Redwood City, CA: Judith of Serebrin Books & Prints, 2012. Hardcover. Unique. A lovely set of miniature books with a powerful statement about cherishing and protecting biodiversity above and below ground. Both volumes are housed in a wooden box and are in Coptic bindings with repurposed wooden-board covers. In Above, the text reads: “Look around, Look up, Look down, What do you see? Protect Diversity. Above. Below. Everywhere we grow. Wake up! Wake up! What do you see? I see double jeopardy.” In Below, the text reads: “Things we barely know grow below. Look! Look! Not one above. Not one below. No Life, Sentient or other is unattached. We destroy. We extract, to our own Human peril.” This text winds through an underground landscape. Judith’s work explores the “interrelations between people, animals, and the planet in ways, she hopes, are accessible. Using book art as a format is part of that for her, as you can have an intimate experience holding a book and looking through it.” She received a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Utah in 1990 and has been making limited editions and unique books since then. Her work can be found in public and private collections in the United States and abroad. Each volume is about 2.25 x 2 inches. The box is 3 x 2.25 x 2.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTB/032917. Fine. More

Redwood City, CA: Judith of Serebrin Books & Prints, 2015. Unique artist's book. Well-known artist Judith Serebrin received a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Utah in 1990 and has been making limited edition and unique books since then. Her work can be found in public and private collections in the United States and abroad. She states: "All my life I have observed, listened and looked at the world around me and have tried to make sense of it. I am concerned with issues of social justice, and liberation. Art for me is a way to learn about the world and to challenge oppressive mores, to make interesting connections that I can share with others. I hope to make others think as well, to grin, to perhaps gain insight and to spark new thoughts. Interrelations between people, animals and the planet are explored in my work--I hope in ways that are accessible. Using "book arts" as a format is part of that for me as you can have an intimate experience holding a book and looking through it." She often creates her artists' books by combining ceramic structures with mixed-media paper books for striking effect. She says of this work: "This is part of a series of porcelain figures called “Soul Books.” The works symbolize the value and importance of the life and souls of animals and humans. Figures with books in them represent a symbolic and tactile way of being able to reach into someone’s soul without embarrassment, censorship, or fear. The sculptural figure is made of stained porcelain and measures 8.25 x 2 x 2 inches. The book has monotypes on paper with a binding of exposed link and kettle stitches and measures 7/8 x 1 3/8 x 1/2 inches. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/071921. Fine. More

Redwood City, CA: Judith of Serebrin Books & Prints, 2017. Unique artist's book. Well-known artist Judith Serebrin received a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Utah in 1990 and has been making limited edition and unique books since then. Her work can be found in public and private collections in the United States and abroad. She states: "All my life I have observed, listened and looked at the world around me and have tried to make sense of it. I am concerned with issues of social justice, and liberation. Art for me is a way to learn about the world and to challenge oppressive mores, to make interesting connections that I can share with others. I hope to make others think as well, to grin, to perhaps gain insight and to spark new thoughts. Interrelations between people, animals and the planet are explored in my work--I hope in ways that are accessible. Using "book arts" as a format is part of that for me as you can have an intimate experience holding a book and looking through it." She often creates her artists' books by combining ceramic structures with mixed-media paper books for striking effect. She says of this work: "This is part of a series of porcelain figures called “Soul Books.” Figures with books in them represent a symbolic and tactile way of being able to reach into someone’s soul without embarrassment, censorship, or fear. Both human and animal-like figures—all represent the importance of every creature to the world. This figure has two books symbolizing the many facets of a person's soul. We are complex creatures, all valuable, and maybe not fully knowable" The figure is made with stained porcelain and measures 8.25 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches. Book I has monotypes on paper and measures 1 7/8 x ¾ x 3/16 inches. Book II has ink drawings on hand made paper and ecoprints and measures 1 7/8 x ¾ x 3/16 inches. Both books were created by Velma Bolyard and have bindings with exposed link and kettle stitches. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/071921. Fine. More

