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Book Arts Collection

A guide to discovering artists' books in the Book Arts Collection at Hill Memorial Library.

Drypoint

Image of sculpted box, open book, and loose print from The Temple of Flora

Temple of Flora

Dine, Jim. The Temple of Flora: Twenty-Eight Drypoint-Engravings. San Francisco: Arion Press, 1984.
NE2225 .D56 A4 1984 FLAT, McIlhenny Natural History Collection

Inspired by Dr. Robert John Thorton's 1807 The Temple of Flora, Jim Dine created a similar work in scale and presentation. Dine's images achieved it's rich blacks and tones from a combination of drypoint and engraving in copperplate.

The Diener

Serpas, Martha. The Diener. San Diego, Calif.: Brighton Press, [2011].
PS3619 .E77 D54 2011 LARF, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections

Michelle Burgess of Brighton Press collaborated with Louisiana poet Martha Serpas in this work. Intaglio, primarily etching with some drypoint, and letterpress printing on handmade paper. Bronze cast sculpture is part of the enclosure for this work by Brighton Press.

See this book in action on the Brighton Press website.

Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis

Frank, Anne. Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis. West Hatfield, Mass.: Pennyroyal Press with Jewish Heritage Pub., 1985.
DS135 .N6 F73313 1985 OVER, Rare

Fine press version of Anne Frank's diary with intaglio prints by Joseph Goldyne. This intaglio is titled, "Shoes with Presents" and was created with hardground etching, aquatint, spit-bite, drypoint, and roulette (mezzotint).

Black and white swamp scene with water, cypress knees and trees.

Original etchings & dry-points; a book for the student and lover of art

Hancock, James. Original etchings & dry-points; a book for the student and lover of art. 1937.
NE2225 .H3 A423 FLAT, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection

An album-bound collection of 20 etchings and dry-points. Subject matter includes the Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge; St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans; Old State House, Little Rock; and various river, city, and nature scenes.

Etching

Canga: Ten Hand-Colored Etchings

King, Ron. Canga: Ten Hand-Colored Etchings. England: Circle Press, 1976.
N7433.4 .K48 C36 1976 FLAT, Rare

The first of three intended volumes with 10 hand-colored etchings by Ronald King on the theme of a band of Brazilian ‘cangaçeiros’ of the ‘20s and ‘30s led by the notorious Lampião. Introduction by José Neistein.

The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf Before the High Court of Venôme

Babeuf, Gracchus. The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf Before the High Court of Venôme. Edited & translated with an essay on Babeuf by John Anthony Scott. With twenty-one etched portraits by Thomas Cornell. Northampton, Mass.: Gehenna Press, 1964.
DC146 .B14 A58 OVER, Rare.

Head of an old man with bird wing attached.

Fossil Dirigibles

Kuch, Michael. Fossil Dirigibles. Asparagus Valley [Hadley, Mass.]: Double Elephant Press, 2006.
Z232 .K83 F66 2006 FLAT, McIlhenny Natural History Collection

Intaglio prints on St. Amand handmade paper. "All fossil imagery was created from impressions made in soft ground of life forms (found in various states of death). The fanciful gondolas were drawn in hard ground." -- Colophon.

Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis

Frank, Anne. Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis. West Hatfield, Mass.: Pennyroyal Press with Jewish Heritage Pub., 1985.
DS135 .N6 F73313 1985 OVER, Rare

Fine press version of Anne Frank's diary with intaglio prints by Joseph Goldyne. This intaglio is titled, "Smoking Pen" and was created with hardground etching, aquatint, drypoint, and monotype transfer by heliogravure.

Animals and People: The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself

Rogers, Pattiann. Animals and People: The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself. [Eugene, Or.] : Knight Library Press, University of Oregon, c2002.
QL85 .R64 2002, Rare

Line etchings by Margot Voorhies Thompson. CD of audio recording of text accompanies book.

