Moscow: Emil Goozairow, 2020. Hardcover. A small book. Both covers are three-dimensional and are made from sculpted, carved, and hand-painted polymer clay. The book is held closed with green cord and a metal clasp. An accordion featuring black and white illustrations of this jagged, rocky landscape - which incorporates letterforms in both the rocks and negative spaces. An imaginative design. [36 pages.] Size: about 4 x 2.5 inches. ARTB/021921. Fine. More

2008. Hardcover. A unique hand written manuscript describing the legend of the Sawfish, a medieval tale about resisting evil temptations. This book includes two hand written pages with a history of the Sawfish legend on the first page and an illustrated passage in Latin on the facing page. The six line Latin passage begins with an illuminated initial and beneath it is a hand painted miniature illustration of a ship with a saw fish flying above it. The illustration is based on a medieval miniature. This book has been hand lettered on exquisitely prepared calfskin vellum. It was lettered and decorated with 23K gold leaf over gesso, Winsor and Newton designers gouache, Moon Palace Sumi ink, and Soennecken pen nibs. Bound in red silk by Bexx Caswell of the White Sparrow Bindery (Somerville, MA). Signed and dated by the artist. Calligrapher and book artist Maryanne Grebenstein (Marblehead, MA) is a student of Sheila Waters, Jeanyee Wong, Robert Boyajian and others. She owns The Abbey Studio which offers professional calligraphy services and classes and Turn-in-the-Path Books which produces unique and limited edition books and broadsides. Maryanne also teaches at the North Bennet Street School in Boston and is a Visiting Artist at the Corcoran College of Art+Design in Washington, DC. ARTB/092911. Fine. More

2011. Hardcover. Unique Artists' Book. Signed and dated by the book artist and binder. This is a hand-lettered manuscript of Poe's classic poem "Annabel Lee" which was designed, hand-written, gilded, and decorated by Maryanne Grebenstein. Each page is decorated with an elaborate floral motif border with flourishes and initials in gold. Bound in three quarter purple cloth with marbled paper covered boards by Elizabeth Rideout of Charlotte, VT. This manuscript was hand lettered in the Italic style using Moon Palace Sumi ink and Leonardt and Soennecken pen nibs on Pergamenata stationery weight paper in antique. The gold leaf is 23.75 karat on gesso and the decorations are with Winsor & Newton gouache. Unpaginated [8 pages]Calligrapher and book artist Maryanne Grebenstein (Marblehead, MA) is a student of Sheila Waters, Jeanyee Wong, Robert Boyajian and others. She owns The Abbey Studio which offers professional calligraphy services and classes and Turn-in-the-Path Books which produces unique and limited edition books and broadsides. Maryanne also teaches at the North Bennet Street School in Boston and is a Visiting Artist at the Corcoran College of Art+Design in Washington, DC. ARTB/081711. Fine. More

Portland, OR: Anne Greenwood, 2008. Number 8 of 30 copies. Anne Greenwood is a well-known artist who has exhibited widely and whose works can be found in museum and library collections around the country. She was born on the high Dakota Plains and was led to an art degree by her artist grandmother. In 1990 she moved to Portland, Oregon and began her career as an artist and horticulturalist. Anne’s artwork explores an interest in folk art and speaks of her kinship with the natural world and how this influences her connection to daily life. In 2002, Anne set up a textiles studio integrating handwork, book arts, and textiles into an interdisciplinary practice. From Anne's artist's statement: "My artistic practice navigates an infinite network of connections: narrating the simple and complex, physical and ephemeral, past and present, within the context of place, history, and transformation. I form relationships that expand and fortify admiration and reverence, leading to the discovery of new truths about the world around us." This interesting and evocative work exemplifies how Anne integrates her textile skills with book arts. She explains that Winter Counts were historic calendars used by the Plains Indians to record time pictographically. This book is Anne's interpretation of the Sioux tradition to record her personal history using hand-stitched embroidery and letterpress printing. The 41 embroideries were scanned and then made into print form from hand-processed photopolymer plates run on a Vandercook Universal hand press. Printing was done by Inge Bruggeman. Each is printed in the same color as the embroidered version. The loose images and text pages are housed in a light red clam shell box. The text pages are printed in Goudy Sans type and include the title page, artist's statement, two commentary pages for images titles and stitch identification, and colophon with quotes relevant to the winter count tradition. An impressive production in fine condition. PRI/031819. Fine. More

Portland, OR: Anne Greenwood, 2018. Number 3 of 10 copies in the deluxe edition, signed and numbered by the book artist. This deluxe edition includes a hand-written poem in a rear folder with a bound in fabric piece. Vestiges was conceived in Iceland where Anne was an artist-in-residence in April and May 2018. This striking work includes folded, sewn, dyed, and printed crinoline cloth pieces accompanied by text. They beautifully capture the almost intangible nature of vestiges - things disappearing or no longer in existence. The book's wrap-around cover is white crinoline. The book is printed with Weiss Italic type on Mohawk Superfine paper by Diane Jacobs of the Scranton Press in Portland. The text is hand-written and authored by the artist as are the hand-dyed fabric manipulations (from the colophon). Anne Greenwood is a well-known artist who has exhibited widely and whose works can be found in museum and library collections around the country. She was born on the high Dakota Plains and was led to an art degree by her artist grandmother. In 1990 she moved to Portland, Oregon and began her career as an artist and horticulturalist. Anne’s artwork explores an interest in folk art and speaks of her kinship with the natural world and how this influences her connection to daily life. She makes objects, installations, and works with her community. In 2002, Anne set up a textiles studio integrating handwork, book arts, and textiles into an interdisciplinary practice. From Anne's artist's statement: "My artistic practice navigates an infinite network of connections: narrating the simple and complex, physical and ephemeral, past and present, within the context of place, history, and transformation. I form relationships that expand and fortify admiration and reverence, leading to the discovery of new truths about the world around us. I enter into inquiry-based community engagement through arts education, residency, public work, studio practice, and collaboration. " A lovely work in fine condition. ARTS/031419. Fine. More

