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, 2009. Softcover. Limited to 100 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. In this flip book an image of the White House deconstructs to represent blunders and evil-doings since the 2001 inauguration. Created with pigment inkjet prints. The illustration was done in collaboration with Henry Maron. In fine condition. Measures 2.5 x .5 x .75 inches. PRI/070618. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2010. Hardcover. Number 21 of 30 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This book was one of six winners of the “Building by the Book” competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Athenaeum and Philadelphia Center for the Book. This work by noted book artist Karen Hanmer is based on Samuel Sloan's 1852 collection of house plans and instructions to contractors titled The Model Architect. Hanmer juxtaposes Sloan's historical text and illustrations with modern text from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's online "Guide to Avoiding Foreclosure." The artist provides commentary in the colophon reflecting on the effects of the 2008 financial collapse in her own neighborhood. She states: "Samuel Sloan's The Model Architect was published at the mid point of a century marked by cycles of rampant speculation followed by financial collapse. The Panic of 1857 came on the heels of publication of Sloan's work, and put a halt to the most active portion of his career. This milieu mirrors what has happened in my own neighborhood of modest homes over the past fifteen years. The transformation began with some owners remodeling their kitchen, or adding a family room or bedroom. Then larger additions came. Ultimately, the houses commanded high prices to be sold as teardowns. Huge new houses were built in their places. The construction proceeded with increasingly grandiose features; portions of the facade faced with thin sheets of stone, wooden garage doors with cast iron-like fittings, decorative copper accents on the roofs, turrets, lions flanking the brick driveways. Now the house across the street, the house next door, and the house next door to that are all in foreclosure, and soon will be uninhabitable. The lawns grow without interruption. Without electricity and heat the basements fill with water, the pipes burst, the mechanicals are destroyed. Few modest, affordable homes remain in the neighborhood." Bound in marbled paper covered boards with black leather spine and red leather title label, titled and ruled in gilt. Bound using the modern drum leaf structure but replicating the look of a 19th century book. Housed in an archival paper case with the edition number and artist's contact information stamped on the front panel. Measures 14 x 11 x .5 inches. 48 pages. ARTB/121212. Fine. More

Basel, Switzerland: Romano Hänni, 2005. Hard Cover. Number 34 of 40. Each book is unique. Second Edition. This book includes a selection of proof pages from various early handprinted books by Romano. The pages include handwritten notes and marks for corrections. Because each proof sheet is different, each illustration and also each book is unique. The poems, which are interspersed with the proof sheets, are written by Romano's father. The typographic pictures and cover are letterpress printed and the poems are inkjet printed. The text is in German with no English translation. (56 pages) ARTB/011713. Fine. More

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2021. Hardcover. Number 24 of the 54 copies of the standard edition. There are 10 additional copies of the deluxe edition. Each copy of the book comes with a pamphlet with photos of the manufacturing process and a soft cover book with Romano's explanation of this new work. Swiss book artist and typographer Romano Hänni (1956 - ) has been experimenting with unusual compositions of letter forms and symbols since the early 1980s. His 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 skill. In this book, Romano states that he is reprinting the original text of the Iti Amotytoma Muxum that arrived in England from Utopia in 1535. The book was purportedly soon "lost in the darkness of history" until 2019, when it was revealed to be in the Vatican Secret Archives. The book artist says that he was able to get possession of the book for a few weeks. Although not able to translate the mysterious lost language of Utopia, he was able to recreate the harmonious overall impression of the book with its deliberately used proportions and its classical and elementary typography. According to his book of explanation, Romano created this work in response to his own ethical, moral, and political beliefs about our modern world. The book is an intriguing production that beautifully displays his mastery of symbols and letter forms. It was hand set in lead type with brass lines and letterpress printed in black and four-colors. There were approximately 52 printing forms. The book is bound in green linen with gilt titling to front cover. It is housed in a grey paper covered slipcase along with the pamphlet of photos. In fine condition. Measures 5 x 7.5 inches. Book: 56 pages; Explanation volume: 23 pages. ARTB/090321. Fine. More

