpress printed on a Vandercook No. 4 by Lintott, who also made the slipcases covered with blue and gray patterned paper screened by the artist. In fine condition. Measures 7.5 x 10 inches. Unpaginated.  (#37157)

Price: $800 

Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Democracy

[Foolscap Press]
Paine, Thomas; Thomas Ingmire, calligrapher.
Thomas Paine: in his own words.
Santa Cruz, CA: Foolscap Press, 2024.

Number 50 of 90 copies, signed and numbered by the calligrapher. There were also 15 copies done for the participants in making the book. It is a handsome and timely book from the Foolscap Press of Peggy Gotthold and Lawrence G. Van Velzer. They write in the prospectus: "In The Documents and the many writings of Thomas Paine (1737-1809), one can hear the arguments laid out for an egalitarian and just society that influenced the birth of the United States, English law, and the French Revolution. His words continue to inspire those who search, even now, for a just government and a more civilized society....Most important for our times is that Thomas Paine reminds us that the fight for democracy, once achieved, is never incontrovertibly won, and how fitting is his belief that to take away voting is to reduce a man to slavery."

This letterpress printed book includes five multicolored full-pages of calligraphy and one single color page by award winning calligrapher, Thomas Ingmire. He was elected to the Society of Scribes and Illuminators in London, the first American to be elected to this status. For this book Ingmire extracted quotes from Paine's wise writings to bring the words alive on the page. Bound in gray textured cloth with a red bordered label with a facsimile of Paine's signature and red bordered title label to spine. The binding is sewn onto carbon fiber rods which allows the book to lay flat when opened. The handmade paper used for the binding is from Cave Paper and the text paper is Hahnemühle paper. Set in Caslon type, the typeface used in the first printing of the Declaration of Independence as well as a favorite house face in Benjamin Franklin's print shop. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. Measures 10 x 15.25 inches. 68 pages.  (#37464)

Price: $995 

Banned Books
A Unique Calligraphic Artists' Book

Ingmire, Thomas.
Banned.
San Francisco: Thomas Ingmire, n.d.

This is a provocative and timely unique work by Thomas Ingmire that he calls a calligraphic book sculpture that incorporates phrases by authors of banned books. The book's cover is made of paper pulp molded around a structure of wooden sticks. It is painted with blue swaths of color with a bold red "X" on its cover. The text has been written on thin multiple strips of calfskin parchment that are laced into the interior of the structure. The title and the book's author are included with each calligraphically written phrase. The work measures 12 x 18 inches closed, and 12 x 30 inches when opened. In fine condition. (#37444)

Price: $3,200 

Violence Against Women
Modern Events Juxtaposed with Shakespeare's Othello

[Intima Press]
Shakespeare, William; Mindy Beloff, book artist.
The Tragedy of Othello / The Tragedy of Desdemona.
New York: Intima Press, 2023.

One of 26 standard copies lettered A -Z. This is copy I`, signed and lettered by the book artist. There are also 10 copies with deluxe bindings. This powerful and timely new work from Mindy Belloff's Intima Press was four years in the making. It is a double-bound miniature pairing of Shakespeare's classic, The Tragedy of Othello, with The Tragedy of Desdemona, which has commentary and statistics compiled by Belloff. This approach magnifies the plight of abused women and also engages in dialogue with the text of Othello as cultural critique. The Desdemona tragedy highlights issues of patriarchy and gender bias throughout the centuries and gives voice to women who have been silenced. The book artist explores how Othello's intense jealousy and eventual murder of Desdemona parallels a modern Othello - the sports personality O.J. Simpson, who was accused of the double murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Both are tragic stories of jealous rage, domestic violence, male dominance, and femicide. In Desdemona, closing arguments from the legal case and diary entries of the victim are revisited, along with excerpts from Ovid, Dostoevsky and Alice Walker, current news headlines, global statistics on femicide, the 1993 case of Lorena Bobbitt, and more.

The use of a dos à dos binding pairs Othello on one side with Desdemona on the other, sharing the same spine - that parallels Iago's description of marital conjoining as "the beast with two backs," with the two texts and various voices that are conjoined in dialogue, inseparable. This layered narrative continues with a cinematic video card that functions as a time capsule, with an opening montage of images from film and theater productions of Othello, news headlines of sensational stories from the mid-1990s, women's marches from the #MeToo movement, and Supreme Court ruling reversals among other stories. The video is 8:44 minutes.

