The Cost of Gold: Twenty-two poems
By S. R. Grosslight
2001. Edition of 96.
4.5 x 6.5". Letterpress Sabon Antiqua with Goudy Engraved and Dante types on Fabriano Vergatona paper.In an Edition of 96, copies A–Z are sewn coptic-style through wooden boards; copies 1–70 are walnut paper covers with exposed sewing on leather straps.
This book has an immediate presence in the hands. It is of intimate size, like a small journal promising secrets. The walnut covers are sturdy, yet supple, like leather. Curiously, a gold ladle bisects the front cover and signals that as we open, we will be dipping in, taking nourishment. Reading these carefully crafted poems is akin to reading private pages. Grosslight's perceptions reach into our own closely held memories, wishes, thoughts. We are captivated. Designer/printer Mary Laird so ably and aptly renders poetry to page that this elegantly printed collection is a pleasure to read and handle. The rounded folio corners recall a composition tablet and the size fits comfortably in the hands. Laird anchors the poems to the bottom page margin, as she did so successfully in her last edition, The Affirmation of Shadows. Deep red titles at the top corners are echoed by the red binding cord at the signature centers. A centerfold drawing by Kim Vanderheiden renders the initial poem into image and is printed in offset.
This is a handsomely composed book, a carefully crafted container that aptly conveys the text therein.
$185 Standard version in walnut covers |
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The Affirmation of Shadows
Poetry by William Cirocco
Artwork by Mario LaPlante
2000. Edition of 75.
5 x 11.25"; 32 pages. Letterpress from Dante type on Lana Laid paper. Drop-spine binding (attributed to Gary Frost) with linen spine and Japanese silk over boards. Handmade slate endpapers.
Twelve poems form a coherent textural whole in the sense of a Bach suite. The physical arrangement of poetry and page suggests deepening and development. The book itself and the first poems have epigraphs printed in light gray, a dropping in of other voices whose words repeat and themes reverberate in the bodies of the poems. Poems are anchored to the page bottom leaving a changing margin at the top like the rising and falling of hills or waves. For the first six poems, titles are on the left-hand or verso page with poems to the recto. Then mid-book, a fusion—the movement of the poems condenses to title and text together on the page, evoking a sense of urgency that overtakes space. The last poem reintroduces the original page spread layout, offering breathing space again, quieting to close. The dynamic design evokes emotion and suggests approach. It is the score that underlies the individual play of words on page and ear as it supports the inherent music of Cirocco's texts.
Beautiful book, moving poetry.
$225
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Nine Poems
By Denise Levertov
1996. Edition of 90.
The stiff brown paper of the handmade covers appropriately recall a monk's robe and are handsewn with vellum-like straps in a mostly non adhesive binding. Walnut crinkle endpapers. Letterpress printed in Spectrum and Sabon with black and red inks.
Poems of spiritual presence serenely presented in a slim volume. An epigraph from Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, a lay brother with the discalced Carmelites at Paris in the 1660s, whose letters and some account of his life have been preserved as "The Practice of the Presence of God," gives a sense of the book's themes.
$240 (Last Copy)
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