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Tag Archives: Catholic

Painting the Cities Red

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Recommended Reading

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1917, Armenian, artists, Asia, assassination, Berlin, Bolshevik, bourgeois, bourgeoisie, Catholic, Communist Party, comrades, court, Cuba, December, descendants, dissidents, Eastern European, economic, Egor Iakovlev, Europe, exile, Futurists, imperial, Imperial Russia, James Womack, Joseph Stalin, language, Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, literature, Lutheran, marches, Marina Tsvetaeva, Maxim Gorky, Mohammedan, monarchy, Moscow, October Revolution, Odessa, Orthodox Jew, peasantry, poetry, Programma, proletariat, propaganda, revolution, riots, Romanov, Russia, Russian, Russian Empire, Russian Futurist, Russian Revolution, Social-Democratic Labour Party, Socialist, stuntman, Tatar, Tsar, Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarist, United States, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, wine riots, Winter Palace, working classes, writers, Zaum


“All for the People and all Through the People” — Programma

Revolution had been bleeding red on the tongues of Russian citizens for a least a decade before the fateful Autumn of 1917 when the Bolsheviks seized power from Tsar Nicholas II, ending the 300 year monarchy of the Romanov family. Through a series of unanticipated events – seeming impossible and shockingly intertwined – the headstrong leftist Socialist revolutionaries took control of the Imperial government and captured the Winter Palace and became the world’s first socialist country. One hundred years later, we remember the Russian Revolution through the words of comrades, dissidents and descendants in a series of books found in our very own collection.

By the early 20th century another revolution had already swept across Europe, Asia and the United States. The industrial market was booming. Yet Imperial Russia found itself far behind in comparison to the surrounding, developing economies. In addition to newfound economic struggles, the country was becoming more difficult to govern as the population sprawled across 8.6 million square miles – nearly 1/6 of the earth’s landmass. Between the deadly winters and the barren soil, anyone outside the upper classes struggled to make a living and even struggled to live.

It was the contention between the different economic classes that became a fundamental component of Bolshevik strategy – aligning the proletariat with the peasantry to fight against the bourgeois leaders who controlled and exploited their working class citizens. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the founding fathers of the Russian revolution, organized and educated the masses, inspiring everyday people to stand up and fight for equality and human rights. During the year of revolt, an outline called “Programma” was printed in Odessa by the Social-Democratic Labour Party, detailing the social, political and economic issues at hand, and its method to finally reclaim the country for the people.


Progamma
Trudovaia (narodno-sotsialisticheskaia) Partiia
Odessa: 1917
JN6598 T8 A12

“All citizens of Russia, without distinction of sex, preoccupation and disposition, should be equal before the law. In this way – a man and a woman, a Russian, a Pole, an Armenian, a Tatar, an Orthodox Jew, a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Mohammedan, an old believer, a stuntman – all should get the same rights …”

Unfortunately not all of Russia’s citizens were given the same opportunity to participate with the increasingly fashionable revolutionaries. In fact, of the 170 million people who lived in the vast territory, 3/4 had been labeled ‘peasants’ and most among them could not read. While the participation of the peasantry was crucial to overthrowing the Tsarist rule, many of these rural villagers suffered greatly in the coming months and years as dramatic changes in urban governments left their communities incredibly destabilized. Once Bolshevik power had been gained, it became quickly noticeable that the Revolution, according to both Lenin and Trotsky, would benefit neither the bourgeoisie nor the peasants of Russia – the rewards of Revolution were given solely to the working classes, and even then, at quite the cost.

Amid the riots and marches that had become common since February and March of 1917, writers and artists were compiling their own narratives about what was going on in the streets. Some were critical of the violence and looting. Maxim Gorky and Marina Tsvetaeva were two such writers who depicted the chaos of the ‘wine riots’ where the cities cellars were taken over by citizens and Bolsheviks alike. The Bolsheviks saw an enemy among their drunk comrades and “replied with machine-guns pouring lead into the bottles… [destroying] three million rubles’ worth of vintage in the vaults of the winter palace.” Tsvetaeva, who changed allegiances over time, was concerned over the newfound ‘freedom’ and her poems often reflected musings about humanity, growing mobs and the unstable political state. In her poem, “To Tsar, on Easter” Tsvetaeva addresses Tsar Nicholas II and imagines the fall of the Russian Empire. Just three months after her poem was written, the Tsar was forced to abdicate the throne, leaving power in the hands of a provisional government.