Mindy Belloff is a noted book artist who designed, illustrated, printed and bound this highly inventive work, with a unique box with a magnetic side closure by Celine Lombardi. It is letterpress printed from photopolymer plates in two different shades of browns and reds, with the design of an "O" repeated on each page. The text of Othello is typeset in Adobe Luminari on Mohawk Superfine paper. Desdemona is typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro and printed on Johannot Arches papers. The binding is letterpress printed on paper covers commissioned from Saint-Armand Papeterie in Montreal with Suminagashi marbled edges. The engrossing film on the video card is 2 x 4 inches with volume and play/pause buttons with USB port. An accompanying letterpress printed accordion fold booklet lists the video credits. It is housed in one of two pull-out drawers in the custom box, with the second drawer holding a USB port. The beautiful custom box is covered in fine red cloth with a paper title label on top. A magnificent achievement in fine condition. Book measures 3 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches. The box measures 6.5 x 4 x 2.75 inches. Othello has 192 pages; Desdemona has 150 pages. Fine. (#37051)

Price: $2,250

Banned Books - The American Heritage Dictionary, banned in MS in 1978 and by the Anchorage, Alaska School Board

Kokin, Lisa.
Abridged: Ream Again Heretic.
Oakland, CA: Lisa Kokin, 2008.

A unique artists' book on banned books. According to the artist: "Searching the Internet for a list of banned books, I came across 'The American Heritage Dictionary.' The dictionary was banned in Missouri in 1978 because it contained 38 “objectionable” words. It was also banned by the Anchorage, Alaska School Board for similar reasons. Many of the words were slang and had sexual connotations, but some, like “across the board,” had to do with betting, or, my personal favorite, “brain,” because as a verb it has a violent connotation. 

I decided to pulp the dictionary after carefully saving the “offending” words and phrases. I then reconstituted the pages and pressed the “bad” words into their respective pages. I baked the book to darken the pages and give it a burnt aroma. The pages are held together by a strap made from the spine of the dictionary, with an anagram for American Heritage (Ream Again Heretic), sewn onto the bottom. I used the entire dictionary except for the covers, with only glue, snaps and thread to hold it together."

Following is the list of "offensive" words included. The full dictionary definitions are included with each word in the book: 1“across-the board” (betting on horse racing in Texas was illegal; 2“Arab” (incomplete definition); 3“ass” unnecessary); 4”attempt” (ties word into subject of murder) 5 “Banana republic” (insulting to Latinx people) 6 “Bawdy house” (unnecessary) 7 “Bed” (sexual intercourse is mentioned) 8 “The big house” (slang) 9 “Block busting: (inaccurate and unnecessary) 10 “Boob” ( female breast) 11 “Brain” (denotes violence) 12 “Bucket” (slang for bottocks) 13 “Butt” (slang) 14 “Cherry” (the hymen, virginity) 15 “Clap” slang for brothel and gonorrhea) 16 “Coke” (slang for cocaine) 17 “Crocked” ( slang for intoxicated) 18 “Deflower” 19 “Dyke” 20 “Fag”/”faggot” 21 “ Fairy” 22 “Gay” 23 “G-string” 24 “Head” 25 “Hooker” 26 “Horny” 27 “Hot” 28 “John”(customer of a prostitute 29 “John” (toilet) 30 “Keister” or “ keaster” 31 “Kinky” 32 “Knock” 33 ”Queer” 34 “Rubber” 35 “Shack” 36 “Slut” 37 “Tail” 38 “Tit”

This collection of 26 leaves is held together with a strap bearing the title of the book. Each leaf is stiff, thick compressed paper pulp with cut-out words and definitions embedded. A powerful statement on the absurdity of book bans. Size: 6.75 x 9.75 x 7 inches. [26 pages.] 

Lisa is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts. Since 2010 she has worked one-on-one with dozens of artists both locally and through Zoom. Her program is an outgrowth of many years of experience mentoring graduate students in colleges and universities. Her artists’ books can be found in a number of public collections. Fine. (#37549)

Price: $7,500 

Reproductive Rights
A Unique Artists' Book

Kokin, Lisa.
Restricted Entry.
El Sobrante, CA: Lisa Kokin, 1992.

