Fort Lauderdale: Dorothy Krause, 2018. Hardcover. A unique artist's book from renowned book artist Dorothy (Dot) Krause. In her artist's statement she describes her work: "My work includes large scale mixed media pieces, artist books and book-like objects that bridge between these two forms. It embeds archetypal symbols and fragments of image and text in multiple layers of texture and meaning. It combines the humblest of materials, plaster, tar, wax and pigment, with the latest in technology to evoke the past and herald the future. My art-making is an integrated mode of inquiry that links concept and media in an ongoing dialogue - a visible means of exploring meaning. " In a printed statement that accompanies this powerful work Krause writes: "A concordat is an agreement or treaty, especially one between the Vatican and a secular government relating to matters of mutual interest. The Reichskonkordat was a controversial treaty between the Vatican and the newly formed Nazi government. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the Vatican Secretary of State who later became Pope Pius XII. The Concordat effectively removed the German Catholic Church from any opposition to Hitler and gave moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime. It seemed to promise that the Church could carry out its spiritual mission. However, violations of the treaty by the Nazi regime began almost immediately. Some have viewed the Concordant as a manifestation of the Pope's preference for dictatorships over democracies and disregard for German Jews. The Vatican insisted, however, that they approved the agreement simply to protect the Church. The Concordant remains in effect to this day." In her book, Krause created compelling and disturbing images that reinforce the dismay and distress with which the west viewed this Concordant. Throughout, she juxtaposes religious images of wood and stone by the 16th century sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider with photographs from the exhibition "Fascination and Terror" at the Nuremberg Documentation Center. The frontispiece is a close-up view of Durer's Christ-like self-portrait of 1500 that has been modified with a swastika over the right eye with a mica circle as if a monocle. Images of 16th century sculptures of nuns are collaged on the red mono printed pages with red lines blotting out their eyes. Other images include that of a sculpture of a Pope with a red line across his eyes set against a map of Germany and central Europe. Hitler and the praying Virgin appear to be falling on the penultimate page. Perhaps the most disturbing page is that featuring various Nazi concentration camp badges worn by inmates. The book is on paper that has 26 hand painted, mono printed and collaged pages with mica overlays. It is in a drumleaf binding with a black leather cover cut from a vintage jacket. It is housed in a custom-made black box made by the artist. In fine condition. Measures 3.75 x 5.5 inches. ARTB/022723. Fine. More

Ft. Lauderdale: Viewpoint Editions, 2009. Hardcover. This is number 20 of 100 copies in the limited edition. There is also a deluxe edition 6 and a softcover trade edition. Losing Ground is a plea for awareness of our role as stewards of the environment. In its content, Losing Ground is a plea for awareness of our role as stewards of the environment. In its production, it is an example of how exceptional artists books can be made by combining traditional processes and digital technology with a smaller open edition was made available on Blurb. Using images spanning more than a decade and text from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change it combines traditional processes and print-on-demand technology to share its important message. This book was one of 50 selected for the Guild of Book Workers Traveling Exhibitions, "Marking Time" (2010 - 11). Fine in black cloth boards with embossed copper title plate affixed to the cover. Includes tipped-in details and handwork on some pages. Printed on an HP Indigo Press 5500 by Acme Bookbinding on Mohawk Options 65 cover paper. Housed in a fine black cloth clamshell box with small copper decoration to edge. Unpaginated (41 pages). ARTB/051221. Fine in Fine Box. More

Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Viewpoint Editions, 2015. Number 6 of 10 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. This handsome and intriguing work is from well-known artist Dorothy "Dot" Krause. In her artist's statement she describes her work: "My work includes large scale mixed media pieces, artist books and book-like objects that bridge between these two forms. It embeds archetypal symbols and fragments of image and text in multiple layers of texture and meaning. It combines the humblest of materials, plaster, tar, wax and pigment, with the latest in technology to evoke the past and herald the future. My art-making is an integrated mode of inquiry that links concept and media in an ongoing dialogue - a visible means of exploring meaning. " "PreScribe" exemplifies her artistic philosophy. This work offers a statement on the medical and pharmaceutical professions and also the impact of opioid drugs in our current society. As Dot states on the title page, Prescribe "is from the Latin prae +scribere to write previously, to recommend, advise, authorize or order the use of a drug or other remedy." In this portfolio, images are printed on pages from a prescription ledger kept by a pharmacy in the late 1800’s and housed in a black paper over boards box covered with prescription images and lined with red handmade paper. The imagery is taken from work that was produced during an Artist-in-Residency at Harvard’s Countway Library, one of the world’s leading collections of medical history. Photographs of their anatomical specimens, medical artifacts, rare books and manuscripts are incorporated. The processes include prints onto the ledger pages using Pronto, Toray and Solar intaglio and planographic plates and Gocco screens. The title page, introduction and colophon are letterpress printed on Rives BFK tan. The font used for the title is “Ambulance Shotgun” by Guillaume Seguin. Completed at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Boca Raton, Florida. The book measures 11.5 x 17.25 inches and is housed in a box 12 x 18” inches. 9 pages + title/introduction and colophon. In fine condition. ARTB/022723. Fine. More