Poezija Revolutsiooni Moskvy
Il’ia Erenburg (1891-1967)
Berlin: 1922
PG3505 M7 P64

To Tsar, on Easter
Open, Open,
The gates of the tsar!
Darkness dimmed and poured out far.
With clean heat
Burns the altar –
Resurrect, Christ,
Yesterday’s tsar!

Without glory fell
Two-headed eagle.
Tsar – you were wrong.

He’ll remember inheritance
Many more times –
Byzantine sacrilege
Of your clear eyes.

Your judges –
Lightning and wave!
Tsar! God sought
You, not men.

But now there’s Easter
In all the land,
Sleep in your village
With a calm mind,
Don’t dream of
The banners red.

Tsar! Descendants
And ancestors – sleep.
There is a knapsack since
A throne you won’t keep.
– April 1917 (Translated by Ilya Shambat)

Although power had been stripped from the Tsar, the revolution was far from over. It would not be until October that the Bolsheviks would officially seize power. Behind the front lines many writers and artists worked to help deliver the party’s propaganda. By 1917, Vladimir Mayakovsky, renowned Russian Futurist, had already been a major player of the socialist cause for ten years. Tied to the political left, the Futurists often contributed to underground journals and protests, but they had their own agenda: seeking to reject the symbolic and romantic ideas enforced by an imperial Russia. Rather than conform to the stringent structures of literature developed by their renowned predecessors, they proposed a return to the earth and the primeval spirit of the Russian language. In doing so, writers and artists collaborated to develop books of poetry written in a style they passionately declared as Zaum. In the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution, Mayakovsky wrote “Our March” – a reflection on the frenzy and madness that had been taking place. Mayakovsky’s and Tsvetaeva’s poems were both included in a small collection of Revolutionary poetry published in Berlin, 1922.

Our March
Let the squares ring to the tramp of revolt!
Lift your heads’ glorious mountain range higher!
We’ll cleanse all the cities around the world
With a flood even greater than Noah’s.

The days’ bull’s pied.
The years’ cart creaks.
Our god is speed.
Our heart’s drum beats.

Is our treasure, our gold not the loftiest thing?
Can we ever be stung by the wasp of a bullet?
Our weapon’s the songs that we sing.
Our voices are our gold bullion.

Lay yourself down, grass,
Cushion the days’ tread.
Rainbow, yoke the years’
Galloping steeds’ heads.

Look up! The skyful of stars is bored!
We weave our songs without the sky.
Hey, you there! Yes, you, Great Bear!
Demand we be taken to heaven alive.

Drink up the joy! Sing!
The veins’ spring’s sprung.
Heart! Fight! Ring!
Our breasts are the copper of kettledrums.
– December 1917 (Translated by James Womack)

With the Social-Democratic Labour Party officially in control, there was now the question of who among the party’s officials would take the role of leadership, Lenin or Trotsky. Leninism and Trotskyism became the two dominant perspectives of the socialist movement and, while similar in many ways, the debate between two caused major conflict within the party. Allegiances were made and votes were taken. Trotsky came before a Communist Party court, consisting of Lev Kamenev and Joseph Stalin, to defend his positions. In the end, Lenin would eventually take power in 1922, and Trotsky would be banished to exile yet again just five years later. During his ongoing split from the party, Trotsky’s commentary on the differences between ‘Leninism’ and ‘Trotskyism’ was published in Berlin, 1925. Written in two parts, Trotsky first details the fateful events of the October Revolution before giving his final response to the court. Ultimately, it was Stalin who arranged his assassination.


Trotskii pered sudom kommunisticheskoii partii: Uroki Oktiabria… Kamenev i Stalin. Leninizm ili trotskizm? Otvet Trotskomu
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
Berlin: 1925
DK265 T6 T73

Lenin had a different fate. While his reign over the country only lasted seven years, his influence over the people remained for much longer. He was the face of the Revolution, and subsequently, the face of freedom for many people. Unlike Stalin’s violent wrath, Lenin embodied a hope which, perhaps, is still sought-after to this day. Images of Lenin still remain throughout Russia and other Eastern European countries, and his revolutionary prowess even crossed the seas into countries such as Cuba. It could be argued that he has transcended the role of mere politician to a sort of religious icon. 100 years after the October Revolution, you can still visit his resting body, preserved in a massive mausoleum in Moscow – in a way, for the Russian people, he is ‘always alive.’ In a way, the Revolution is ongoing.