A unique artists' book. According to Kokin, 'Restricted Entry' is "a book made from a found passport about reproductive rights."

Created in 1992 during the landmark Supreme Court case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which threatened to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973), but ultimately modified the original ruling to allow states to forbid abortion after the point of fetal viability, except in instances that would risk the woman's health. The Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982, which was being challenged in this case, required a woman seeking an abortion to notify her spouse prior to the procedure, amongst other things. This portion of the law was deemed unconstitutional as it allowed men to have too much control over their wives and presented women with "undue burden." Thirty years later reproductive rights are still in question in the United States with Roe v. Wade overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion.

The book is an altered passport from the 1960s with images of women, couples, reproductive systems, a hanger, and official looking stamps such as "property of United States of America", "Report to Local Authorities", "Liable for Prosecution", etc. It is housed inside of a girl's altered wooden jewelry box featuring a ballerina toy on a spring. The top of the box has been purposefully chipped, cracked, and worn. An image of a ballerina has been carved into the lid of the box and partially gouged away. The book is suspended within the red cloth lined box, resting on metal wires with a barb in the middle. The wires resembling hand-made devices used by women to perform self-abortions before they were legalized in the 1970s. The music box portion is no longer in working order, as was intentional by the artist. Book Size: about 6 x 3.75 inches. Unpaginated. [20 pages.] Box Size: about 7.5 x 5.5 x 3.5 inches. Near Fine. (#37513)

Price: $3,500 

The "Game" of Warfare - there can be no winner
Limited to 10 Copies

Krause, Dorothy Simpson.
WarZone.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Viewpoint Editions, 2017.

One of 10 copies. With this book, Krause makes a strong statement about the folly and tragedy of warfare. “WarZone: a traveling board game with no winner” is designed to be played anywhere other than in your own country. Instructions, game board, spinner board and game pieces are housed in a clear plastic suitcase. In the top of the suitcase, an image of the first atomic bomb blast is overlaid with a definition of war as “armed conflict, prosecuted with military forces aiming to enforce the political will of the victor upon the defeated.” It also contains information about human aggression from prehistory to the present and questions whether war is noble or morally problematic and destructive of lives and property. The Spinner Board, printed onto stiff board and contour cut to fit into in the bottom of the suitcase, allows you to choose the country in which to play and gives information on ongoing conflicts around the world. The countries shown on the map in black and around the outer edge of the circle have ongoing military conflicts that result in more than 1,000 violent deaths per year, including both military and civilians. Other conflicts are shown in red on the map. You can turn the spinner to select a country in which to participate or choose from the list of additional war zones. The Rules of Engagement state that you can place your soldier on any square of the game board and move randomly any number of spaces in any direction. You need not take turns and can remove the soldiers of any other player at will, unless you are removed first. If you are on a square with information and instructions, do as you are told. The Game Board resembles a checkerboard with squares which give instructions such as “no weapons found: look again”, “tour of duty extended: start over” and “peace negotiations begun: pray for success”. The red and black checker-like pieces are “us” and “them.” The game never ends, but may move to a different place of engagement. There are no winners, only losers. The WarZone game boards and suitcase were printed at Roland DGA on the LEF-300. a flatbed printer with white and gloss inks. Housed in a plastic suitcase measuring: 10 3/8 x 12 7/8 x 1 ½ inches. In fine condition. (#37027)

Price: $600 

Loss of Freedoms in the U.S.A - from clean air to reproductive rights
Letterpress Printed with Pochoir Illustrations

[Luminice Press]
Williams, Thomas Parker and Mary Agnes Williams.
American River.
Philadelphia: Luminice Press, 2022.