Rutland, VT: Shattuck Studios, 2000. 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. She writes: Save the Rhinos was designed to bring awareness of their struggle as the population is rapidly declining due mainly to poachers. Her text describes the ongoing loss of these magnificent animals and the desperate efforts of those trying to save them. Despite these efforts, the Rhino Recovery Fund in South Africa estimates a rhino is killed every fifteen hours. They are sought because of the believe that powdered rhino horn has medicinal value and because the horn is valued in traditional Chinese culture as a symbol of wealth. Her design uses a flag book structure from which three origami rhinos, a giraffe, and three wildebeests are walking the grasslands of Africa when the book is opened. They are made with Lofta origami papers as well as Canson Mi Teinte, and Strathmore watercolor papers. The binding is a plain grey with an orange spine title label and a white title label, signed and numbered by Carolyn. The work is housed in a black stiff paper slipcase with an orange title label to cover. In fine condition. Measures 13.5 x 7.5 x 3 inches in slipcase. New York Times Article from 1/6/21 about rhino extinction: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/magazine/the-last-two-northern-white-rhinos-on-earth.htmlARTISTSBOOK121520. Fine. More

Rutland, VT: Carolyn Shattuck, n.d. Open edition of this beautifully crafted origami-designed book. This collaborative book was made to commemorate Carolyn's experience living in Okinawa for three years. The folds of the book reflect traditional patterns from Edo craftsmen. These fine patterns represent the distinguishing tastes of Edo including stylishness, sophistication and refinement. The haiku created by Victoria describe their reverence for our home and harbour, Earth (from colophon). Digitally printed on Epson Matte and Japanese Washi paper. The boards are covered in lovely Genji cloth with paper title label, with ribbons to close the book or to hold the pages open. 4.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches. In fine condition. ARTISTS/062819. Fine. More

Chicago: Starshaped Press, 2019. Hardcover. Number 6 of 50 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This powerful book was created by book artist and printer Jen Farrell to describe the pain and anguish she experienced as Jo, her young daughter, was treated in 2018 to stem the growth of tumor nodules around her right lung. She writes: "While the treatments were challenging, the fallout that followed over the winter was unbearable. The chest pressure, pneumonitis and inability to breathe sent us to the hospital repeatedly, with unsatisfactory results. By ‘unsatisfactory’ I mean punching-a-hole-in-the-wall angry at the lack of understanding about why Jo had these side effects and the weeks, sometimes months, it took to get appointments with specialists. I sought solace in songs that directed my frustration away from people around me. One of these was Black Star’s Respiration, with lyrics that expressed a metaphorical difficulty to breathe in an urban environment. Many of the words applied to our reality; rewriting the lyrics was an outlet for acknowledging the trauma....Respiration is a rewrite of the song, but in this case applied to watching my child struggle to breathe." The book unfolds as a poster measuring 20x14 inches that folds down to approximately 5x 7 inches within red paper covered boards. The covers are printed in two colors on Mohawk Keakolour and the interior text is printed on Fabriano Tiziano paper with ‘fuzz’ in the texture as a nod to the scarring fuzz in Jo’s lungs. The book is accompanied by a white folded paper reference guide to the lyrics with notes on Jen's rewrites. In fine condition. Fine. More

Chicago: Starshaped Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 20 of 50 copies, signed and numbered by artist. "The term 'girl' has a host of negative connotations; it sounds condescending to any woman who's done her share of living in the adult world. The subcultures represented here owned it, building their personas on style, music and most importantly, their attitude and approach to creating a self-defined culture. The girls of the Starshaped Press are letterpress printed with modular metal type and rule, proving even squares are hip" (title page). Includes four "girls" with accompanying lyrics: Rude Girl, Mod Girl, Good Girl, and B-Girl. Bound in black paper wrappers with circular cut out revealing title on first page (appropriately resembling a record cover). Includes prospectus, which has photographic images of the metal type used to create two of the four girls. Printed on black and metallic silver Mohawk Paper. A creative and beautifully printed book. [8 pages] PRI/051319. Fine. More