Fort Lauderdale: Dorothy Krause, 2016. Hardcover. A unique artist's book on the distressing facts about the world-wide tragedy of missing children. Dorothy Krause, the book artist, is a bookmaker, painter, collage artist and printmaker who utilizes digital mixed media. Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art, she and has been a Visiting Artist/ Artist in Residence at the American Academy in Rome, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University and on Oceania Cruise Lines. Krause is the author of “Book + Art: Handcrafting Artists’ Books”, (North Light, 2009), and co-author of “Digital Art Studio: Techniques for combining inkjet printing with traditional art materials”, (Watson-Guptil, 2004). Her books can be found in many public and private collections throughout the country. Her archives and the books featured in Book + Art reside at the University of Miami. From the text of Missing "It is estimated that at least 8 million children worldwide go missing each year including 800,000 in the U.S. A multilingual database that features photographs and information about missing children from around the world was established in 1998 by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). In most African, Asian and Latin American countries, there are no specific laws regarding missing children, no established protocol for reporting, and no central missing child registries." Bound by Krause with post bound boards, as if a photograph album, covered in moss green silk with a collaged image of a young girl in skeletal outline collaged over a text fragment that is mounted under distressed glass, with an etched copper plate affixed to the glass,and within a lead-wrapped wood frame. Printed on tan laid paper. Each of the 13 pages has an original 1.25 inch etched copper square with a shadowy child's image. The images are somber in feel and add to the gravitas of this tragedy. The colophon page has an original 3 inch square copper plate of grasses that is mounted above the artist's signature. The text is digitally printed on Graphix Matte Film. This book has 14 pages including the one page of text and measures 8.75 x 9.5 inches. A haunting production in fine condition. ARTB/030123. Fine. More

Rochester, NY: Sue Huggins Leopard, 2005. Leopard, Sue Huggins. Hardcover. 16mo -. 19 of 50 copies. SIGNED BY ARTIST. An interesting book without words by this noted book artist and printmaker. Black and white lineleom block prints on accordian folded pages indeed depict a predatory bird stealing a baby. The primitive looking prints evoke the eeriness of the event. Inkjet printed on Kaji paper at the Weekend Print Shop. Bound in black cloth with long red ribbon ties, and signed on colophon by artist. Unpaginated. PRI/051107. Fine. More

Philadelphia: Thomas Parker Williams, 2021. A unique artist's book from this noted book artist. 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 70 public collections around the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A statement by Thomas Parker Williams about this powerful production addressing events during the former president's administration: "In October 2020 I started making what I called “The Date Paintings” about events connected with the Presidential election. Most were made with watercolor, inks and dry pigments in alkyd medium on paper, some adding colored pencil. The eight paintings were created quickly, either on or shortly after the date lettered on the piece. As events progressed, I continued this series, completing the last one on January 13, 2021, the date of Trump’s second impeachment. Thinking about these nine original illustrations at the end of 2021, I decided that they should be bound together. I made a title page with the same materials as the other paintings. The cover, depicting a shattered window, is black paper over Davey board with polycarbonate and paper onlay". In fine condition. Measures 14.2 x 20.5 x 1.0 inches closed. Unpaginated. Fine. More

Philadelphia: Luminice Press, 2022. Hardcover. Number 2 of 12 copies. In this powerful new book from the Luminice Press, Thomas and Mary Agnes Williams present a scathing indictment of the erosion of democracy in the United States. The preface states: "In America, we are losing our freedoms, one by one. Clean Air – the freedom to breathe air not polluted with toxins Safety – the freedom to live without fear of deadly guns Women’s Autonomy – the freedom to control their own bodies Voting – the freedom to participate in our democracy We are losing America." The book's text juxtaposes the intent of four congressional acts that guaranteed American protections - clean air, gun control, reproductive rights, and voting rights - with text from the recent Supreme Court opinions that overturned or restricted these protections. The accordion structure of the book offers the text on one side of the pages with the other side offering six panels with striking abstract color illustrations of disappearing water representing democracy's erosion. Bound in a blue and black paper covered boards with a black Washi linen spine. The text is letterpress printed from polymer plates. The six illustrations are original images hand printed on folded panels with 41 pochoir mylar stencils. The book measures 7.25 x 9.25 inches. The illustrated panels are 7 x 17.75 inches unfolded and open to 106.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTSBOOK/110222. Fine. More