Number 10 of 12 copies. In this powerful new book from the Luminice Press, Thomas and Mary Agnes Williams present a scathing indictment of the erosion of democracy in the United States. The preface states: "In America, we are losing our freedoms, one by one. Clean Air – the freedom to breathe air not polluted with toxins Safety – the freedom to live without fear of deadly guns Women’s Autonomy – the freedom to control their own bodies Voting – the freedom to participate in our democracy We are losing America." The book's text juxtaposes the intent of four congressional acts that guaranteed American protections - clean air, gun control, reproductive rights, and voting rights - with text from the recent Supreme Court opinions that overturned or restricted these protections. The accordion structure of the book offers the text on one side of the pages with the other side offering six panels with striking abstract color illustrations of disappearing water representing democracy's erosion.

Bound in a blue and black paper covered boards with a black Washi linen spine. The text is letterpress printed from polymer plates. The six illustrations are original images hand printed on folded panels with 41 pochoir mylar stencils. The book measures 7.25 x 9.25 inches. The illustrated panels are 7 x 17.75 inches unfolded and open to 106.5 inches. In fine condition. (#37300)

Price: $1,500 

Fractured State of Political Discourse in the U.S.A. - a response to the January 6th insurrection
3 Versions of the U.S. Constitution - the full text, a redacted version, and a version created using Google translate

Maret, Russell; Amy Borezo, binder.
Three Constitutions.
New York: Russell Maret, 2021.

Number 60 of 90 copies of which 87 were numbered and 3 were proofs. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This work comprises three volumes housed in a custom clamshell box. It is a powerful response by one of our most acclaimed contemporary book artists to the alarming state of the country and the fractured state of political discourse in America.

Maret writes in his colophon: "This book was designed and printed between November 2020 and February 2021. During that time Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the presidential election by a margin of 74 electoral votes and more than 7 million popular votes. Rather than concede defeat, Trump has continued to promote the baseless claim that the election was rigged by the Democratic party and its "deep-state" operatives. At a rally on January 6, 2021, Trump incited a violent insurrection of the United States Capitol building, an action that is clearly described in the Constitution as treasonous (Article III, Section 3). Despite this, the mob that carried out Trump's failed coup attempt overwhelmingly identified as people willing to die or, more likely, kill to defend the Constitution.....Three Constitutions is my response to these events and the culture that bred them. It is well known that Trump does not read, but the glaring disconnect between basic constitutional principles and the actions of Trump's followers raises the question of whether these self-described patriots have read any part of the constitution besides the second amendment.

Three Constitutions is my response to these events and the culture that bred them. The large volume contains the full text of the Constitution and its amendments. It is set in a typeface that, though difficult to read, is legible once one becomes accustomed to its forms. The texts of the two smaller volumes were arrived at via the two most prevalent modes of constitutional interpretation: algorithmic skewing and selective redaction. The text of the volume titled Constitution. United States. was arrived by feeding the text of the Constitution through Google Translate,going from English to Esperanto to Russian to Chinese and back to English. The other small volume was set in metal type and subsequently redacted by physically turning key words and phrases over and printing the underside of the type. The resulting text is not the hopeful re-write I would conceive; it is intended to reflect the cynical, ineffectual state of political discourse in the United States."

All of the typefaces were designed by Russell Maret. Printed on Zerkall and Twinrocker Handmade papers. The large volume is 10 x 14.25 inches and held in a clear acrylic box. The two smaller volumes measure 7 x 10 inches and have black cloth covers with white titling to front cover. All three are housed in large clamshell box covered in gray cloth. It measures 16 x 11.25 x 2.75 inches. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. (#35307)

Price: $5,500 

Misinformation vs. Facts Concerning Climate Change and Current Events
Includes Multiple Volvelles & Diagrams

Martin, Emily, book artist.
Navigational Tools for the Will/fully Lost.
Iowa City: Emily Martin, 2024.

Number 23 of 25 copies in the standard edition, signed and numbered by the book artist. There was also one deluxe copy and two artist's proofs. Emily Martin writes of this provocative and timely new book on her web site: "In current times, our world seems to be very much off its axis. We are in a time of plague, not just medical but political, ecological, and more. The wholesale denial of science and rational thought coupled with the embrace of superstition and misinformation are signaling a need for a return to fact-based actions and ideas, a renewed age of enlightenment. In an attempt to not be completely bleak, I offer this set of wry visual aids for those who will not, cannot see what is really happening. For many months starting in 2021, the project only existed as the title, a few notes, and a call list for the Newberry library. In the spring of 2023, I spent a month in their reading rooms looking at many wonderful books, primarily their many editions of Peter Apian’s Cosmography from the 16th century, a time of scientific revolution. Apian included a set of five paper instruments in each of his editions. The paper instruments enabled readers to participate in 16th century mathematical and astrological calculations. Seeing and manipulating the many examples of those centuries old and still functional devices was invaluable to me as I began to work on my own paper tools."   