Basel, Switzerland: Romano Hänni, 2007. Paperback. 1 of 306 copies. This work by Swiss book artist, Romano Hänni, is a hand printed eight page altar fold with banderole and a card with a poem. The text is in German and an eight page pictorial supplement with translation in English is also included. This work is about the horrors of war and military injustice. There are multiple stories about war and murder including a piece about 306 British soldiers who were court-martialed for ‘cowardice in the face of the enemy’ and shot during World War I by their comrades. In 2006 - ninety years later - these men were pardoned. The enclosed poem is “Glory of Women” by Sigfried Sassoon. The banderole, which is printed on toilet paper, represents the blindfolds of the executed men. It features a wood engraving of a French Military Cross on the front and a statement about four French soldiers who were court-martialed in 1915 and shot in the back. A powerful piece. [8 pages]. Swiss book artist and typographer Romano Hänni (1956 - ) has been experimenting with unusual compositions of letter forms and symbols since the early 1980s. His 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. ARTB/020212. Fine. More

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2010. Hardcover. Number 34 of 175 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 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 work offers a commentary on various aspects of life, some of which are illustrated with design elements. For example "with ritalin" shows a series of small, numbered pill shaped designs. It faces "without ritalin" which shows a variety of animals and other creatures. One unillustrated quote from the jacket reads "The daily misconduct: It is not the large catastrophes, it is he daily mistakes in the details that cause the global problems." Bound accordion style in boards with white illustrated dust jacket. Handcomposed and handprinted in black, red, blue, and gold. The text is printed in German; however, a pictorial booklet supplement with English translation is included. A thought provoking, well designed book. ARTB/092117. Fine. 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

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

Philadelphia: 2 Step Press, 2018. Number 2 in an open edition. An offset lithograph and silkscreen artist book/paper toy (hexahexaflexagon) depicting a frightening campfire scene. Housed in a beige envelope. Includes directions for how to use a hexa-hexaflexagon. Printed at the Borowsky Center for Publication Arts at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Unpaginated. More

Minneapolis: Indulgence Press, 2012. Portfolio. Number 7 of 10 copies. Signed and numbered by poet and illustrator. This is one of several books produced by Wilber "Chip" Schilling, owner of the Indulgence Press, in collaboration with author-artist Thomas Rose. In this book they created a beautiful and mysterious work that combines Rose's haunting photographs with the poetry of Lo Ch'ing, a noted modern poet from China. In his foreword, Rose states that "art deals with primary intention and those aspects of objects and space that are unavailable to logic. His images are constructed from various sources including shadows and reflections. They are illusions, reflections in glass. Lo Ch'ing's poems give these images...depth and richness." The pairings of the photographs and poems are open-ended and ambiguous, allowing for conjecture as to how the images and text meet. The eight photographic prints are originals by Rose, and Lo Ch’ing wrote the interpretive poems for this book, with his original brushwork and translations. They were printed letterpress from plates by Schilling. Each image is printed in color on a fine woven paper. Each poem is printed in Chinese and English along with the striking black brushwork on a light and semi-transparent paper that slightly reveals the image beneath. The elephant folio sized sheets are housed in a green and black cloth portfolio with diagonal boards that fasten with a black bone closure. A stunning production from the noted Indulgence Press in fine condition. PRI/121312. Fine. More

New York: n.p, circa 1991-1992. Hardcover. A unique mysterious and deeply personal artist's book by an unknown man mourning the loss of the love of his life. The author has filled this work with his poetry, profile images of Nefertiti, collage, applied color and designs and more. The texts and images are mounted and framed on multi-colored matte boards. Bound in black cloth covered boards painted with swaths of orange color with title in purple on front cover. This fascinating book on love and grief measures 10.75 x 13.25 x 2.75 inches. It is heavy in both emotion and actual weight (extra shipping required). In fine condition. ARTBOOK/022520. Fine. More

[Raleigh NC]: Jon Kolkin, 2014. Hardcover. Number 37 of 50 copies. Inscribed: "May you experience Inner Harmony as you continue along your life's journey - Jon Kolkin #37/50." Kolkin is a fine arts photographer, Buddhist, and an international speaker on achieving a more enriching and balanced life. This beautiful book has thirty black and white images selected from his photographic series, Inner Harmony. The evocative and mysterious photographs were taken at Buddhist monasteries in China and Bhutan. The text is both in English and traditional Chinese with calligraphy created by Oi Yee Tai. Bound in black Japanese cloth and bound using a traditional Chinese binding technique. In fine condition. 12 x 13 inches. 72 pages. PRI/031215. Fine. More