Béatrice Coron, 2014. Number 3 of three copies. Poet Mick Stern and book artist Béatrice Coron have collaborated on a number of books over the past several years. This recent work has a short rather humorous poem on the fate of the scribe of the tribe who is relieved of his duties by the tribal leaders. Coron had created an intricate panel cut from black Arches paper with eight wood cuts depicting the scribe's sad story. The poem and wood cut are loose and housed in a dark brown textured Mick Stern is an artist and writer living in New York City. Stern received a PhD in English Renaissance Literature from New York University. He has taught English at Rutgers and other colleges. For more than twenty years, he taught screenwriting at NYU’s film school. A book review said about him: "Mick Stern's poems are clever, deep and humorous, real treat to read."French born Béatrice Coron is a renowned artist whose work includes book arts, fine art, and public art. Her work can be found in major museum collections, libraries, as well as private collections. Her books are fascinating creations made through cutting images in paper or Tyvek. Christina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes her work in Coron's "artfragments" portfolio: "There is a palpable joy in the work of Béatrice Coron, the kind of joy we felt as children in unwrapping a particularly enticing holiday gift. But...for Béatrice the gift is a sheet of Tyvek...or paper, and the stories to be unearthed and unleashed within and through the medium." Coron describes her book work: "For the last 20 years, I have been exploring visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Collecting memories from individuals and communities, I stage narrative allegories in silhouette to create a dialogue with the viewer in playful fantasies. These visual chronicles record archetypal stories that transcend time and space. I have been fascinated by the relation of people to their space and the sense of belonging. Using papercutting where everything is cut from a single piece of Tyvek, the profusion of individual stories makes a coherent whole world." [From her website]. ARTISTSB/082520. 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, 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

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

The Moveable Book Society, 2018. Hardcover. Limited to 2000 copies. From the introduction: "Our 25th anniversary collection, A to Z: Marvels in Paper Engineering, looks ahead to the next generation of paper engineers. The artists were given freedom to explore the mechanism revealing the essence of each letter form. This juried collection was selected from the contributions of many qualified candidates. The collected works of the best and brightest artists hold promise to inspire the future wave of paper engineers." This boxed alphabet production contains 26 folding pop-up cards, each featuring a different letter of the alphabet designed by a different artist. It also includes an introductory pamphlet and a pop-up title page. Each card contains a pop-up letter and on the back includes a photograph of the designer as well as a brief statement about the letter and design choice. Contributors include: Simon Arizpe, Camille Magaud, Peter Dahmen, Dorothy Yule, Eric Broekhuis, Yoojin Kim, Jess Tice-Gilbert, Angelo Ferrari, Lena Ignestam, Hiromi Takeda, Rob Kelly, Courtney McCarthy, Wai-Yin Kwan, Kelli Anderson, Kyle Olmon, Maike Bierderstaedt, Aurore Le Vilain, Julie Charvet, Isabel Uria, Sheila Hirata, Shelby Arnold, Damien Prudhomme, Shawn Sheehy, Katherine Belsey, Tina Yeung, Yevgeniya Yeretskaya, and Bruce Foster. The box and logo were designed by Isabel Uria. The box is approximately 8.5 x 6.5 x 4 inches. It is covered in glossy blue paper with gilt title to spine and front panels. It has a magnetic closure and a pull ribbon attached to the clasp. Minor rubbing to panels of covers and some cards. Unpaginated. ARTB/101718. Fine. More

Verdigris, 2008. Hardcover. Number 3 of 50 copies. This is one of ten copies of the DELUXE EDITION which includes a monoprint signed by the artist with a caption hand written on the facing page. Judith Rotchild has created eleven exquisite mezzotint plates to illustrate Temple's poem.The book is bound in the accordion style with yellow and blue paper covered boards and title stamped in black to the front cover. The monoprint is contained in a portfolio with a black cloth spine and marbled paper covered boards. Both the print and portfolio are housed in a clamshell box with a black cloth spine and paper covered boards. A blue paper title label covers the spine panel of the box. Unpaginated [16 pages] ARTB/101010. Fine in Fine Box. More

