This is my crown folio size artist book interpretation of Dorothy Parker’s collection of 6 short witty poems “Tombstones under the Starlight”, first published in The New Yorker on May 4, 1929. They are letterpress printed, hand-inked, on a Showcase press using Bodoni types on French BFK Rives, deckle edge rag paper. An original drawing for this book serves as a frontispiece.
Each poem on the verso is richly illustrated with an artwork on the recto, graphically playing with the poem’s number. They were first double-hit screen-printed on aged Chinese shuen paper, then cut apart and collaged. Each of the six originals is titled, signed, and numbered. Accompanying the poems is an ivy fleuron, a traditional typographic symbol, which somersaults across the pages.
Quarter-bound in Kraftex-Leather with covers wrapped in hand-made Indian paper. Hot stamped foil spine text and foil in the decorations of the poems initials. Book ribbon, marbled endpapers, colophon. Edition of 10 books, 1 artist proof, all signed and numbered. The book measures 18.25 x 11.875 x 0.6 inches, (46.3 x 30 x 2cm).
My artist books, broadsides, and loose-leaf editions are published in very small numbers, as low as five. All are hand-printed and hand-bound (in the case of books) by me, all are signed and numbered. While I am trying to be perfect, I am human, not a machine. Some variations in the editioned work are to be expected due to the processes, materials, and the artist’s change of mind. It is exactly what makes the work collectible: each piece is an original work of art. The pieces employ printmaking like original etchings, woodcuts, carborundum, screen prints, monotype, monoprint, and letterpress. Rarely is any part produced using digital methods, and if so it is clearly indicated, and only when no other options were available.
$3,200