Rockport, ME: Two Ponds Press, 2020. Number 29 of 60 copies. Copies number 1 to 20 are the deluxe edition. This beautifully conceived and executed limited edition private press work explores in parallel two critical contemporary issues: the impact of climate change and the status of the increasing number of refugees in our world. Nansen’s Pastport is an artistic re-invention of Norwegian polar explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen’s refugee passport for post-Great War Europe.  The book, designed and conceived by artist Anneli Skaar, is re-imagined as a climate refugee passport for humanity, using Nansen’s own words in a contemporary context, inviting consideration on how to meet the pressing issues of current and future climate migration with wisdom from the past. Skaar writes: "The Pastport's design is based on the United States passport, arguably one of the most recognizable and coveted identity documents in the world. On its pages the U.S. passport features a number of iconic American landscapes and quotations by well-known citizens.... Nansen's Pastport also features landscapes and quotations. The quotations...are taken directly from Nansen's 1922 Nobel Lecture, 'The Suffering People of Europe.' Although Nansen's words reference the issues facing the displaced citizens of post-war Europe, the excerpts feel equally relevant and inspirational even today."  The Pastport is bound from blue North Atlantic salmon leather sourced from Iceland. On its cover is the image of an Arctic tern, the animal the migrates the farthest, making a 50,000 mile trip back and forth from the poles every year. The blue cloth covered box housing the Pastport is constructed to feel like an atlas, its dominant size symbolically enforcing geography's significance to the passport within. On the inside cover of the box is a mounted copperplate etching by Skaar. Named Carta Borealis (Northern Map), it emulates the perspective of an Arctic map; its center is the star of the North Pole. The outer case measures 19 x 13 inches. Nansen’s Pastport is 5 x 3.5 inches, 32 pages, identical to a standard passport. Letterpress printing by Art Larson at Horton Tank Graphics and bound and boxed by Amy Borezo. The Pastports cyanotypes processing by Sal Taylor Kydd and the map was printed from the copper plate by Wingate Studio. Accompanied by a softcover illustrated catalog by Anneli Skaar that describes the book, with an introduction by Steven R. Koltai. In fine condition. PRI/111021. More

Chicago: Ann Tyler, 2018. Hardcover. Number 4 of 5 copies. Signed and numbered by Ann Tyler, the book artist. A book about Syria, the violence taking place there, how abstract the atrocities feel to us in America, and how we attempt to process the information. 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 several permanent collections including 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 powerful and complex work: "Catastrophic Geometries emerged from my research on Syria and the government military violence against the citizens. These books focus on one particular detention and torture site: Hospital 601. Hospital 601 is part of a military complex in Damascus. In news articles, aerial images of the site were published along with descriptions of what occurred at the site; images were smuggled out of Syria and provided to human rights organizations; testimony and documentation were provided by human rights organizations and in turn published in the media. The aerial images of building exteriors and roofs and shadows cast provided the basis of the abstractions I developed for this book. Catastrophic Geometries requires explication, as the sequencing of the text content underpins the viewer’s understanding of/relation to the abstractions – even though the abstractions comprise the bulk of the pages." The texts for each volume discuss visual and psychological factors that affect perception and understanding. For example, in volume IV: Car Garage Addendum: "The greater the distance the less detail. This tells us we are far away. Additionally, the greater the anticipated effort required then the greater the perceived distance. In tests, people within our own group are perceived to be closer while people out of our group are perceived to be further away because of the anticipated effort to understand that culture. Someone is sitting in a chair in the United States looking at a satellite image taken approximately 500 miles above Damascus, Syria reading a description of the site as told by another person who was standing at the scene photographing bodies but who has now fled to London carrying the evidence. The dead are strewn on the concrete floor of a car garage — some are isolated, some are slightly touching one arm on another, some are piled onto each other with no space in between. How do we determine distance in this scene? And what is the effort required?"    This work is a four volume set housed in a custom slipcase. The books are casebound in red and magenta linen cloth and are hand-sewn with gold foil stamped titles and volume numbers on their spines. The graphite notations on one of the last pages of volume IV are individually hand-drawn lines and numbers. Being hand-drawn this page varies slightly with each set.   Type set in Futura and Adobe Garamond and printed on MOAB Entrada Rag Natural paper. In fine condition. Books measure 9 3/8 x 12 1/8 inches. Slipcase is 9.5 x 12.5 x 3.5 inches. Volume I: 90 pages; Volume II: 52 pages; Volume III: 48 pages; Volume IV: 32 pages. ARTISTSB/072921. 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

Toronto: George A. Walker, 2020. Number 22 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 protective clamshell 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 actor 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/071122. 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