Philadelphia: Luminice Press, 2022. A unique artist's book from noted artist Thomas Parker Williams. It is part of the series "Wordless - Painted and Drawn Narratives," which Williams conceived, designed, illustrated, bound and for which he constructed the cases. 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. He often creates videos and composes music to accompany his books that may be found on his website (www.thomasparkerwilliams.com). Books by Williams or the Luminice Press may be found in over 70 public collections around the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Williams describes this fascinating work in an artist's statement: "Journey is a meditation on a life cycle from birth to death, followed by a new generation, that is expressed two ways. Pen and wash drawings of birds on one side - crows were the model - and abstract paintings, done in dry pigments and enamel, on the reverse side. The painting backgrounds progress from light to dark and the drawings follow the bird's progress from birth, through trials, to death, with a new generation flying away." The work comprises 14 attached panels that are each 7.25" square. There are the 14 bird drawings on one side and 14 paintings on the other side. They are done on Twinrocker handmade and Strathmore 400 series papers. The case is constructed in wood and Davey board, with linen Washi paper and acrylic with a magnetic closure. The work is 8.75 x 8.5 x 1.0 inches in its case. A stunning work in fine condition. ARTISTSB/050322. Fine. More

Barcelona: Printed at The Folio Club for Sandra March, 2014. Hardcover. Number 83 of 100 copies signed and numbered by Sandra March. Text in Spanish, Catalan, and English. March is a talented young book and installation artist. With this work she draws a metaphorical, graphic, and auditory journey captured by words, illustrations, and sound. Thus the contents comprise the book, two posters, and a CD. She writes that this project has a scientific basis with a therapeutic and artistic impulse, starting on a subconscious level after losing both her sister and her father from heart diseases. The journey goes from a symbolic loss of the heart until its restoration, through a tour of the beautiful and varied morphology of the cardiac systems of thirty-one different animals and the sounds of their heartbeats. The heartbeat sounds are from a jellyfish, starfish, black widow spider, giant tortoise, Nile crocodile, frog, parakeet, and human being among many others There were a number of contributors to this project, including the biologist Francesc Uribe Porta, sound engineer Vicente Rosati, and illustrator Raquel Bullon. Bound in a white cardboard CD case, with posters attached to the back cover by a pink elastic band and CD held on the middle fold of the case. In fine condition. 58 pages. PRI/042715. Fine. More

Seattle: Marquand Editions, 2017. 1 of 50 copies signed by Reiko, Marquand, and Birnbaum. There were also five lettered hors de commerce. This splendid production honors the achievements of Reiko Sudo, considered one of the great textile designers of our time, the renowned "weaver of new ideas." Sudo and Ed Marquand of Marquand Editions worked together to design and produce this artists' book that offers an in-depth exploration of Sudo's textiles, techniques, materials and more. Over 140 distinct textiles are represented in four bento box-style book-objects: they include three scarves, a notebook of cloth samples and collages assembled by Sudo. The first box has two booklets, one with Sudo's autobiography and the other a detailed guide to the boxes including the colophon, and three beautiful scarves. Box two has the textile collages that demonstrate techniques and materials. Box three is the Nuno Compendium - a notebook of cloth samples. Box four contains tools and raw materials she uses in her practice. Each of the boxes is covered by lovely examples of Nuno textiles. The top box also has a fabric lid. Reiko Sudo is co-founder, current CEO, and design director of Nuno Corporation of Tokyo, universally recognized as one of the world’s most innovative textile companies. Her company takes the techniques, materials and aesthetics of traditional textiles and reinterprets them with cutting-edge technologies. Sudo and her design team, together with the company’s skilled weavers and dyers, have greatly broadened the parameters of contemporary design in the industry, experimenting with an eclectic array of materials, ranging from silk, cotton and polyester to hand-made paper and aluminum, and finishing methods that include salt-shrinking, rust-dyeing and caustic burning. The results are distinctive, intriguing and indisputably remarkable. Her works are represented in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art; the Victoria & Albert Museum; and the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art Craft Gallery [Nuno website]. Boxes measure 1.25 x 10.25 x 10.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTB/041919. Fine. More

