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

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

Washington: Wiesedruck, 2020. Hardcover. Number 21 of 40 copies, including five sold out deluxe copies. Signed and numbered by the artist. Poe's introduction to "The Conchologist's First Book: Or a System of Testaceous Malachology" is presented within along with forty-one etchings of fifty-six shells by artist Sarah Horowitz. She writes about this exquisite book on her website: " I received two large cardboard boxes of individually wrapped shells eight years ago after the death of my paternal grandmother. Each shell was in a cellophane bag, stapled shut with a fortune-­cookie-­sized strip of paper on which was typed the Latin name and origin of the shell. My grandparents had purchased the shells in the Philippines where they lived in the late 1960s. Their house was a veritable cabinet of curiosities which was magical to me. I am engrossed by collections, particularly those of complex organic objects, and by the books that document these collections. This book is as much about the history of collecting and the act of recreating my grandparents’ collection, as it is about shells. This text by Edgar Allan Poe was written as an introduction to The Conchologist’s First Book, first published in 1839 and adapted from Thomas Wyatt’s Manual of Conchology. It was intended to be a cheaper, more concise version of Wyatt’s book for use in schools. Poe was paid to have his name on the title page in order to help sales, but he also wrote an original preface and introduction, and edited and re-­organized the text. Poe had an interest in shells from time spent on the South Carolina coast while in the US Navy, and considered the study of shells to be one of the most important branches of natural history. Wyatt’s original text borrowed much material from The Conchologist’s Textbook by naturalist Thomas Brown who derived his work from the writings of Jean-­Baptiste Lamarck and Carl Linnaeus." Orange leather spine with decorative printed paper covered boards and gray leather title label to spine. Housed in a cloth covered box with matching paper covered edges. Letterpress printed by Arthur Larson of Horton Tank Graphics on Phoenix paper made specifically for this project by Gangolf Ulbricht in Berlin, Germany. Identification pages are printed on Kaji Natural paper. Housed in a gray cloth slipcase. Binding and slipcase by Claudia Cohen. Measures 6.5 x 9 inches. Unpaginated. PRI/122121. Fine. More

Luminice Press, 2019-2020. 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: 2021. Paperback. "Folded by a bookbinder completely from one single seet of decorative bookbinding paper using origami and bookbinding techniques, this unique and handy paper wallet comes with 14 pockets to hold money, receipts, memos, cards, pens, checks, etc. Handcrafted in Toronto by Robert Wu." Blue paper with victorian paper embellishment to front. Wax seal closure with wrap around braided cord. Filled with pockets. Size when closed: 7 x 3.25 inches. 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

Toronto: Robert Wu, 2021. Die-cut miniature blank notebook filled with 30 sheets of creamy paper with marbled paper covers. Tied with a postal twine and a sealing wax. For keeping your most ambitious thoughts or ideas. Colors vary. Marbled paper and bindings by Robert Wu. Size: Approximately 5 x 4 inches. Fine. More

Toronto: Studio Robert Wu, 2021. Paperback. Part of a small unnumbered edition. A sweet handmade folding victorian style fan with the handwritten text: "Kind hearts are gardens. Kind thoughts are roots. Kind words are flowers. Kind deeds are fruits. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." The fan is die-cut from stiff blue paper and edged in gilt with full color floral Victorian cutouts on each page. The floral piece on the front of the fan is a pop up. A blue tassle adorns the clip on the back edge of the fan. The back of the fan is covered in green pastepaper with flecks of gold, which was made by the artist. [5 pages.] Size of fan: about 4.25 x 2 inches. Housed in a white paper covered gift box with handtitled brown paper label to top. 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 10 of 25 standard 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 of 25 with one of the original signed drawings and marble ,and as a slipcased set of 25 with a limited edition print. of which this is one. 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 illustrations 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. Typeset inFutura on Cougar Opaque Smooth paper. Covers are blue Dover book cloth.The book is presented in an accordion format and can be read in the round or displayed as sculpture. The book is housed in a dark blue cloth slipcase with an archival pigment print of the drawing for Day Sixteen. Book measures 5 x 7 inches. 82 pages. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/110717. Fine. More