Portland, OR: Shu-Ju Wang, 2005. One of 31 copies. The artist describes her book: "In a reference to ever miniaturized technologies that allow us to surround ourselves with ever more content, this book raises the quesiton of the Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio of such content. Using archival clear adhesive tape, "noisy words" are transferred from black Arches Cover to Strathmore Drawing paper in an accordion book. Translations of the text, in both English and in audio waveforms, are Gocco printed on the back.A recording of Shu-Ju reading the text is the source for the waveforms. Handmade grey paper from Taiwan is used for the cover boards and is also the fiber transferred onto the Arches Cover slipcase." Size 1.75 x 2.375 inches closed; 1.75 x 55.25 inches when opened. Fine condition. Unpaginated. ARTISTSB/041321. 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 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

Toronto: Studio Robert Wu, 2021. Paperback. Part of a small unnumbered edition. A Victorian-style handmade Valentine fan with the handwritten text: "If the postman only knew, what the weight of love for you, carried by this little card on its journey cold and hard, he would demand ten thousand more stamps to take it to your door!" The fan is die-cut from stiff white paper and edged in gilt with full color Victorian cutouts on the front panel and on each page. The front of the fan also features a stamp and a postmark. A red tassle adorns the clip on the back edge of the fan. The last page of the fan is covered in maroon marbled paper, which was made by the artist. The last page is signed and dated by the artist. Housed in a white paper covered gift box with handtitled brown paper label to top. [8 pages.] Size of fan: about 7 x 4 inches. Wu trained at the American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB) in Colorado with Monique Lallier and at the Canadian Bookbinders and Bookartists Guild (CBBAG) in Toronto. He was the recipient of the first ever Tini Miura scholarship for the study of fine binding at the AAB and later studied privately with master binder Miura in California. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions and can be found in several notable collections including Harvard University. ARTB/072821. Fine. More

Lincolnville, ME: Dudley Zopp, 2017. Hardcover. Number 8 of 25 copies of a new limited edition book by artist and scholar Dudley Zopp. Signed and numbered by the book artist. Ms. Zopp graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. and M.A. and completed postgraduate studies in Drawing and Painting at the Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville. She now lives in Lincolnville, Maine. Zopp finds inspiration in geological processes and cultural histories of place. Her engagement with restoring habitat where she lives feeds directly into her work, which ranges from site specific installations to paintings, woodcuts and limited edition books. She has completed residencies at geologically significant sites in Newfoundland, Spain and Italy. She has exhibited widely at galleries, universities and museums in New England and the Midwest. Her work is included in university and museum collections nationally. This book is offered as both a limited edition deluxe set with one of the original signed drawings and as a slipcased set with a limited edition print. This is one of the 25 deluxe boxed copies with the original drawing for Day three and a blue marble. The book considers our relationship to the Earth in a sequence of annotated watercolors. It was originally presented digitally for a 2014 exhibition "Turning in Your Hand: The Blue Marble Project,” at Waterfall Arts in Maine. Twenty artists were given a blue marble and asked to respond to the pale blue dot we call home. Dudley's images and notations provide a unique look into the oldest of concerns: our place in this world (artist's statement). The drawings began with a month-long daily ritual of erasing an earlier charcoal drawing and, using watercolor and ink, creating a new drawing in its place. As part of this Dudley noted the weather and the color of the ocean as seen from her studio. She also added a few lines adapted from ancient Buddhist texts. The resulting 31 watercolors were collected in a mystical and magical book that beautifully captures Dudley's artistic consideration of our place in the world. Design, typography, and assembly of books and cases are by Richard Reitz Smith. Text and images are printed as offset lithography by Penmore Lithographers. The book is presented in an accordion format and can be read in the round or displayed as sculpture.The book, watercolor drawing, and marble are housed in a dark blue cloth clamshell box. Book measures 5 x 7 inches. 82 pages. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/110317. Fine. More

Washington DC: 2012-2013. Hardcover. Limited to 7 copies. These three fascinating volumes comprise the Non-Boundaries Series. They document a project undertaken by Zussman in which a group of people was asked to categorize a list of forty-two interactions between memory and reality into three to five categories. The book artist states: "This project has been a physical fulfillment of the question of whether there is any conscious common ground to the way we categorize unfamiliar phenomena and interactions that haven't been categorized for us in advance." The first volume provides the categories representing each participant's grouping and categorization of the interactions. In the second volume, participants were asked to map up to five interactions from the same list, using Euclidean geometric tools of a dot and a line. The third volume uses Jeremy Bentham's circular structure, the Panopticon to explore the interactions between memory and reality from the first two volumes. Each volume is bound in white laminate covers with the title printed in black on the cover. In fine condition. 8 x 10 inches, Unpaginated. This set may require an extra shipping fee. ARTISTSBOOK/081315. Fine. More