East Hampton, NY: Barry McCallion, 2022. Hardcover. Signed and dated by the book artist on the colophon. This is a stunning new unique work by noted book artist Barry McCallion. Mr. McCallion has had a lengthy career in the book arts following his graduation from Columbia and move to the west coast for a period of time. His work can be found in many institutional and private collections. His career has been documented in a fine article by Mark Segal in the East Hampton Star in 2013: “A Springs Artist’s Creative Odyssey." In the article, Segal also writes extensively about Mr. McCallion’s "astonishingly beautiful and utterly unique books", saying "they use an impressive range of materials and techniques. … It’s difficult to do justice to the variety and complexity of the books in words or in photographs. They are ideally experienced by hefting and opening the boxes and exploring the contents in what becomes a very personal exploration of an artwork.” In this intriguing work, the artist was inspired by a complex and mysterious religious poem by Christopher Smart (1722-1771) titled "Jublilate Agno, Rejoice in the Lamb." It was several hundred lines long, written while he was confined at London's St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics. The poem was not actually discovered and published until 1939. In 1943, the English composer Benjamin Britten shaped a number of the poem's lines and composed his oratorio, "Rejoice in the Lamb," dedicating it to the pastor and choir of St. Matthew's church in Northampton on the occasion of the church's 50th anniversary. Mr. McCallion writes that the lines Britten selected range from exultant to desperately poignant. He then describes his book. "I composed my treatment of 'Rejoice in the Lamb' on successive shades of Rives BFK paper, with the forty pages of Britten's score laid in. I introduced the composer's text groups with a hinged 'gate' of 300 lb. watercolor paper. Colored India inks describe various background shapes, while cutout animals, rubber stamps, flower figures and musical instruments animate the pages. Both the illustrations and white text type on black match Britten's score." The text groups are in loose signatures that are held in a stiff paper folder. The folder is in turn held in a bright yellow heavy paper folder with a black spine and with a decorative black and red circle on the cover with illustrations of a lamb, mouse, and cat within the circle. The colophon was printed separately and is inserted in the rear of the yellow folder. This inventive production is housed in a custom white cloth covered clamshell box with a yellow outlined figure of a cat on the cover and title label to spine. In fine condition. Book measures 7.25 x 11 inches. Clamshell box measures 8 x 11.75 inches. ARTB/012423. Fine. More

Maplewood, NJ: Olchef Press, 2020. Number 12 of 55 copies. Signed by the poet and signed and numbered by the book artist, Sydney Jean Reisen. Reisen studied at Rutgers and at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Her books can be found in several collections nationally including the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Getty Institute. Poet John Yau (1950 - ) has published over 50 books of poetry, fiction, and art criticism. His first book of poetry was published in 1976. Since then, he has won acclaim for his poetry’s attentiveness to visual culture and linguistic surface. In poems that frequently pun, trope, and play with the English language [Poetry Foundation]. Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BC), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His surviving works are still read widely and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art [Wikipedia]. This lovely book marries Yau's evocative poem to Reisen's thoughtful and beautifully executed artist's book. She writes in her prospectus: "If Catullus is going to sail to China he better have a boat that floats. John Yau’s words take a poet to his destination, but words are impermanent. Printing, in particular letterpress, give words physicality, it forms and protects them. Printing creates text. It was the mission of this book to not impede the words’ journey by making sure the text was equally seaworthy. First, there needed to be a sea. The element of water was introduced by the flexible fibers of kozo paper. Kozo was the right substrate, but in turn it created problems of buoyancy. Another characteristic of the paper, transparency, sunk the text into a puddle. To open the route and keep the text afloat, a rig and a crew were implemented. The structure of the book, the materials, and printing techniques were developed to fill these roles. Once the text was secure on the surface, the book granted the text more liberties. It was able to rise and fall, fly and dive as it journeyed eastward. Hopefully the reader enjoys the ride more than Catullus. Nine poems are printed on Sekishu and color kozo from Hiromi Paper and stab bound in a shop-made muslin bookcloth to construct a fluid and strong book. The texts are set in cold metal Bembo in tandem with prints crafted with ornamental letterpress, wood and resingrave block, and pochoir. The applied colors are distemper inks derived from historic recipes for preindustrial wallpaper production." Housed in a black archival box with a white spine with black titling. In fine condition. Book measures 6 x 7 inches; Box is 7 x 8 inches. ARTB/092821. Fine. More

San Francisco: Bettina Pauly, 2019. Hardcover. Edition number 12. Signed and numbered by the book artist Bettina Pauly. Pauly started an edition of miniature animal pop-ups in January 2019, The featured animal of each of these charming small books is first done as an original pen and ink drawing that is made into dry point and then printed on a pasta machine. The artist uses pen and ink to work further on the pulled image. The image is incorporated into a pop-up design, each of which is original with no two alike. Each is cut out by hand with an x-acto knife. The pop-up book is bound in lustrous reddish brown cloth with a paper title label on front that includes the animal's name in German. The book has a belly band that provides information about the opossum. The book is housed along with the colophon in a clamshell case covered with black cloth and lined with gold foil paper. In fine condition. Book measures 3 5/8 x 4 3/8 inches. ARTISTB/072419. Fine. More