Chiapas, Mexico: Taller Lenateros, 2007. Taller Lenateros, or The Woodlanders' Workshop, is a community of Mayan artists who produce handmade paper, artists' books, silkscreen and wood block prints, pansey graphs, natural dyes, and magic spells. The society was founded in 1975 by poet Ambar Past, and continues to flourish while offering training and employment to men and women who have no education and no career. Inspiration for many of the projects comes from dreams, nature, and Mayan history and tradition. This book was originally volume two of the "Portable Mayan Altar," which included a small cardboard hut, 3 books, several ceramic sculptures, and some votive candles. The book is written in Tzotzil with an English translation. Bound in black handmade paper with gilt title to front board and gilt volume number to spine. It has marbled end pages, full gilt edges, and a black ribbon book mark. It contain spells, directions for casting, and illustrations. The spells read like poetry. For example: “I want him to come with flowers in his heart. With all his heart, I want him to talk to my body.” In fine condition. Unpaginated. ARTB/061219. 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, 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, 2009. Hardcover. UNIQUE ARTISTS' BOOK. Eugenie Torgerson is a book artist, photographer, printer, and illustrator from Michigan. She has been represented by art galleries across the U.S, and her work can be found in many corporate collections. In her artist's statement she says: "I build book and box forms with traditional bookbinding materials and methods. These sculptural objects contain my own pastel drawings and imagery generated from my own photographs. The stories they tell are contained in my words and the poetry of Kevin McCue. My subjects are the allure of the horizon, the power of the land, the experience of loss, and the sweetness of redemption." This exceptional book object comprises three individual parts. There is a small illustrated book with short poems that rests open on a box stand. The book and stand are covered by a box with a glass window on the top. Each object has been meticulously and creatively designed and produced using Ms. Torgerson's art, photography, and writing. The book is 3 inches wide x 4 inches tall x 3.5 inches thick. The poems are printed on vellum paper and coated with shellac, and the images are printed on various interesting papers. The book is bound in silver cloth with silver metal medallions on the front and back, and black and white beads around the edges. The spine is of brown suede and also has small beads sewn on. The book rests in a cradle at the top of its box stand. The stand is 5 inches tall and 9 x 10 inches at the base. The cradle is covered in green/gold cloth and decorated paper. There are the same small beads which are seen on the book cover, and there is also a medallion in the middle. The sides of the box have beautiful landscape images which are printed on Yupo synthetic material and waxed. The box base has two levels, one covered in orange cloth and the other with cloth in a gold and black design. The cover is 8 inches x 9 inches x 9 inches. The top and base are covered in decorated cloth. Each side is covered in brown cloth and has a landscape image printed on Yupo synthetic material and waxed. It has a window on top which allows one to look in at the book. This singular, stunning book object perfectly reflects Ms. Torgerson's creativity and artistry. In fine condition. ARTISTSBOOKS/011411. Fine. More

Portland, OR: Triangular Press, 2005. Hardcover. Limited Edition. Number 581 of 1000 copies. First Edition. A survey of the editions of the Triangular Press with excerpts from "Gymnopedia No 4," a catalog of the books, and a chronology of the work of Barbara Tetenbaum. Fine in blue cloth over exposed boards with paper title label to spine and front board. Pristine with color images on every page. Quarto. 48 pages. ARTB/052611. Fine. More

