Portland, OR: Anne Greenwood, 2016. Softcover. One of 138 copies. Book artist Anne Greenwood celebrated the life and poetry of Hazel Hall (1886-1924) in a special edition portfolio n with the same title, limited to twelve copies. The portfolio and this chapbook republish Hall's Needlework Poems. This chapbook is laser printed and handbound. The chapbook cover art Tapestry of Hours is the republished Needlework Poems by Hazel Hall, made in an edition of one hundred and thirty-eight laser printed and hand-bound. The cover art is machine sticking in crinoline: the under print is pressure printed, hand=stitched embroidery with pochoir. In fine condition. Measures 6 x 10 inches. 22 pages. PRI/053020. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2018. Number 21 of 30 copies. In this small but powerful work, Karen Hanmer offers a scathing look at what has been happening in the United States since January 2017. From Access Hollywood through the Mueller investigation to white nationalist support, #Great Again #Believe Me documents contemporary American personalities, pronouncements, slogans, scandals, policies and crimes, complemented by the metaphor of a deconstructing US Capitol. The text is printed in inkjet on binders' board with polypropylene and juxtaposed with black and white photos of the US Capitol as it was constructed, but shown in reverse order to seemingly deconstruct. The book is bound in the Jacob’s Ladder artists’ book structure, which is borrowed from a folk toy traditionally made of blocks of wood held together with ribbons. The structure is held from one end and allowed to dangle vertically. When the block being held is tilted, the remaining blocks flip over in succession, producing a cascading visual effect. Housed in clamshell of archival board. In fine condition. 21.5 x 2.5 x .125 inches extended; 3.5 x 2.5 x .75 inches closed. PRI/112818. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2014. Hardcover. Number 9 of 100 copies. Signed by the author. This book was inspired by a call for entries by the Guild of Book Workers with the theme of "vessel." Karen describes the text of her response as 60% memory and 40% casually researched, mostly on Wikipedia. Karen's book focuses on the iconic containers and conveyances of her childhood and adolescence between roughly 1962-1979. She juxtapositions her text with photographs of such "vessels" as the Chevy Nova, Crock-Pot, Electric Frying Pan, Mood Ring, Frye Boots, the 747, and more. Her words are often amusing, but they also offer astute observations on her family and our society during the period covered. This is the deluxe edition with marbled paper covers by Pamela Smith. Digitally printed and housed in a purple paper covered slip case. Digitally printed. In fine condition. 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [26 pages] PRI/121415. Fine. More

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2015. Hardcover. Number 57 of 187 copies. Swiss book artist and typographer Romano Hänni (1956 - ) has been experimenting with unusual compositions of letter forms and symbols since the early 1980s. His intricate designs can seem somewhat whimsical but often are reactions to society, politics, and traumatic events. Creating things manually with the participation of all of the senses is very important to him. A master of visual poetry, he enjoys teaching to pass on his knowledge and skills. This inventive new version of an earlier book of the same title was hand composed and hand printed in black, red, yellow, and blue ink. It is an accordion structure with a stiff paper illustrated book which, when removed, allows the twelve pages of the content to be unfolded into one continuous strip. With a paper band closure for the folded book. Includes a four page supplement featuring the title of the work and the colophon in both English and German. A small book measuring 3.25 inches wide by 5 inches tall. In fine condition. Unpaginated. PRI/072015. Fine. More

Boston: David R. Godine, 1978. One of 2000 copies printed by The Stinehour Press. This fascinating work is a collaboration between Elizabeth Harris, who wrote the history and documentation of the eighteenth century wooden printing press in volume one, while Clinton Sisson provided the drawings and advice on the construction in volume two. They write together: "In drawing up these plans and instructions based on the Ben Franklin press, our aim has been not only to record the manner in which an early eighteenth-century British common press was constructed, but also to supply sources and methods that will help the user to build a replica with as little difficulty and as few special tools as possible." This reference to the Ben Franklin press is discussed by Harris in her opening pages. According to tradition, the Smithsonian's press was one used by Franklin when he worked for printer John Watts in England in 1724. There is no evidence to prove this definitively but there is no evidence to refute the story. The rest of Harris's volume provides detailed documentation of the materials, tools, and steps to take in the construction of the press. Clinton Sisson 's volume is a portfolio of his eight beautiful technical drawings that illustrate all the parts and their names, the pieces and sections of the press, and the precise measurements. Each sheet in the portfolio is folded in quarters and unfolds to twenty-two inches. There is light spotting to the first two sheets that do not at all affect the images. Both volumes have brown paper covers with the title and an illustration of the press on the cover. Except for the light spotting both volumes are in near fine condition. They are housed in a brown paper covered slipcase with the same illustration of a printing press. Volume one: 62 pages. BOB/040120. More