Eugene, OR: Susan Lowdermilk, 2007. Hardcover. Number 7 of 15 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. Susan Lowdermilk is a book artist and printmaker working in traditional processes such as woodcut, wood engraving and intaglio etching as well as digital media. Her artist’s books involve movable parts, pop-ups and LED circuitry. She is a professor at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, teaching courses in printmaking, artist books and graphic design. Her work has been collected by over 60 public institutions including, the Getty Museum, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. Her artist’s books are represented in galleries throughout the United States. She earned her Master’s of Fine Art from the University of Oregon. Her artist's statement: "Our experience of reading books is increasingly changing from being physical and tactile to digital and virtual. My artist books are hand printed and hand constructed and feature low-tech movable elements that are meant to be technologically transparent. I view my artist books as a counterpart to the flood of mass-produced, digital imagery that we contend with constantly. I am interested in the dualities that complicate our human condition—chance versus strategy, faith versus reason, serendipity versus design, peace versus war, winning versus losing and our relationship to and separation from nature." She met the poet Jeanine Hathaway several years ago at a show of her prints in Eugene and they became friends. ""Jeanine was inspired by my woodcut diptych titled, “Remembering, Forgetting,” and wrote the poem, “XO, On what might have been our anniversary.” I created my artist’s book, inspired by her poem, printed with the woodblocks from “Remembering, Forgetting,” thus continuing our circle of creativity and inspiration." Bound accordion-style with red paper covered boards. The text is laser printed with Futura Book and Bernhard Modern Italic type on organdy fabric that overlays the woodblock designs printed on Zerkall Frankfurt paper. In a paper chemise with woodblock design. In fine condition. 6.5 x 4.5 x .75 inches. ARTISTSB/073118. Fine. More

Indian Head Park, IL: The Big Crank Press, 2018. Hardcover. One of 30 copies. David Anderson is a noted Chicago graphic designer with many honors and appointments over the several years of his career. He is now retired and has turned to his enthusiasm for producing fine letterpress printing by establishing The Big Crank Press. He writes about this work: "For 35 years I lived and worked in Oak Park, Illinois....While living there, things would happen - things that spoke to me in more than one way and persisted in my mind. This is the first of The Suburban Fables, an interpretation of my observations of those events and ideas." This book relates an incident where a crow is disturbed by the daylight ramblings of a raccoon, normally a nocturnal animal and what ensued. The story is told using striking and bold illustrations that fill their pages. Printed on Jannot 125 GSM and grey Rives B.F.K papers using Gill Sans MT Alt One type. Printed on a Vandercook 3 proof Press that Anderson found in an alley twenty-five years ago. Bound in brown cloth with silver title and author to spine and front cover. In fine condition. Measures 9.5 x 12.5 inches. Unpaginated [22 pages] PRI/021320. Fine. More

Bennington, VT: The Bird Press, 2011. Since 1997, The Bird Press has been an artist-run publishing project that has focused on hand printed artists’ books. All projects utilize some inherent aspect of the book and often take the form of open-ended collaborations with writers. Each project is a response to the last, both in form and content, in order for the work to continually evolve. Poetry, broadly defined, is a major inspiration for most of the work. Editions between 15-40 utilize various print media including: flatbed offset lithography, stone lithography, etching, letterpress, wood blocks, and digital pigment printing. Book artist Thorsten Dennerline creates paintings, drawings, and prints in addition to artists’ books. He has exhibited work across the U.S. as well as in Chile and Denmark. His work is represented in numerous collections including Yale University Library, the Library of Congress, UCLA, Stanford University, and the Kunstindustri Musset (Denmark).Number 23 of 25 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. According to the artist: “Some time ago I suddenly got the urge to make a book about tattoos. I decided to think about tattoos not just as pictures or designs, but to consider them more broadly (scars, living drawing marks, body adornments, rites of passage, magic to improve the body’s function, ways to relieve or relive pain, signs of bravery, remembrances, cultural signifiers, or tribal/ group markings). I also thought of the idea of drawing on skin and marking its surface as a way to be aware of it as a three-dimensional picture plane (with psychological implications). I have to admit that the association with crime and other ‘bad’ things was enticing to me as well. This book of tattoo proposals is simply a non-linear document of my own thinking about these ideas.” Japanese style stab binding in black cloth wrappers with red print to front cover. The illustrations are printed from woodblocks and the text is letterpress printed from polymer plates on handmade Richard de Bas paper. Housed in a black and white printed paper folding case. Oblong, measuring: 15.25 x 5 inches. In fine condition. ARTB/032417. Fine. More

