Category: Book Collecting

A set of posts about my fledging artist’s book collection.

The Saint John’s Fragment

I wanted to buy a book for my collection at Codex, and after a lot of searching for one that had poetry, letterpress, and would be an inspiration for my own work, I settled on Foolscap Press’ The Saint John’s Fragment. The book is based on a unique book by poet David Annwn and calligrapher Thomas Ingmire. The Saint John’s Fragment is a piece from a papyrus codex that measures 3.5 by 2.5 inches at its widest. One side contains parts of seven lines from the Gospel of John 18:31–33, in Greek, and the other contains parts of seven lines from verses 37–38. David Annwn’s poem “Against the Odds” is in response to the fragment, describing what it looks like, what it might mean, and the mystery of it even existing today. At the end of the poem, a page unfolds with Ingmire’s beautiful calligraphy showing the fragment and the calligraphy shows the image of the actual fragment and the missing extended text (see last image below). See more about the book on Foolscap Press’ website and the original book on Ingmire’s blog. Below, click on the pictures to see a much large image.

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Foolscap Press, Saint John's Fragment

Foolscap Press, Saint John's Fragment

Foolscap Press, Saint John's Fragment

The Scottish Play

The San Francisco Center for the Book’s latest exhibition is “Superstition 13”:

Superstition 13 is a juried show which invites artists to investigate superstition and the esoteric….rtists are encouraged to submit book works which speak to the mysterious, the alchemical, the arcane – both written and unwritten.”

Tom Leech, the printer at the Palace Press at the Palace of the Governors here in Santa Fe, submitted “The Scottish Play,” a chapbook of Act IV, Scene 1 from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This is the scene where the witches chant “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” It’s handset type (all 36pt but of different faces). I bought a copy of the book, and here’s a few spreads. Be sure to read the very entertaining colophon pictured at the end of the post. Notice I got copy 13 (or maybe they are all copy 13!)

The Scottish Play, Tom Leech

The Scottish Play, Tom Leech

The Scottish Play, Tom Leech

The Scottish Play, Tom Leech, Colophon

Book plates

Ex Libris: Biblioteka P.V. GubarAfter Codex last month, I stayed in California to go to the Antiquarian Book Fair with 2 friends. One of them collects book plates. I didn’t know much about them—the one to the left is one my friend particularly liked, but the artwork can be quite varied. There are a lot more here. Here’s what one gallery says about book plates:

Known more generally as book plates, ex libris are prints, drawings or watercolors designed by artists to be inserted into the front of books to display ownership. Originally a mark of prestige and status in society, book plates emerged in the fifteenth century and usually bore the owner’s family coat of arms. An interest in ex libris collecting and societies began in the 19th century, by which time it was increasingly common for merchants, scholars and other professionals to commission these works from prominent artists. The compositions were created based on the person’s interests, career and accomplishments and often would include a play on his/her name. Fine book plates continue to be made today by contemporary artists both by commission and as a direct response to the book plate as an art form. Many take their inspiration from various historical ex libris motifs such as Greek myth, momento mori and Don Quixote and incorporate them into their own unique style others imagine their own themes more in line with the Modernist movements such as Symbolism and Abstract Expressionism.

Deepak Chopr’s Map Fold Book

Most people find my shop in a very mundane way — a typical response to “how did you find me” is “I searched for ‘artist book’ on Etsy.” But last week I got an unexpected and pleasant answer from a woman who bought one of my bookmaking kits. She told me that she had seen a charity auction for The Lunchbox Fund that included a book of images and eight meditations handwritten by Deepak Chopra. She went on to say “I so enjoy origami and this book enchanted me by the way it was constructed. I googled the Turkish map fold and selected the images search. I clicked on one of your photographs and checked out your website.”
Intrigued by the Turkish map fold reference, I looked for the auction, which had just ended. The book went for $820! Here’s the description as well as nice photographs showing the book opening…

Reflecting on the personal journey, each page is folded into a Turkish map and arranged as an accordion which bursts open, blossoming to reveal the colorful text and images within. The covers are embroidered in a floral motif with stem and running stitches in cadmium yellow on Marc Jacobs teal wool cloth and mounted onto Japanese Unry-shi Kozo board. 5” by 5”. Made in collaboration with Alaska L. McFadden. Auction photos by David Belisle.

Do also check out Alaska McFadden’s website and her other books.

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