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Sample pages...
This limited edition contains ten poems about
the poet Sylvia Plath, written by those
who knew her — Berryman, Davison, Hughes,
Lowell, Sexton and Wilbur, and those who
reflect on her from the distance of time —
Ackerman, Frezza, Hadas and Herzberg.
A foreword by Enid Mark details the story of her friendship with Plath and describes how that friendship proved to be the catalyst that led to the founding of The ELM Press.
As visual counterpoint, images of shattered glass accompany the text. When pages are turned, the simple fissure initially confined within a small rectangle becomes increasingly distorted as it bursts through and extrudes from ever-enlarging rectangular parameters.
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Each 15 1/2 x 21 inch double page spread presents a single poem. Two longer poems are set on fold-out pages.
The lithographs facing the poetry are printed from two separate plates, one photographic and one hand drawn with airbrush, pencil and pen. The finished prints are rich, high contrast duotones, with the black ink of the photo image underprinted in subtle hues that shift from gray-green to mauve to dark red.
As is usual with all work from The ELM Press, this Tenth Anniversary edition features collaboration with master craftsmen and women, who insure the realization of the artist's vision. Calligrapher Jerry Kelly designed the title lettering. Lithographer Timothy P. Sheesley of Corridor Press, Otego, New York, hand-pulled the two-color lithographs. The text, cast in Monotype Bembo by Dan Carr and Julia Ferrari at Golgonooza Letter Foundry, Ashuelot, New Hampshire, was printed by Daniel Keleher at Wild Carrot Letterpress, Hadley, Massachusetts.
The paper is Arches Velin. The pages, bound in a chemise of stiffened black Tiziano paper from the Fabriano mill, are contained in a tray case covered with black cloth. The title is stamped in silver on the spine. A rectangular window in the top of the case is lined with gray paper and embedded with a pane of cracked glass. Handbound by Sarah Creighton, Easthampton, Massachusetts.
Limited to fifty copies, numbered and signed by the artist. 1996. Out of print.
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JOHN BERRYMAN