Bennington, VT: The Bird Press, 2014. Number 18 of 30 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. A collaborative project between poet, Mark Wunderlich and artist, Thorsten Dennerline. Wunderlich describes the process: "I receive[d] a maquette of the book with the photographic images - devoid of drawings and voids which were added later - and in response to the images and the limitations of these pages, I would write a poem." A few months after he received the images, the poet's twenty-one year old nephew died, which altered his initial response from "hopeful and rather lonely" to melancholy - as if the images were "inhabited by a ghost." His poem "became a meditation on [his] nephew ... an elegy." While Wunderlich composed his poem, Dennerline drew the illustrations - neither knowing how the other was interpreting the photographs or how the three components would come together. According to Dennerline, they chose to work in this manner "in order to create an element of unpredictability, as well as a sense of improvisation and openness to the artistic process." The book is accordion bound in orange cloth boards with illustrated paper pastedown to front cover. The illustrations were printed by the artist from lithographs and etchings. The text was letterpress printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress on paper produced by the Saint Armand Papeterie of Montreal, Canada. Bound by Mark Tomlinson. Housed in a grey cloth slipcase. Thorsten Dennerline creates paintings, drawings, and prints in addition to artists' books. He has exhibited work across the U.S. as well as in Chile and Denmark; and his work is represented in numerous collections including Yale University Library, the Library of Congress, UCLA, Stanford University, and the Kunstindustri Musset (Denmark). Size: 7 x 5.5 inches, closed; 210 x 5.5 inches, open. ARTB/032717. Fine. More

Niles, MI: Eugenie Torgerson, 2006. Hardcover. A unique journal with blank pages and five digital illustrations of various tools by an award winning book artist, photographer, printer, and illustrator. This beautiful book could be used as a photo album or scrapbook or it could be kept untouched as a book art object. The journal is bound with expandable posts. It is covered in red book cloth and decorative paper with a digital image mounted on the cover. The image is framed with decorative paper and covered with a glass panel. It is housed in a decorative, extra deep box that has room to store the journal and extra mementos. The box is covered in black and red book cloth with a digital image mounted on the lid and covered in glass. Unpaginated. Journal dimensions: 11.5 inches by 10 inches. Box dimensions: 13.5 inches by 10.5 inches by 4 inches. An impressive piece from this noted artist. ARTB/120512. Fine. More

Arlington, VA: Turtle Light Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 5 of 18 copies. This is a magnificent artist’s book that pays homage to one of the greatest Hebrew-language poets, Yehuda Amichai. The Amichai Windows is an exquisite bilingual artist’s book in Hebrew and English of Amichai’s poems that opens a window on love, war, and being Jewish today. Through his poetry Amichai sang of the everyday experiences of private individuals caught in the middle of war and historical events. He was often considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature and his poems have been translated into more than 30 languages. Book artist and poet, Rick Black, fell in love with the poetry of Yehuda Amichai even before working for the Associated Press and The New York Times in Jerusalem, where he resided for six years. He particularly loved Amichai’s poems that dealt with family, love and war. He spent ten years creating this limited-edition artist’s book of the poet’s work. The book offers a visual odyssey through Jewish history as filtered through 18 poems. Each poem is wrapped and folded in an individual, handmade paper triptych. When one opens each triptych, one discovers a different world within. The book incorporates replicas of some of Amichai’s original, handwritten poems as well as over 100 collaged images of Jewish history and life that have been culled from archives around the world. There are also replicas of Amichai’s handwritten poems. Printed on handmade paper with deckled edges, with gold leaf highlights and blind embossments in some of the designs. The collection of triptychs and a 28 page guide are housed in a box enclosure shaped like a Jerusalem window. With a special introduction written by the eminent Hebrew literary critic and translator, Professor Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley. The newsletter of the American Jewish Libraries Association called The Amichai Windows “a major contribution to American arts and letters.” (Artist’s statement and descriptions). The book recently won the Isaac Anolic Jewish Book Arts Award. In fine condition. Fine. More