Chicago: Ann Tyler, 2013. Hardcover. Number 2 of 3 copies, signed and numbered by Ann Tyler, the book artist. Ann is a noted book artist and print maker whose works have been exhibited at many galleries across the United States. Her artist’s books are in the permanent collections of the Tate Gallery, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She says of this book, which took her five years to complete: It was a major culmination/combining of so many parts of my work and influences. After the work I've done specific to particular events I really wanted to develop a book that would speak to overarching and recurring issues." The result is this elegantly bound elephant folio in dark blue calfskin with embossed decoration to both boards. The book, which combines elements of a sci-fi novel, sketchbook, and scientific research log takes the reader on a mysterious and puzzling journey that examines time, space, parallel universes, and the subconscious. It includes a mixture of quotations, striking imagery of newly discovered life forms, science fiction prose about another dimension, details of experiments relating to space and time, and more. According to Ann:This book "is a science fiction tale in which the violent actions of governments in our world have created new life forms in a world somewhere in deep space. The new species and their relationship to violence are discovered through space / time laboratory investigations carried out by an 'experimenter.' The narrative is structured for the viewer to also undergo a process of discovery as he/she moves through a narrative combining stream of conscious rumination, traditional description, imagery, poetry, and scientific information. The narrative and imagery move between the possible and the impossible, from the outer world to the inner world. After establishing this causal relationship between the two worlds – human actions and new life forms in the universe – the narrative then shifts and begins to allude to the possibility that this other world may not be an exterior universe but may instead be the universe of the mind. This other world is possibly a result of larger human actions upon individual memory...Edge of Conscience refers to what lies just out of reach in our memory. While unseen it still plagues us. Conscience contains the multiple meanings of the conscious mind and morality. Unrelenting Light refers to parts of our memory that are difficult to examine and when once illuminated are understood to be a relentless part of individual experience…From a metafictional perspective the author is the 'experimenter.' The artist book itself is an experiment – an attempt to understand the impact of history on the individual and society and how we absorb the history we live through." Includes 14 plates of newly discovered species, each framed with a marbled paper border and preceded with a captioned vellum tissue guard. Archivally inkjet printed on archival Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Duo paper. All edges have been handpainted with acrylic. A striking and thought provoking piece. Size: 14 x 18 inches. ARTB/081518. Fine. More

Verdigris, 2006. Rothchild, Judith. Hardcover. 20 of 30 copies. Copies 26 to 29 were hors commerce, and number 30 was given to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. SIGNED BY ARTIST AND WRITER. This beautiful work has eleven stunning numbered and initialed mezzotints by artist Judith Rothchild. Rothchild is an American born artist who lives in the Languedoc region of France. Also a pastel artist, she has become famous for her mezzotints, perhaps the most difficult printmaking technique. Rouanet is a well known French writer. The colophon says that the work is a collaboration between the two, who share a deep love for the Languedoc. Rouanet’s text, in French, was inspired by Rothchild’s prints of food and wine and by the spirit of a local restaurant, Le Mimosa. The folio sized pages are loose in a yellow and green box made by Lisa Knoblauch with the front board decorated with mimosa leaves done by serigraph. Printed by Mark Lintott in Vendome Romain type on an Albion press. The prints are protected by tissue guards. 20 pages including the prints. PRI/061207. Fine. More

Montreal: Cecile Cote, 2011. Hardcover. Chicago binder, book, and installation artist Karen Hanmer’s intimate, playful works fragment and layer text and image to intertwine memory, cultural history, and the history of science. Her work weds the ancient art of book binding with the high tech use of the computer to aid her process. The intimate scale and the gestures of exploration required to travel through each piece evoke the experience of looking through an album, a diary, or the belongings of a loved one. However, her works often take the forms of games or puzzles, and many include witty text. Number 57 of 75 copies. Signed and numbered by the poet Vigneault and illustrator Imiolek. Gilles Vigneault (1928 - ) is a Quebecois poet, publisher and singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. This finely bound book was part of 2013 exhibition organized by Les Amis de la Reliure d’Art du Canada, the Canadian chapter of ARA, an international organization devoted to promoting art bookbinding. Each of the exhibitors created a unique binding for La Couleur du Vent. The design of Karen’s binding makes reference to repeated motifs from Nastassja Imiolek’s illustrations. Bound in full yellow goatskin that is sewn onto flattened cords and laced into boards. With hand-titling and tooling in 23 kt. gold and red and black foils. Doublures and endpapers of red Cave paper. Hand-sewn headbands and three edges rough gilt. Housed in a red cloth clamshell box with leather title label to spine. A beautiful production in fine condition. Unpaginated. Size: 10.25 x 6.75 x .75 inches. PRI/061917. Fine. More

Newfoundland: walking bird press, 2015. Softcover. Number 17 of 30 copies. Signed by the artists. Henry and Rose Make Contact is a sequel to Henry and Rose Go to Camp. In this story, Henry makes a crystal radio as a Scout project, and gets it to work only to hear a distress call. Rose figures out where the signal is from, and Henry, his friend Ben, and Rose manage to save the day. The book is hand-set in Bembo Roman and Baskerville monotype and letterpress printed on Environment Text paper, with letterpress and inkjet illustrations. The wrappers are St. Armand handmade paper. The book and the functioning radio are housed in a wooden box made by Garry Quinlan and laser printed at the College of the North Atlantic. The radios for the edition were assembled by the authors with the invaluable assistance of Joe Craig. In fine condition. Book is 4 x 5 inches; box is 5 x 6 x 2 inches. ARTISTSBOOK/043018. Fine. More