Toronto: George A. Walker, 2020. Number four of 35 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. An additional 10 hors commerce copies were made and lettered A–J. In this handsome pictorial biography, noted wood engraver George A. Walker celebrates the life of Mary Pickford (1892-1979), a silent film star whose groundbreaking contributions to the motion picture industry earned her the title ‘Queen of the Movies’. Toronto-born Gladys Louise Smith, who would later come to be known as Mary Pickford, first burst onto the silent-film scene at the tender age of 17. But Pickford was more than just ‘the girl with the curls’. In addition to her acting career—a brilliant success that spanned 52 features—Pickford also helped establish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as United Artists studio. In this edition Walker tells the story of Pickford’s life in a sequential narrative not unlike the silent films of old, complete with inter-titles. The 87 black-and-white wood engravings recall the monochromatic media of Pickford’s films, and echo the experience of interpreting stories visually. The number 87 was Pickford’s age when she died and the number 35 (copies of the limited edition) refers to the 35mm film on which silent movies were shot. The engravings are hand printed on 250 gsm Revere Felt mouldmade paper created at the 600 year old Cartiere Magnani mill in Italy. The book is beautifully bound in blue Asahi silk cloth and is housed in a clamshell protective box with a drawer that contains ephemera from Pickford's career. The ephemera included with this copy include a limited edition engraving that was featured in the book; Two small and one larger photograph of Pickford; two postcards of Pickford's birthplace in Toronto and her Beverly Hills home when she was married to Douglas Fairbanks; a postcard sized copy of a Pickford movie poster; and an early 20th century Charlie Chaplin film cell. The book features hand marbled end leaves and bevelled cover boards with a wood engraving print sunk into the cover. In fine condition. Book size: 6.25 X 7.5 X 1.75 inches. Unpaginated(160 pages printed recto). PRI/101620. More

New Rochelle: Wildcliff Craft Center, 1979. Hardcover. Number 19 of 35 copies of the limited edition catalog for “The Book as Art” exhibit at the Wildcliff Craft Center. Signed by Kathleen Dinan, Leonard Seastone, and Alexandra Soteriou, who oversaw the collaborative project. A number of book artists participated in this exhibit, and the folio catalog is itself a fascinating production. The pages are linked together by a broad ribbon, which allows them to unfurl like a ladder; or, the pages can be turned as usual to read the various artist’s statements and colophon. Bound into red and black cloth boards. Printed in Neuland and Goudy O.S. types on cotton handmade paper. In fine condition. Unpaginated. ARTISTSBOOKS/071012. Fine. More

DC: Windhorse Press, 2011. Hardcover. Number 4 of 8 copies, signed by the artist. In Russian. According to the book artist this "book recounts a story of a child learning to play chess with book pages numbered as chessboard squares. The child does not want to follow the game's rules by making two moves each turn, not allowing his pieces to be taken, etc. In the end the child removes all pieces from the board with only two kings remaining and proclaims that 'Kings walk slowly but always make quick decisions'". In the form of a dialogue, the text is based on personal experience from trying to teach chess to her son. The book is bound in black cloth with a small red paper square inset to the front cover. The images were printed using a carved plastic plate and the text was printed on a laser printer. Housed in a whimsical red cloth box which opens in an unusual manner. A miniature book measuring 1.75 x 2 inches in a box measuring 2.5 x 2.75 inches. 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. Unpaginated. Fine. More

DC: Windhorse Press, 2011. Paperback. Number 7 of 12 copies. Signed by the artist. Text is in Russian and English. This book is based on recollections from the artist's childhood about her relationship with her grandmother. After years of knowing her, she is perplexed to learn that she speaks another language, has not always lived in Russia, and has a very different personal history than once assumed. She works through this revelation and ultimately forms a deeper bond and understanding with her grandmother. The text is printed in English with Russian entwined as the narrator gradually embraces her grandmother's revelation. The book is bound in red paper wrappers with black title and illustration printed on front cover. The binding is handsewn using red and grey threads. It is printed using stone lithography for the images and lithographic pronto-plates for the text. Printed at the Corcoran Print Shop on Canson Velin Arches paper. Housed in a red cloth covered clamshell box with inset illustration to front panel. Folio. Unpaginated. [16 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 dove with white paper covers. Comes with an envelope for easy mailing. Size:4.5 x 3 inches. Fine. More