Carolyn Fraser and Holly Morrison are proud
to present the result of their three-year collaboration: The
Extinguishing of Stars. This book, printed letterpress
with rich, continuous-tone photogravures, is scaled to the
human hand. It is a meditation on the small within the infinite;
a folding and unfolding of memory. The reading experience
is created by the feel of fine paper, imperceptible shifts
in color and tone, the shape of a word pressed into the page.
The images and text weave a story of a girl exploring the
intimate particulars of her everyday world - the bushland,
the ocean, diamonds hidden in a soapbox - and the slow revealing
of the universe. The book culminates in a premonition that
brings the girl to a sudden and new awareness of her presence
in the world and its mysteries. Together, we have worked to
create a book which revels in the sensuousness of reading,
and of the world.
To do this, we have employed the slow, careful
practices of our crafts, the knowledge of our eyes and hands.
The
book features fourteen dust-grain photogravures, a technically
demanding intaglio process that produces photographic images
unmatched in their beauty and subtlety. Letterpress imparts
a sculptural, luminescent quality to the page - printers refer
to a page that sparkles and breathes. We believe this book
continues a tradition of the use of photogravure in fine press
books and extends it in new, unusual directions, beyond illustration
into narrative. The Extinguishing of Stars will appeal
to readers and collectors of fine press, photography and contemporary
fiction.
The Extinguishing of Stars is the second
title published under the imprint Idlewild Press. It was designed
and printed by Carolyn Fraser and Holly Morrison in Cleveland,
Ohio. The text is by Carolyn Fraser and the photogravures
are from original images by Holly Morrison and Carolyn Fraser.
The typeface is Van Dijck, cast by Michael and Winifred Bixler
in Skaneateles, New York and set by hand at the Press. The
paper is mould-made Zerkall Book. The endsheets were custom-made
for this book by Katie Brian MacGregor in Whiting, Maine.
The photogravures were hand-pulled from plates made by Holly
Morrison. Carolyn Fraser printed the text on a Vandercook
SP-15 Proof Press. The book measures 7 x 9 1/8 inches. It
was sewn by Carolyn Fraser and bound by John De Merritt in
Emeryville, California using a blue-black Thai dupioni silk.
It is presented in a tri-fold box covered in the same silk,
and stamped with the title.
The edition is limited to fifty copies. All
copies are signed by the artists and numbered.
For inquires please contact
us via electronic mail. Alternatively, write to Idlewild
Press, 7209 St. Clair Avenue, 3rd floor, Cleveland, Ohio 44103.
|