Washington DC: Kristin Gubrandsdottir, 2010. Soft cover. Number 10 of 11 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Kristin is a book artist, furniture maker, and teacher from Iceland. Her works typically address feelings, memory, and experience. She studied book arts at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington DC where she made this book. She currently resides in Brussels. Awakening is a powerful photobook done in response to the loss of friends that "left me wondering about the meaning of our existence and why some leave too prematurely." The photographs and text address these questions and the strange feelings that arose in her at night that left her waking up "knowing that one day I will die." The twelve evocative color photos are reproduced in an oblong accordion style book and juxtaposed with letter press text. Printed on Soberest paper using Minion Pro Regular and Medium Italic fonts. Bound in white stiff paper with titling on front cover. In fine condition. Unpainted. PI/022119. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2002. Paperback. Open Edition. This book was created for the 2002 exhibition BEAUT.E(CODE). It documents interviews conducted with computer software developers to explore the aesthetic values in, and their fond feelings for, computer programming. Artist Statement: "I am a visual artist. My husband is a software engineer. For years I have listened to his conversations with colleagues about hardware and software, what is good or pleasing and what is not and why, what they find new and exciting or classic and exciting. I am able to sense, but am unable to experience the excitement they feel. I wanted to find a point of entry into this world, and find a way to convey their excitement to other non-technical people. I gathered information by conducting group interviews with and sending questionnaires to computer professionals to explore aesthetic values in the art of computer programming and how they are similar to (or different from) aesthetic values in art. Or more plainly, “what excites these guys?” Three elements are combined to create the pieces in this show: quotes from the interviews which I thought best or most colorfully expressed these aesthetic values, representations of artifacts I remember fondly from my college days working in the machine room of the university’s computer center circa 1980, and my simplistic understanding of the basic inner workings of a computer." A collection of scantron forms with text keypunched onto the cards and "bound" with a custom printed rubber band reading "it is a living thing." Size: 3.25 x 7.25 x 5 inches. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: 1998. Hardcover. 3 of 20 copies. Signed and numbered by the artist. A collection of quotes and photographs of three generations of men reminisceing about hunting and fishing trips. Bound accordion style with marbled paper covered boards. Measures 6 inches by 30 inches by 3 inches when fully extended. Housed in an archival paper case with the artists' contact information and edition number on the front panel. Unpaginated. [10 pages.] ARTB/060111. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2011. Hardcover. Number 17 of 30 (numbered on case). Vellum spine titled in gilt with illustrated paper covered boards. The cover illustration varies. This book features a full color reproduction of a painting that hung over the book artist's sofa when she was a child. The painting depicts a view of the island of Capri overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Hanmer has divided the painting into eight equal portions, each of which reads as a horizon and may also function as a metaphor for memory and the unanswered questions that elude memory. "With her latest project, Karen Hanmer has created an archetype of all the family oil paintings that hung above the couches of our childhood. Not a drop of irony stains the languid shorelines and gauzy, cloud-flecked skies that fill the pages of this inviting book. Hanmer instead chooses to treat her subject with a candid reverence that raises intriguing questions about how we assign value to the objects that circumscribe our lives and how memory impacts that process" (Vera Scekic, Chicago painter and curator). Housed in an archival paper case with the edition number and artist's contact information stamped on the front panel. Measures 5.5 x 8 x 5 inches. Unpaginated [16 pages.] ARTB/121415. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2004. Number 20 or 20 copies, signed and numbered by the book artist. Karen's artist-made books are physical manifestations of personal essays intertwining history, culture, politics, science and technology. She utilizes both traditional and contemporary book structures, and the work is often playful in content or format. This is the last unsold copy of this thoughtful and nostalgic book by Karen. She uses the text of a young Navy wife’s letter written from Europe in the 1950s to her family on the farm along with her alternate personal thoughts. The book uses the flag book structure to juxtapose these texts with sections of an old photograph of her Midwestern relatives. This structure offers an effective medium for creating a visual as well as a textual experience. The full photograph of the family is revealed when the book is fully opened. The photograph and text were created using pigment inkjet prints. The covers reproduce a black and white photo of the young Navy wife with an Italian city view behind her. The back of the book opens in accordion style and shows another black and white photo from Italy. Book is 4.5 x 9 inches closed and 8 x 19 inches when fully open. Housed in an archival stiff paper storage box with Velcro closures. In fine condition. 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

Glenview, IL: 2008. Hardcover. 1 of 100 copies. Each page depicts the outline of a couple from a romance novel cover. The translucent paper allows the images to interact and form new combinations. According to Sarah Bodman of the University of West England "That shameful temptress Karen Hanmer has really done it this time! Under that tantalizing red cover is a heady series of swooning ladies and masterful men. In a whirlwind of passion, dozens of romance novels have been condensed into one steamy artist’s book of multiple outlines emerging through transparent papers." Fine in red velvet covered boards with gilt title to front cover. The interior is laser printed on vellum paper. Unpaginated [16 pages]. ARTB/060111. Fine. More