East Hampton, NY: Barry McCallion, 2024. Softcover. Signed by the artist. A powerful unique work that is the second of three variants of the book's theme of Walt Whitman's and Louisa May Alcott's experiences during the Civil War. McCallion writes of this work: "They didn't meet in Washington, but if they had they would likely have talked of Emerson. In 1855 Emerson had written to the poet, 'I greet you at the beginning of a great career,' and, not one to let a compliment cool down, Whitman printed Emerson's greeting in gold on the cover of the second edition of 'Leaves of Grass.' Louisa May Alcott, too was at the beginning of her career. Long before 'Little Women' brought her lasting fame, she came to the attention of the public with 'Hospital Sketches,' her record of service as a nurse to Civil War wounded. 'Hospital Sketches,' Whitman's 'Specimen Days,' and his poem 'The Wound Dresser,' are the text sources for this book."
This imaginative and inventive production from the highly regarded book artist, Barry McCallion, is a book of constructions and collages, with the writers' words and pictures rooted in scenes of Civil War hospitals. The collages were composed using areas of acrylic paint, strips of red St. Armand paper, lines of printed text, India ink drawings on tracing paper, and color washes. McCallion writes: "By printing the text and photos as both positive and negative images I was able, when I chose, to bend realism toward the hallucinatory." Richard de Bas cream wove paper was used for the book, and occasional additions of hinged paper inserts vary the rhythm of the pages. Essential Workers, in its presentation box, is 14 inches tall x 11 1/4 inches wide x 2 inches thick. The book’s 31 loose pages are held in a red St. Armand paper folder; the presentation box is covered in a silky white fabric with a white, Rives BFK paper interior. The artist painted a Red Cross emblem (adopted in 1864) on the cover inset. In fine condition. ARTB/032024. Fine. More