The Waves

Sharoff, Shirley. The Waves. [Paris, 2003].
PR6045 .O72 W3 2003 FLAT, Rare

Text by Virginia Woolf. Wave shaped pages laid in a cream folder. The colors of the soft ground etchings follow the different moments of the day: the darkness before morning, the sharp reds of the middle of the day, the loss of color, the return to the blue of night.

black and white intaglio of reclining female nude figure with Hebrew text

Disasters of Love: A Defense of Delilah

Kuch, Michael. Disasters of Love: A Defense of Delilah. Asparagus Valley [Hadley, Mass.]: Double Elephant Press, 2005.
N7433.4 .K825 D57 2005 FLAT, Rare

"The etchings reference art historical works and relate to the poem by myth and metaphor. The entire Hebrew text from Judges is incorporated into these intaglios. Between the columns of the text, twelve lithographs from stone depict the brutish Samson engaged in his Herculean labors." -- Artist's statement.

Images and description on artist's website: https://www.michaelkuch.com/disasters-of-love

Scratchy etched portrait of James Baldwin in black ink on blue paper. Baldwin looks sad and thoughtful.

Gypsy & Other Poems

Baldwin, James. Gypsy & Other Poems. Northampton, Mass.: Gehenna Press, 1989.
PS3552 .A45 G97 1989 OVER, Rare

James Baldwin's poetry letterpress printed by Gehenna Press with intaglio portrait of Baldwin by Leonard Baskin.

Der Kübelreiter = The bucket rider

Kafka, Franz. Der Kübelreiter = The bucket rider. Newark, Vt.: Janus Press, [1972].
PT2621 .A26 K83 1972 OVER, Rare

Relief etchings by Jerome Kaplan. Relief etchings (anastatic printing) are created like other etchings that use hard or soft ground resists, but the ink is applied to the surface, rather than the grooves etched into the plate. Janus Press utilizes this technique in several of their books.

The Circus of Dr. Lao

Finney, Charles G. The Circus of Dr. Lao. [Newark] Vermont : Janus Press, 1984.
PS3511 .I64 C5 1984 FLAT, Rare

Illustrated with a combination of relief etchings and pochoir using black, sienna and ochre inks on handmade paper. Pictorial cloth-covered boards, over vellum spine with exposed thread pattern can be seen in the "Exposed Bindings Gallery."

Claire Van Vliet demonstrates relief etching in this 1982 video made at the University of Washington: https://youtu.be/WeEtwUfz9BU

Aquatint

3 b&w aquatint prints of cockatoos and parrots

Parrots and Cockatoos

Butterworth, Elizabeth. Parrots and Cockatoos. London: Fischer Fine Art, [1978].
QL696 .P7 B88 FLAT, McIlhenny Natural History Collection

Twenty etchings with aquatint of parrots and cockatoos.

Impressions

Jones, Shirley. Impressions. [Croydon, Surrey] : Red Hen Press, [1984].
NE2047.6 .J66 A4 1984 FLAT, Rare

"Eight aquatints accompanying eight poems and prose pieces written by the artist about her first visit to the United States"--Colophon.

An Alphabet of Extinct Mammals

Wakefield, D. R. An Alphabet of Extinct Mammals. England: The Chevington Press, 2009.
QL707 .W35 2009 FLAT, McIlhenny Natural History Collection

26 etchings with aquatint of extinct mammals.

Panoramic image of purple snowy mountains

From the Snows to the Seas

Lubbock, J. G. From the Snows to the Seas. London: Bertram Rota, 1986.
NE642 .L78 A4 1986 OVER, Rare

Hand printed copperplate etchings and aquatint. The colors are printed via intaglio and relief, and additional color is applied to some pages by hand, à la poupée. Lubbock's multi-process intaglio printing can be seen in Loves, Lands and Waters (2000) and Light and the Mind's Eye (1974), as well.

Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis

Frank, Anne. Diary of a young girl = Het Achterhuis. West Hatfield, Mass.: Pennyroyal Press with Jewish Heritage Pub., 1985.
DS135 .N6 F73313 1985 OVER, Rare

Fine press version of Anne Frank's diary with intaglio prints by Joseph Goldyne. This intaglio is titled, "Aerial View of Het Acherhuis, Prinsengracht 263" and was created with hardground etching, aquatint, and drypoint.

Philosophy

D'Arbeloff, Natalie. Philosophy. [London] : NdA, 1990.
N7433.4 .D37 D37 1990, Rare

4-hole exposed binding, based on the traditional Japanese stab binding called "Yotsume Toji" with covered corners. Panels are comic-style produced by etching and aquatint; ink applied à la poupée.

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