The book was printed letterpress on a Vandercook SP15 printing press using polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The text is printed on Rives BF paper using Baskerville, Gill Sans and Trattello fonts. The five paper tools are inventive volvelles, all variations of Martin's devising. They are printed on Chancery paper, with Text Wove paper as backing, and are hand cut and assembled. The binding is a combination slotted tape/long stitch using flax and abaca cover paper made by Mary Hark. With white title label on the cover. Housed in a black cloth covered clamshell box with a white title label on the spine. In fine condition. Measures 8 inches square. Unpaginated [24 pages]  (#37530)

Price: $1,800 

Climate Change, Racial Injustice, Immigration, Threat of Totalitarianism ...
Letterpress & Relief Printed - with included video file

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

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

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

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

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

Price: $2,700 

Welfare / Discontinued "General Assistance" Illinois Program

[Sherwin Beach Press]
Bogira, Steve; Mike Tappin, photographer.
$144 a Month.
Chicago: Sherwin Beach Press, 1993.

Number 61 of 200 copies. This powerful and poignant book, written in 1983, and first published in the Chicago Reader, is the story of people living, or trying to live, on General Assistance, a now-discontinued Illinois program that was the last resort of those who did not qualify for other more ‘generous’ forms of welfare. Each person developed a personal strategy to circumvent the system and get by on the state allotment of $144 a month. Many turned to Marillac House, a settlement house on the West Side of Chicago, for emergency food and clothing. Author Bogira does a remarkable job of getting his subjects to tell their own stories. The book also contains four portraits by photographer Mike Tappin. The pictures reinforce the sense of dignity felt in the subjects’ words. Selected as one of 48 books exhibited in ‘Dressing the Text’ at the Art Museum of Santa Cruz County. Also selected as one of 44 books exhibited in the book design section of Felice Feliciano in Verona, Italy. Designed by Bob McCamant, hand set in Century Expanded by Jennifer Hughes and printed on Johannot paper by Jennifer Hughes and Martha Chiplis. The photographs were printed in duotone lithography by Rohner Printing of Chicago. Bound in grey soft cover paper wrappers. Signed by the designer. In fine condition. 24 pages, 12 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches. (#37108)

Price: $450 

Poetry and Photography Addressing Boundaries of Race, Gender, Class, and Physical Boundaries

[Two Ponds Press]
Blanco, Richard, poet; Jacob Hessler, photographer and designer; Jorge Ramon, foreword.
Boundaries.
Rockport, ME: Two Ponds Press, 2017.

Number 264 of 300 copies signed by the poet and photographer. This compelling book was created as a collaborative project between Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco and contemporary landscape photographer Jacob Bond Hessler. In it, Blanco's powerful poetry is juxtaposed with Hessler's evocative photographs. From the Prospectus: "Blanco's poems and Hessler's photographs together investigate the visible and invisible boundaries of race, gender, class, and ethnicity, among many others; they challenge the physical, imagined, and psychological dividing lines - both historic and current - that shadow America and perpetuate an us vs. them mindset by inciting irrational fears, hate, and prejudice. In contrast to the current narrowing definition of an America with very clear-cut boundaries, Blanco and Hessler cross and erase borders. As artists, they tear down barriers to understanding by pushing boundaries and exposing them for what they truly are - fabrications for the sake of manifesting power and oppression pitted against our hopes of indeed becoming a boundary-less nation in a boundary-less world."

Bound in black cloth with silver design across the covers and silver title to spine. Printed with Gotham and Baskerville types on Mohawk Superfine Cover, Ultra White, Eggshell paper. Presswork was executed by Puritan Press. Housed in a red cloth slipcase. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. Oblong measuring 9.75 x 14 inches. Unpaginated. Fine. (#35837)

Price: $350

Syria, Violence by the Syrian Government Against its Citizens, and the Abstract Interpretation of the Violence to an American Audience

Tyler, Ann.
Catastrophic Geometries.
Chicago: Ann Tyler, 2018.