Philadelphia: Heirloom Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 4 of 5 copies. Signed by the artist. Folio. "Curio is a collection of quotidian objects that speaks to the idea of woman as domestic curator and as weaker vessel. Images of household vases, cups and bowls are paired with inkblots that evoke the trappings of middle-class existence" (artist's statement). Includes text adapted from the 1868 collection of articles, "Modern Women and What Is Said of Them" and the Kate Chopin novel "The Awakening." Many of the excerpts that the artist has chosen to include objectify women, likening them to jewelry, tables, and other precious possessions. For example: After scolding his wife for sun bathing, Mr. Pontellier looks "at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." Also "The mind ought to be developed a little, and in such a way as to make the body more piquant and attractive. Like the candle inside a Chinese lantern, it may serve to lighten up and show to advantage the pretty devices outside. But the outside is the important thing, and the inside only incidental" (from "Modern Women ...). Others comment on how wives should be controlled or "managed" and the power dynamics within the home. A powerful book about the subjugation of women. Bound in full white alum-tawed leather with seven raised bands to the spine. Printed using letterpress, screenprint, and lithography on paper handmade by the artist. Size: 22 (wide) x 14.5 (tall) inches when open. ARTB/060920. Fine. More

Baltimore: Hill Press, 2014. Number 32 of 60 copies. This handsome book combines Heaver's interest in two subjects and their confluence: Dutch-Inspired type faces and English prayer books. He states in his preface that this fascination had its foundation in years of typographic contemplation and that his HIll Press, founded in 1987, was an early manifestation. In this book, Heaver and his contributors explore the early Dutch types and typographers and how the use of their types spread to other countries. The Book of Common Prayer was chosen for detailed examination because of its beauty and the need to narrow the scope of the analysis. Bound in red cloth with white titling on spine and cover labels. Printed on Twinrocker paper with Fry Baskerville type. With many illustrations and tipped in items throughout. Title page illustration by Chris Manson. In fine condition. Measures 7.25 x10 inches. 65 pages. PRI/021221. More

Montgomery Village, MD: Shireen Holman, 2013. Paperback. Number 15 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the artist. This complex and beautiful artist's book explores time from the viewpoints of religion, literature, science, and philosophy. The book artist, Shireen Modak Holman, has been a printmaker for more than thirty-five years and a book artist for more than twenty. She was born in India, and her work often involves the interaction of her Indian and American cultures. She states that she is fascinated by time and spent several years reading, sketching, and selecting texts to illustrate the imagery she was creating as she tried to visually express time. She has used texts from the writings of Shakespeare, Tagore, Einstein, Thoreau, Hawking, and others. As the design of the book came together, she created a full-sized colored pencil mock-up. The finished book consists of woodcuts printed onto pulp-painted handmade paper. The text was letterpress printed on gampi paper and then pasted onto the handmade sheets. The pages are folded in such a way that one can see a little of each of the subsequent pages from the current page. Thus from the beginning to the end of the book one can see a little of the future from the present. Each page has semicircular areas cut out so that the calendar at the bottom right of the colophon page is visible at all times. Housed in a cream paper clamshell box with the title "Time" in raised letters affixed vertically to the cover. Linen spine. In fine condition. Accompanied by a softcover book titled "The Making of the Artist Book 'Time.'" Unpaginated. [16 pages]. 13.75 x 19.25 inches. ARTISTS/041916. Fine. More

New York: House of Books, Ltd., 1939. Hardcover. LIMITED FIRST EDITION SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. NUMBER 68 OF 250. Small 8vo. Near fine in blue cloth covered boards with gilt title to front board and to spine. Minor fading to spine. Minor browning to front free end page. Else is pristine with untrimmed pages. In original glassine dust jacket with a few small closed tears to the edges. Unpaginated. PRI/102016. Near Fine / Very Good. More

East Aurora, NY: The Roycroft Shop, 1908. Hardcover. Author's Edition. Each of the three volumes are numbered 491 of 1,000 copies. All are signed by Hubbard. Illustrated. These three volumes include writings from Hubbard's Little Journeys series which discusses authors, artists, politicians, and other people of note. All volumes are bound in three quarter navy blue leather over blue paper covered boards with gilt titles to spines. Rubbing, wear, scuffing, minor soiling, and fading to boards and edges. Interiors are clean and bright overall; however, there are occasional smudges to margins and illustrations are toned. Dampstaining to top corners of most pages in second volume. Volume I is 281 pages; Volume II is 313 pages; Volume III is 320 pages. PRI/062922. Very Good. More

Benjamin Iluzada, 2017. Hardcover. Number 5 of 15 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. A collection of memories from the author about the places he's lived and his experiences ranging from a tarantula on his head when he was a child to adventures in sledding to noisy neighbors making love in the apartment above him. While each memory is very personal, anyone reading it can immediately relate to this nostalgic memoir. Letterpress printed with linoleum cuts, Resingrave engravings, pressure plates, and polymer plates on Fabriano Rospina paper. Created and printed for Sarah Nicolls' MFA Letterpress class at the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia, PA. Benjamin Iluzada is an up and coming printmaker currently working on his MFA at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Size: 5 x 5.25 inches. PRI/070219. Fine. More

Oldham, England: Incline Press, 2009. Paperback. "U unwillingness, slowness to learn. V is the vomitting the great fish is forced to make our hero change and turn, if only stumblingly, mind not yet open. W's the whale and the gobbling worm. X is exposure to why, Yahweh. Z is the zeal that makes Yahweh squirm" (last page). A chapbook issued to celebrate The Books of Jonah, the summer exhibition at Chetham's Library in Long Millgate, Manchester. Letterpress printed with metal type and illustrated with wood cuts printed in various colors. Bound in marbled paper wrappers with yellow title label to front cover. Clean and bright. Size: 4.5 x 3.5 inches. [8 pages] PRI/120518. Fine. More