San Diego: Anne Covell, 2019. Number 12 of 18 copies signed and numbered by the artist. Anne Covell is a book artist and hand papermaker living in San Diego, CA. She has studied Asian and Western papermaking techniques with Timothy Barrett, and has taught for numerous professional organizations including the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory, Penland School of Crafts, and the University of Georgia study abroad program in Cortona, Italy, among others. Her work has been exhibited internationally and can be seen in a growing list of private collections, special collections libraries, and museums worldwide. Anne writes: "History of a Felling was first conceived during the winter of 2014 while at the Penland School of Crafts on a winter residency in letterpress. The images were made on-site from polymer plates created from film ink hand-painted on Yupo paper. The project was filed away while the concept evolved into a body of work that would become Covell’s graduate thesis, “Towards a Just Landscape,” in 2015. In the intervening years, the US/Mexico border would draw global attention for the deeply contentious debate over the compulsion to secure the southern border though the construction of a border wall. It seemed a particularly poignant time, by comparison, to revisit the history of the US/Canada border felling, and so the project came out of storage. In many ways the southern and northern US border conflicts remain as isolated as their geographical latitudes; however, their ethical and environmental costs deserve equal scrutiny. Over 150 years later, the deforestation continues. Nature inevitably begins to rebound - trees, shrubs, and grasses grow - and every six years the swath is cleared through exhaustive manual labor." Anne has created a lovely tunnel book that opens to reveal a multi-layered forest of delicate trees printed in light brown on a cream background of Sakamoto paper. The images were printed from photopolymer plates made from original drawings by the artist. Housed in a brown cloth portfolio with a discussion and description of this book. In fine condition. 5.75 x 4.75 x .5 inches (closed) 5.75 x 4.75 x 18 inches (open). ARTISTSB/012121. More

Philadelphia: Luminice Press, 2023. One of 14 copies signed by the book artists. This charming and informative book, Spider and the Stars, is a Luminice Press artist book by Thomas Parker Williams and Mary Agnes Williams. It combines an original illustrated story for young readers with factual information about spiders and the curious way they travel long distances. Called ballooning, this form of spider travel appears to be flying, but in fact spiders take advantage of the Earth's electric field to become airborne. This particular spider became so airborne that she soared past the earth and planets to weave her webs among the stars! Book artist and printer Thomas Parker Williams began creating artists' books in 1998 while also painting. As of 2009 he has limited his art practice exclusively to artists' books. In that year he also began collaborating with his wife, photographer Mary Agnes Williams. In 2013 they started Luminice Press, incorporating letterpress printing into artists' books and broadsides. The artists' books draw on a range of conceptual sources in creating their books, including mathematics, music, literature, theology, philosophy, astronomy, natural sciences, and Eastern thought. Books by Williams or the Luminice Press may be found in over 75 public collections around the country. For this delightful collaboration, both artists developed the concept and design and did the printing. Thomas did the illustrations, the moveable pop-up and the binding. Mary Agnes wrote the original story and handset the text. The round black cover has a smaller cut out circle. It is laser cut wood with oil-based pochoir printed paper. The outer circle depicts the starry skies, while the spider and her web are visible in the smaller circle. When the cover is opened the spider and her web are fully visible. On the first page is a large brown, cream, and orange spider with moveable head and legs that pop open. There are 16 pages that tells the spider's story with colorful images of her and her adventurous travel to outer space. They are done in oil-based pochoir over linocut flood coats, with hand painted accents. The text is hand set in Janson and Janson Italic on Arches book paper and letterpress printed. Housed in an acrylic case with a brown title inset. In fine condition. The book measures 7.5 x 8 inches closed. The pop-up spider opens to 19 x 24 inches. ARTB/050523. Fine. More