Vechno Zhivoi : fotoalʹbom
Egor Iakovlev. 1977
Moscow: 1977
DK254 L4 V43

Suggested Reading…

For the Voice
Vladimir Mayakovsky and El Lissitzky
PG3476 M3 D5713 2000

Inside the Rainbow : Russian children’s literature, 1920-35
Julian Rothenstein and Olga Budashevskaya
PG3190 I5 2013

1917 : Stories and Poems from the Russian Revolution
Boris Dralyuk
PG3213 A15 2016

Explodity: Sound, Image, and Word in Russian Futurist Book Art
Nancy Perloff
PG3065 F8 P47 2016

–Contributed by Lyuba Basin, Rare Books Assistant, known in these parts as “Golden Girl”

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Book of the Week — Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

20 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American Civil War, bankruptcy, cancer, Catholic, editor, Gertrude Stein, Jew, Julius Caesar, Mark Twain, memoirs, military, New York, peace, politics, President, Protestant, Samuel Clemens, stenographer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union, veterans, war, Webster

E672-G67-1885-v.1-portrait

“‘Let us have peace.’ The expressions of these kindly feelings were not restricted to a section of the country, nor to a division of the people. They came from individual citizens of all nationalieties; from all denominations — the Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jew; and from the various societies of the land — scientific, educational, religious, or otherwise. Politics did not enter into the matter at all.”

PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S. GRANT
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)
New York: C. L. Webster & Co., 1885-86
First edition
E672 G76 1885

An ineffectual, if not disastrous, president, ruined by bankruptcy after being defrauded of his estate, and dying of throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union hero of the American Civil War, agreed to publish his memoirs. He needed the money to try to secure an economically stable future for his family.

Samuel Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, served as his editor. In the last month of his life, Grant struggled to dictate his notes to a stenographer and managed to finish his memoirs shortly before his death. For Clemens, witnessing the tenacity of the dying man, Grant became, once more, a heroic figure.

The memoirs focused almost entirely on the old general’s actions during the war. Still considered among the greatest of military memoirs, the two volume set became an immediate bestseller, praised for its high literary qualities. Grant’s style was straightforward and compelling. Clemens compared the book to Julius Caesar’s Commentaries. Gertrude Stein admired the book and said that she could not think of Grant without weeping.

His Memoirs were a financial and critical success. Thousands of war veterans and their families made a ready market for the book. Grant’s family, who received seventy-five percent of the royalties, quickly re-established their fortune, receiving nearly a half million dollars from the book.

E672-G76-1885-v.2-Portrait

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DOC/UNDOC — Part 2/6, “A Mouth Full of Ink”

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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acotaciones, Ars Shamánica Performática, art, book, book art, bookmaking, books, Catholic, citizen, citizens, colmillo de coyote, colonial, colonized, commentary, country, culture, desert, Doc/Undoc, documentado, economy, Felicia Rice, Fluxus, Gesamtkunstwerk, Guillermo Gomez Peña, Hispanic/Latino, human rights, identities, identity, immigrants, ink, Isabel Dulfano, Jennifer González, laws, lucha libre, Luise Poulton, mask, media, monologues, Moving Parts Press, objects, obsidian, oils, Open Book, performance art, poem, poems, poetry, racist, rare books, reader, readers, reliquaries, Sam DeMonja, smells, sounds, Spanish, stereotypes, stethoscope, stones, sunglasses, symbol, tastes, undocumented, United States, videos, violence

During Fall Semester, 2015, University of Utah graduate students in SPAN6900-2 Analyzing Texts: Form and Content visited Rare Books. During the third and final session with Rare Books, the students were introduced to late 20th century/early 21st century fine press and artists’ books. The session ended with the premiere viewing of our copy of DOC/UNDOC Documentado/Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática, purchased in September. Student response was so strong that managing curator Luise Poulton, in her typical over-enthusiastic way, exclaimed, “You should post your thoughts on Open Book!” Prof. Isabel Dulfano, in her own enthusiastic way, immediately took up the suggestion and made this a new assignment, right then and there. Bless the beleaguered grad students! Rare Books is pleased to present these responses.

From Sam DeMonja

Doc/Undoc photo courtesy of Moving Parts Press

Doc/Undoc photo courtesy of Moving Parts Press

This is a brief analysis of DOC/UNDOC Documentado/Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática, published in 2014, by Moving Parts Press. Our class had the opportunity to explore a variety of printed works. Each book carried with it a unique style and background. Many of these books transcended the traditional concept of bookmaking to create works of art.