Luminice Press. One of 10 copies. This fascinating and intricate work by highly regarded book artist Williams is about two forms of transformation: alchemy, a physical process, and written scripture, a codification of religious beliefs. Alchemists believed that a method could be found to transmute base metals into gold. After centuries of trying, they never discovered such a method. The beliefs of some early societies were transformed from pantheistic to a concept of a single god figure, whose stories were collected in written form and used to codify new faiths. This book looks at the failure of alchemy and also how early faiths were corrupted and then used by dominant groups to subjugate and harm those who differed. The front cover is a pentagram with five triangles. The pentagram symbolized both good and evil and had many interpretations. For example, the single point up indicated the five wounds of Christ; both points up had an occult meaning. The triangles represent the base metals of alchemy. From top left in a clockwise rotation they are: silver, lead, tin, iron and copper with the sixth metal, mercury, represented by the silver dust surrounding the pentagram. Gold, the primary objective of alchemy, is at the center. The rear cover represents the four elements identified in antiquity: air, fire, earth and water. Each base metal has been associated with a planet in our solar system. Lead with Saturn, tin with Jupiter, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, silver with the moon, and mercury with its namesake planet. As the book progresses, each etching is aligned with one of the metals. The symbol for each metal, or planet associated with it, is found on the text page. Wit 11 original etchings from zinc plates on Twinrocker hand-made paper, 12 letterpress printed pages from polymer plates with alcohol based stains on Mohawk text weight paper, marbled endpapers. Covers are bound with paper over binders board. Front cover has onlays of thin steel and copper with metal pigment coatings and patina as well as silver leaf and gold leaf. Rear cover has an onlay of embossed aluminium foil from an engraved polycarbonate plate. closed, with three flaps and magnet closure bound with book cloth over binders board with Tyvek hinges. ad, tin, iron and copper with the sixth metal, mercury, represented by the silver dust surrounding the pentagram. Gold, the primary objective of alchemy, is at the center. The rear cover represents the four elements identified in antiquity: air, fire, earth and water. Each base metal has been associated with a planet in our solar system. Lead with Saturn, tin with Jupiter, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, silver with the moon, and mercury with its namesake planet. Custom case measures 9.5 x 8.75 x 1.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/052720. More

DC: Windhorse Press, 2013. Hardcover. Number 7 of 7 copies. "In my book 'Florentine Pages', I want to take the reader through the streets of Florence in the same manner as taking journey through the book. The entire experience of walking through the streets of Florence is akin to flipping pages of a book. The text is a narrow black passage leading to a colorful illustration, represented by fountains, cathedrals and towers, just beyond the corner. The city is a live version of the book that the reader doesn’t read but live in. The city of Florence itself parallels the structure of a basic codex book form. While the exteriors of buildings represent dark gray color with some yellow from street illumination during evening hours, there is a different life inside of the buildings. The same happens with the cover and interior of the book, which are usually quite different. The codex book form includes photographic images of Florence, which I took during my trip, combining with woodcuts and manuscript, as well as letterpress" (artist statement). The text, which winds around the negative space between her illustrations, features Tatiana’s observations about Florence. It is handwritten in both English and Russian, and is printed lithographically. She supplements her personal experiences with letterpress printed quotes about the city by famous Italians such as Dante Alighieri, Bruscaccio da Rovezzano, Michaelangelo. (These quotes are in English only.) Each copy is bound a little differently. This book is bound in red cloth with dark red leather spine and woodcut illustration inset to the front cover. The silk headbands are handsewn. The images and text are printed from a combination of lithographic pronto-plates, woodcuts, letterpress, and polymer plates. Unpaginated. [48 pages.] Born in Moscow, Tatiana has been interested in books and bookmaking since her childhood. She holds degrees from the Moscow University of Printing, the University of Maryland, and the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Her work is in collections nationwide and she has recently won an award for traditional illustration. She currently resides in Takoma Park, Maryland with her family. Fine. More

Toronto: Robert Wu, 2019. Paperback. A hand die-cut and embossed notebook with 24 smooth cream pages. In the shape of a hand with marbled paper covers. Comes with an envelope for easy mailing. Size: 4 x 4 inches. Fine. More

Toronto: Robert Wu, 2019. Paperback. A hand die-cut and embossed notebook with 24 smooth cream pages. In the shape of an elephant with grey paper covers. Comes with an envelope for easy mailing. Size: 5 x 3.5 inches. Fine. More