Penngrove, CA: Spell & Bind Press, 2022. Hardcover. Number 7 of 15 copies. Tiana Krähn is an accomplished book artist who makes small edition, hand-bound, letterpress printed poetry and story books under the name Spell & Bind Press. She writes about her work: "For me, hand setting type is a meditation. There is intention behind each letter, each word, each sentence. I believe that words, like spells cast into the world, should be carefully chosen. As I work I have pause to examine my motives. Poems and stories open portals in and out of other realms. Printing on a letterpress machine is such a physical process, and as the weight of the words sink deep within the page, I am always struck by the permanence of this action, and the beauty of marks that make meaning out of chaos and ink. The binding of books is yet another ritual I relish. It is work full of metaphor where each stitch is a scaffold in the building of a physical home to our thoughts and feelings, resulting in an intimate object to be kept close or to be shared. That is the magic of it all." Matriarch commemorates two great women who held positions of power within the complicated systems that both honored and enslaved them in their particular roles. One of the two women is the Queen Elizabeth II. The other is the book artist's great-grandmother, Alice Watson Ford. They were mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers with an immeasurable influence. One a monarch, the other a Jamaican woman, and dedicated queen to her small community, the two women were similarly employed. This book references complex feelings and experiences due to Jamaica once being a colony of Great Britain, an influence which remains ever present. Krahn writes that when creating this book about holding her great grandmother in reverence, Queen Elizabeth died. She decided it made sense to hold them up together, to explore their roles and to commemorate them with a carefully considered comparison of two women in positions of power, beloved, and not forgotten. This handsome work is a triptych bound by Mark Summers of Namnavoe Book Binders in hand dyed dark brown Fair Goat Skiver and tooled with 23 carat gold leaf. The title and floral ornament on the cover and the spine has the initial M and press name all in gold leaf. The covers open to reveal interior frames that hold original intaglio prints depicting images of the two queens. The center between the two frames has a pocket in which sits a sewn single signature booklet that has been letterpress printed on white vintage WH Hodgkinson paper. With a burlap sleeve holding the book closed with an image of the British flag. Accompanied by a single sheet with the book artist's background on creating this book. In fine condition. Measures 5 x 6 inches, Unpaginated. ARTB/052423. Fine. More