One such work of art our class viewed is DOC/UNDOC Documentado/Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática produced by Guillermo Gomez Peña, Jennifer González and Felicia Rice. At first glance, this piece is nothing more than an indiscriminate collection of bric-a-brac thrust into a secondhand gun safe and pronounced “book art” by its creators and curators. This work takes a sizable step away from the paradigmatic, Eurocentric style of bookmaking. This book has obvious roots in both the Fluxus and Gesamtkunstwerk artistic styles wherein books are made to be interactive, exploratory, and incorporate a variety of media (Backstory). All books are interactive, but this piece engages the reader, or participant, through audio, tactile, visual, and olfactory components. Gomez Peña states the piece’s “interactive dimension may be its main contribution to the field of experimental book art, or rather ‘performative book art’” (DOC/UNDOC).

20151201_154828

The reader, to whom I will refer as one who interacts with this “book” from here on, may push buttons and turn knobs to hear commentary on the various items contained therein. Upon pushing these buttons, the reader hears Gomez Peña’s voice providing supplemental musings regarding each object in the box. The box contains mirrors surrounded by lights, in front of which the reader is encouraged by, Gomez Peña’s recorded utterances, to try on various wearable items such a stethoscope, sunglasses, and makeup.

The “book” is accompanied by videos of Gomez Peña’s provocative performance art. The reader sees Gomez Peña pretend to wield a loaded gun, cut his tongue and ears with scissors, place a hot iron on his chest, and make unintelligible sounds with a mouth full of ink which, according to Gomez Peña, sent him to the hospital. The piece also contains printed material with poetry arranged in a fresh format. The reader must scrupulously follow each word in each poem, as the preceding and succeeding words may be arranged in unusual, wave-like, patterns. There are a total of 15 printed monologues that are lyrical in nature and even contain acotaciones, or stage directions, to ensure each is read according to Gomez Peña’s penchant for performance art.

It is one thing to simply describe this piece, and it is quite another endeavor to try to explain what the piece means. The full title, DOC/UNDOC Documentado/Undocumented Ars Shamánica Performática, urges the reader to think about what it means to be documentado in Spanish and what is meant by the term “undocumented” in the U.S. The word “undocumented,” as it is used in the U.S., is politically charged and portrayed as inherently negative. The term is a symbol of racist stereotypes that robs immigrants of their true identity as members of the human family and is synonymous with powerlessness and a lack of human rights. In Gomez Peña’s poem, “What I chose not to do tonight,” the author states “when you cross the border it is as if your identity splits into two and one is permanently questioning the other” (What I chose not to do tonight). The text suggests that upon immigrating, one always possess two identities, an insider and an outsider, as both a documented citizen of one country and an undocumented citizen of another.

The author uses the terms colonial and colonized in his poems to explore this dichotomy of documented and undocumented identities. In one poem entitled “Flagrantly stupid acts of transgression,” the author describes giving an audience member a knife and asking her to cut his abdomen with it. The poem reads “’here… my colonized body,’ I said… and she went for it, inflicting on me my 45th scar, right her on my soul” (Flagrantly stupid acts of transgression). This speaks to the idea of being colonized by a dominant culture. The author insinuates that the U.S. harms immigrants through laws and economic dominance to maintain a distinction between the documented and undocumented.

This poem, and the entire piece, illustrates how undocumented persons are thought of as nameless, faceless, subjects of a colonial economy whose purpose is to suffer the misfortunes of supplying cheap labor to an empirical nation and not participate in it fully as citizens. Gomez Peña states that suffering, such as the suffering demonstrated in the poem, of migrants who “move from their proper place without documents is a direct consequence of a failed global project, but their suffering appears inconsequential. The fact that men, women, and children risk their lives by crossing the desert to escape violence and to make a few dollars to send back home remains insignificant” (On immigration 1). The interactive contents of this piece help to bring significance to the professedly insignificant acts of immigrants.

The objects in the case serve to give prominence to the seemingly unimportant objects that represent aspects of Hispanic/Latino life that contribute to the identity of the undocumented. There are hot sauce packets, Catholic trinkets of Virgins, a lucha libre mask, a colmillo de coyote, oils, obsidian stones, and countless other objects. Each object must carry some personal meaning to one or more person involved in the creation of the piece. These objects may have significance to a wide audience of Hispanic/Latino readers. This could serve to illustrate the fact that there are many parts of one’s life that go undocumented (Commentary). There are elements of identity and worth that are not recorded in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department.

