books published |
ISKANDARIYA
Brigit Pegeen Kelly; aquatints by Briony Morrow-Cribbs
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This prose poem by Brigit Pegeen Kelly first appeared in the New York Times. It proved to be the perfect foundation for a long-sought collaboration with the young Washington-state artist Briony Morrow-Cribbs. Although the poet and artist did not previously know each others work, Iskandariya's subject matter and imagery could almost have been written with Briony's growing bestiary of anthropomorphically jumbled creatures in mind.
What was initially conceived as a straightforward project became a two-year-long collaboration and exercise in international production logistics. The poet gave the published and artist complete freedom in presenting the text, and various designs and structures for combining the letterpress text and intaglio prints were tried. The project ended up becoming an excellent study in the collaborative process, which was chronicled in a pamphlet included with the deluxe Boxed Issue copies of the book.
The text was set by hand in 18-pt Perpetua italic. It was printed damp on HM Text handmade paper, which Reg Lissel had tinted to match the kitakata on which the aquatints were printed. Each spread of text pages is separated by a folded sheet of kitakata, with an aquatint facing each page of text. There also is an aquatint frontis, printed on HM Text. The letterpress was completed at the Heavenly Monkey studio; the aquatints were pulled by the artist in her studio on Whidbey Is, WA. The edition is limited to 50 copies, signed by Brigit and Briony. The book is sewn into a non-adhesive structure by Claudia Cohen, with a fully etched dustjacket (13 x 18 inches, folded to fit the book) printed by the artist on sekishu. These copies were issued at US$600. The first 15 copies (and four contributor copies), forming the Boxed Issue, include a separate folder with 12 state proofs of all the aquatints, and a 12-page pamphlet recounting the publisher and artist's collaboration on designing the book. This pamphlet was set in 12-pt Perpetua and printed at Black Stone Press from polymer plates on Guarro mouldmade paper. The book, pamphlet and folder are housed in a clamshell box made by Claudia Cohen. These copies were issued at US$1,500. Studio subscribers could opt to have their copy of the Boxed Issue specially bound by Claudia in full vellum, and have a suite of the finished prints hand colored by Briony included. Six of the 15 Boxed Issue copies (numbers 1-6) and the four contributor copies (each named for the contributor) were issued in this manner. This title is out of print, although copies may be available from Heavenly Monkey's regular booksellers (see Friends). Return to list of books published. HEAVENLY MONKEY |
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