This is my folio-sized 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. Nothing is produced using digital reproduction methods.
$3,200