The packaging of this piece is important also. It’s significant that so much content, such as videos, printed poems, artwork, reliquaries, sounds, tastes, and smells, are concealed within a relatively nondescript box. The box is metallic, cold, and has sharp corners and edges. The only writing on the exterior is: “Documentado Undocumented.” A parallel could be drawn between this and the lives of undocumented persons in the U.S. Labels are powerful in that they mask one’s true identity. Superficially, all that government, or law enforcement agencies, can perceive when they view the Hispanic/Latino population is whether or not they are legal citizens. In actuality, within the cold, metallic container projected on them by stereotypes and sociocultural norms, there is much more to be discovered. Within the box, awaits a world of exploration, emotion, worth, and identity regardless of the label on the box. Guillermo Gomez Peña, Jennifer González and Felicia Rice have successfully pulled off the creation of an intimate medium of expressing these important themes of citizenship, identity, colonization, and cultural disparity through this piece.

“Backstory.” DOCUNDOC. 6 July 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2015 <http://docundoc.com/2014/07/02/what-i-chose/>.
“Doc/Undoc | Art | UC Santa Cruz.” Doc/Undoc | Art | UC Santa Cruz. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
“What I chose not to do tonight.” DOCUNDOC. 2 July 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://docundoc.com/2014/07/02/what-i-chose/>.
“On immigration 1.” DOCUNDOC. 2 July 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. http://docundoc.com/2004/02/22/on-immigration-1/>.
“Commentary.” DOCUNDOC. 2 July 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.http://docundoc.com/2014/06/06/commentary/>.

Coming soon: Response from Peter Tanner

alluNeedSingleLine

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Rare Books acquisition made possible with help from Latin American Studies

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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accordion, Aesop, Alabama, Alan Sundberg, Allesandro Zanella, American, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Anthony O'Hara, Antonio Frasconi, Argentina, Art Students League in New York City, ASU School of Art, avante-garde, Biennale, broadside, Buenos Aries, Caldecott Medal, California, Carlos Oquendo de Amat (1905-1936), Cartiere Enrico Magnani, Catholic, Center for Latin American Studies, Cesar Vallejo (1892-1938), Charles Baudelaire, children, Chile, Christmas, Claribel Alegria (b. 1924), Communist Party, Cottondale, Craig Jensen, Cuba, David M. Guss, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Visual Arts, Ernesto Cardenal (b. 1924), European, fables, Gabriel Mistral (1889-1957), Gabriel Rummonds, George Wieck, Glenway Wescott, Goudy modern, Guggenheim Fellowship, H. Berthold A.G., Henry Holt & Company, Idea Vilarino (1902-2009), Isla Vista, Italian, Italo Calvino, Italy, Japan, Japanese paper, Joaquin Pasos (1914-1977), John Risseeuw, Joseph Blumenthal, Juan Gelman (1930-2014), Juana de Ibarbourou (1892-1979), Kitty Hawk, La Editorial Minerva, Lake Titicaca, Latin American Studies, Lima, linoleum blocks, Marco Antonio Montes de Oca (1932-2009), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mexico, Mohawk, Montevideo, Museum of Modern Art, National Academy of Design, National Gallery of Art, New York City, New York Public Library, Nicanor Parra (b. 1914), Nicaragua, Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), Octavio Paz (1914-1998), Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), Panama, paste paper, Peru, Plain Wrapper Press, poetry, Post Mediaeval, postage stamps, printer, Puno, Purchase, Pyracantha Press, rare books, Republic of Uruguay, Robert Frost (1874-1963), Roberto Fernandez Retamar (b. 1930), Sanctuary, Sergio Pausig, Smithsonian, Sorbonne, Spain, Spiral Press, State University of New York, Tempe, The House That Jack Built, The University of Utah, Tom and Elfie Rummonds, Turkey Press, type, typeface, United States, Uruguay, Venice, Vicente Garcia Huidobro Fernandez (1893-1948), Walt Whitman, Washington handpress, William Weaver (1923-2013), woodcuts, World War I, World War II

Thanks to generous support from the Center for Latin American Studies, Rare Books has purchased a rare copy of a work by Argentinian artist Antonio Frasconi.

19-Poemas-Spread1 19-poemas-Spread2 19-Poemas

19 Poemas de Hispano America
Antonio Frasconi (1919-2013)
South Norwalk, CT: 1969
PQ7798.16 R374 D5 1969

Twenty-one full-page color woodcuts, each signed by the artist. Printed on Japanese paper. Poets include Juana de Ibarbourou (1892 – 1979, Uruguay), Cesar Vallejo (1892-1938, Peru), Vicente Garcia Huidobro Fernandez (1893-1948, Chile), Gabriel Mistral (1889-1957, Chile), Nicolas Guillen (1902-1989, Cuba), