The Cable Ship and Other Poems is a collection of poetry I recently published by the Swedish poet, Harry Martinson, with translations by Robert Hedin. The book is custom designed and letterpress printed on Somerset Book Wove paper. The binding for this 48 page, limited edition book is hand-sewn. The covers are wrapped in Asahi book cloth and Lokta paper. The dust jacket was letterpress printed on Hannemuhle Bugra and St. Armand paper.
Harry Martinson was a widely acclaimed, Swedish poet, novelist, essayist, and dramatist — the first self-taught, working-class writer to be elected to the Swedish Academy. Born in 1904, Martinson led a troubled childhood and adolescence marked by hardship. At the age of sixteen, he went to sea, working as a coal stoker on freighters and tramp steamers. While traveling the world, he contracted tuberculosis and subsequently settled down in Sweden on his 23rd birthday. In 1974, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Harry Martinson died in 1978.
Robert Hedin is the author, translator, and editor of more than two dozen books of poetry. The recipient of many honors and awards for his work, he has taught at the University of Alaska, St. Olaf College, and Wake Forest University. He is co-founder and former director of the Anderson Center, a residential artist retreat in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie is a limited edition, artist’s book about the restoration of an oak savanna on a historic bluff overlooking Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River. The book features a series of hand-printed photogravures documenting the changes that occurred during the first ten years of restoration. It also features a 3,500 word essay by the artist about the natural history of the land as well as reproductions of photos taken by the family that originally farmed the property before it became a Wisconsin State Natural Area in 2005.
Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairieis 47 pages long including the colophon and end sheets. It contains twenty photo-polymer photogravure plates hand-printed with Charbonnel inks on Zerkall paper. All photographs, with the exception of the historic images, were taken by the artist. The text is letterpress printed and set in Mrs. Eaves XL Narrow, an Emigre digital typeface designed by Zuzana Licko. The title page is hand set in metal type with Janson and Forum Title. The book is hand bound using a modified, Japanese four needle binding. The book is 9 x 11 inches. Each signature includes a double-spread of the hand-printed plates, (folded on the foredge) facing a page of text, with a vellum sheet in-between. The hard cover is wrapped in Asahi and Canapetta bookcloth and the book comes with a slip case made of the same archival materials. There are 12 numbered copies in the edition.
In the fall of 2019, I exhibited Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie along with a collection of photographs and hand-printed photogravures in the town of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.
For information on how to purchase a copy, go to the about page and fill out the contact form.
Empire Builder is a limited edition, artists’ book about the social, environmental, and economic impacts of hydraulic fracking along the route of the old Great Northern Railroad line from Chicago to Seattle. The book is a collaboration between myself and the late artist, author, and printmaker, Chandler O’Leary of Anagram Press. It features eight, full color illustrations (three by me and five, including the endpapers, by Chandler O’Leary) about the process of oil extraction from sand mining and fracking to shipping. The text features a line-by-line retelling of the story behind “seeing the elephant,” a 19th century figure of speech lampooning the westward pursuit of manifest destiny and includes an original essay by O’Leary and myself about the relationship between the history of westward expansion and the more recent boom and bust of the oil industry in the 21st century.
Empire Builder is digitally printed with archival ink on Moab Entrada paper. It has an accordion fold binding. When fully open, the book is 180 inches long; when closed, 7" x 9”. The book also comes with a handmade slip case. For more information about how you can purchase a copy, fill out a contact form on the about page.
The Little Book of Hen is an illustrated, limited edition, hand-bound, letterpress book conceived, designed, and created in collaboration with author, Patricia Cumbie. The book is printed on Rives Lightweight. The soft cover copies are bound in Japanese textured linen card stock using a modified hand-sewn limp binding. The hard cover copies are case bound and covered in Canapetta bookcloth. The first 35 copies (SOLD OUT) featured marbled end papers by Sally Powers. To celebrate the publication of The Little Book of Hen, I produced this limited edition broadside which was ink-jet printed on Moab Entrada paper.