Number 4 of 5 copies. Signed and numbered by Ann Tyler, the book artist. A book about Syria, the violence taking place there, how abstract the atrocities feel to us in America, and how we attempt to process the information. Ann is a noted book artist and print maker whose works have been exhibited at many galleries across the United States. Her artist’s books are in several permanent collections including the Tate Gallery, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

She says of this powerful and complex work: "Catastrophic Geometries emerged from my research on Syria and the government military violence against the citizens. These books focus on one particular detention and torture site: Hospital 601. Hospital 601 is part of a military complex in Damascus. In news articles, aerial images of the site were published along with descriptions of what occurred at the site; images were smuggled out of Syria and provided to human rights organizations; testimony and documentation were provided by human rights organizations and in turn published in the media. The aerial images of building exteriors and roofs and shadows cast provided the basis of the abstractions I developed for this book. Catastrophic Geometries requires explication, as the sequencing of the text content underpins the viewer’s understanding of/relation to the abstractions – even though the abstractions comprise the bulk of the pages." The texts for each volume discuss visual and psychological factors that affect perception and understanding. For example, in volume IV: Car Garage Addendum: "The greater the distance the less detail. This tells us we are far away. Additionally, the greater the anticipated effort required then the greater the perceived distance. In tests, people within our own group are perceived to be closer while people out of our group are perceived to be further away because of the anticipated effort to understand that culture. Someone is sitting in a chair in the United States looking at a satellite image taken approximately 500 miles above Damascus, Syria reading a description of the site as told by another person who was standing at the scene photographing bodies but who has now fled to London carrying the evidence. The dead are strewn on the concrete floor of a car garage — some are isolated, some are slightly touching one arm on another, some are piled onto each other with no space in between. How do we determine distance in this scene? And what is the effort required?"   

This work is a four volume set housed in a custom slipcase. The books are casebound in red and magenta linen cloth and are hand-sewn with gold foil stamped titles and volume numbers on their spines. The graphite notations on one of the last pages of volume IV are individually hand-drawn lines and numbers. Being hand-drawn this page varies slightly with each set.   Type set in Futura and Adobe Garamond and printed on MOAB Entrada Rag Natural paper. In fine condition. Books measure 9 3/8 x 12 1/8 inches. Slipcase is 9.5 x 12.5 x 3.5 inches. Volume I: 90 pages; Volume II: 52 pages; Volume III: 48 pages; Volume IV: 32 pages.  (#35243)

Price: $1,500 

Presidential Election of 2020 and Insurrection of January 6th, - ending with Trump's Second Impeachment on Jan. 13, 2021
A Unique Hand Painted Artists' Book

Williams, Thomas Parker.
Peaceful Transition of Power?
Philadelphia: Thomas Parker Williams, 2021.

A unique artist's book from this noted book artist. Thomas Parker Williams began creating artists' books in 1998 while also painting. As of 2009 he has limited his art practice exclusively to artists' books. In that year he also began collaborating with his wife, photographer Mary Agnes Williams. In 2013 they started Luminice Press, incorporating letterpress printing into artists' books and broadsides. The artists' books draw on a range of conceptual sources in creating their books, including mathematics, music, literature, theology, philosophy, astronomy, natural sciences, and Eastern thought. Books by Williams or the Luminice Press may be found in over 70 public collections around the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A statement by Thomas Parker Williams about this powerful production addressing events during the former president's administration: "In October 2020 I started making what I called “The Date Paintings” about events connected with the Presidential election. Most were made with watercolor, inks and dry pigments in alkyd medium on paper, some adding colored pencil. The eight paintings were created quickly, either on or shortly after the date lettered on the piece. As events progressed, I continued this series, completing the last one on January 13, 2021, the date of Trump’s second impeachment. Thinking about these nine original illustrations at the end of 2021, I decided that they should be bound together. I made a title page with the same materials as the other paintings. The cover, depicting a shattered window, is black paper over Davey board with polycarbonate and paper onlay." In fine condition. Measures 14.2 x 20.5 x 1.0 inches closed. Unpaginated. Fine. (#35498)

Price: $5,000