Aurora, CO: Alicia Bailey at Ravenpress, 2020. Hardcover. Produced in a variable edition of no more than 9 copies of which this is number 4. A collection of 17 endangered frog species, each hand painted (reproduced digitally), and briefly described with terms such as "population decreasing." Labeled ink drawings of frog anatomy are incorporated into each illustration. A circle graph showing frog populations as extinct, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, least concern, and data deficient accompanied with hand-written percentiles in red adorns the bottom of the case for the book. Along the interior edges of the box the following text is printed: "Blake believed that the object of being human is to learn how to be human. Will we learn to be human in time? To live up to our full capacities in time to save ourselves? To save the world that is vulnerable to us? To fail will bring on a greater tragedy than we can possibly imagine." According to the artist: "This project began with a batch of biology notebooks from my great-aunt Ruth's archive that were created in 1920 as part of her undergraduate education. I inked over several of her pencil drawings detailing frog biology, treated the pages so they would be receptive to oil paint, then painted a variety of frogs, one to a page. Scanned at high-resolution, these images were printed on hand-dyed Mohawk Superfine Text paper with archival digital inks. The images were each mounted on a core of museum board wrapped with elephant hide paper with further details about the depicted frog hand-written in red ink. The pages are bound using a wire edge structure, onto metal rods. The book and box covers have been treated with shellac, then overpainted with gesso, oil, and wax. The covers each have a hand-painted frog behind laser etched mica labels. The diamond shaped book is housed in a custom box with text laser etched into the tray's corner pieces. The base of the box has a print out of a circle graph with a hand-written legend under a layer of cast acrylic." Alicia Bailey has been creating artists' books, limited edition books, and sculptural books since the mid-nineties. Her work has been featured in dozens of exhibitions and is held in many collections around the world. This book is held in the collection of the British Library. Size: about 8 x 7 x 2 inches. [20 pages.] ARTB/111621. Fine. More

Rutland, VT: Shattuck Studios. Number 1 of 5 copies signed by the book artist. This is an inventive work from well-known artist Carolyn Shattuck that displays her skill in using various book structures to convey meaning and context in the books she creates . In addition to artists' books, she is a painter and creator of paper art. Carolyn exhibits her work nationally in numerous juried exhibitions and has received many awards. Her books have been collected by a number of special collections libraries at universities throughout the country. She teaches Book Art workshops in New England and Florida. She writes: Save the Elephants was designed to bring awareness of their struggle as the population is rapidly declining due mainly to poachers. Her text describes the loss of these magnificent animals and the desperate efforts of those trying to save them. Her design uses an accordion structure from which origami elephants are standing when the book is extended open. They are made with patterned Origami Lokta paper that evoke African fabric designs. The book also uses Canson Mi Teinte, Lama Li, Elephant Hide and Washi papers. The binding is a plain grey. The work is housed in a brown paper slipcase with title label to cover, a gilt paper spine, and a belly band of the same gilt paper. In fine condition. 5.25 x 13.5 x 1.25 inches closed. ARTISTSBOOK/010422. Fine. More

San Francisco: Terry Turrentine, 2020. One of ten copies, signed by the photographer and book artist Terry Turrentine Two copies are artist's proofs and one is a handling copy. Although she grew up in a family whose traditions included guns and hunting, as an adult Terry became an esteemed artist and wildlife photographer, specializing in capturing spectacular photographic images of birds. Her previous artist's books were of snowy owls, egrets, and gannets. This latest work offers magnificent images of falcons and a message of hope at this challenging time in our history. She writes in her colophon: " Widening Circles celebrates the ferocious beauty of the falcon, and the interdependent relationship of all beings to each other. Some may see the portraits of falcons in their protective hoods as disturbing. But those familiar with the ancient art of falconry know the hoods are a means to protect the bird from the assault of outside stimuli, as they are extremely sensitive to light, sounds, color, and motion. This is why falcons are such fearsome predators. All predators and their prey maintain the balance of nature and are essential for the world as we know it to exist. It is the natural order of things that there is destruction and rebirth in every second of every day. The ultimate predator, mankind, however, often abuses the privilege of living off the resources of this planet, and upsets the natural balance, causing extreme destruction. As a result, we are witnessing a death spiral of the climate, of the social order, and of the basic balance we need to survive as a species." Terry says of the Rilke poem, "Widening Circles," printed in the book in both English and German: "Over 100 years ago, this was also the observation of Rilke, as he saw the degradation of some of the cities he visited. He could only find solace in God and the wonder of nature - and he dedicated his timeless love poems to both." She concludes: "Life, death, and renewal - each stage is fluid. I believe the sublime gift of living is its constant change, its eternal cycles, and our capacity for transcending destruction through creativity." The credits for this beautiful production: Photographs and creative direction by Terry Turrentine; Book and text design by Dana F. Smith; Editorial consulting by Susan Gangel; Typography and letterpress printing by Dina Pollack; Bound by John DeMerritt Bookbinding; Images printed at Electric Works by Noah and Kris Lang. The stunning images are printed in brilliant colors against a black background, with a line from the poem appearing on each page out of the dark background. The work is housed in a custom black cloth box with a red leather cover. Measures 10.5 x 14.5 x 1.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTISTB/052621. More