Watertown, MA: Paper Trace Studio, 2025. Hardcover. Marcia Ciro is an important and creative book artist who has made interesting and evocative books for many years. Marcia’s artist’s books have been collected by museums and libraries nationally and internationally. She has taught book arts at the former Art Institute of Boston, Holy Cross, DeCordova Museum, and other locations, and has exhibited widely. She says of her work: 'My work uses photography, drawing and film to record and react to the world around me. I am interested in pursuing those images that show me something I haven’t seen before, especially relating imagery together to make sense of my place in the environment, as well my impact on it. Our environment, whether man-made or natural, and the stratagems we devise to live within it are of particular interest to me, which leads me to think about our value systems; how we assign merit to things, time, and life. I work with my images to make artist’s books, photomontages, digital and hand drawings, and short films."

This remarkable production by Marcia is particularly powerful and complex, and she created a video for her website (www.papertracestudio.com) to describe it, and for her to explain how she sees this production as an important statement on climate change and on Hades and its meanings. Each of the five books takes its theme from one of Hades five rivers. They are the Styx, Lethe, Archeron, Phlegethon, and Cocytus. Each of the five rivers had a unique function in how the Underworld worked. The volumes are as follows:
1. Archeron: River of Rue, dedicated to resistance, acquiescence, then delusion.
2. Cocytus: River of Lamentation, dedicated to anger and mourning for all we have lost.
3. Lethe, River of Oblivion, dedicated to history and all that we dare to forget.
4. Styx: River of Oaths, dedicated to regrets and opportunities missed.
5. Phlegethon: River of Fire, dedicated to fear and the unknown.

The books are all illustrated with original photos that Marcia took from her boat while on water. The photos and the texts are printed on a Canon inkjet printer with archival inks on Red River Polar Matte paper. The books are bound in black cloth covers with a paper covered photographic spine label. However, the books vary in their internal structure and the colors of the photographs. All five volumes are housed in a black cloth covered slipcase. In fine condition. Books measure 9 x 6.25 inches. The box is 9.5 x 7 x 4.75 inches. ARTB082525. Fine. More

Watertown, MA: Marcia Ciro, 2000. Number 22 of 25 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Marcia Ciro writes of her work: "Many of my books explore the difference between the familiar and the exotic, and the dichotomy between personal habits and foreign customs. In the set of accordion books, *TravelRiffs*, each book takes a series of pictures and "riffs" on them as you would a melody. The text itself, between the first and second sides, introduces an idea from the first side, like the first stanza of a song, and then completes the 'riff', leading the viewer to the second side, like a chorus."

The ten pamphlets in this intriguing set are titled as follows: Elgin marbles : moving Pu'u 'o'o : gateway to hell Twilight's last gleaming : endless access Trajan's pupil : tempus fugit Velvet vistas : unbroken landscape A walk in the woods : pith Paradise list : brood Nonsense : fiction's backyard Elevation : heavenly protections Control : power on. This inventive work is comprised of ten accordion-style pamphlets printed on an Epson inkjet printer on Red River paper. The books each offer digitized photos and original text by the book artist printed with archival inks. Each of the books has black covers with the title and an illustration on its cover, and measures 2.5 x 4 inches closed. They are housed in a 3 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches black paper covered box. The ten volumes may be removed from the box by lifting them with a black ribbon. The box has a lid with the title and book artist name printed on a miniature white image of the world. In fine condition. ARTB/082525. Fine. More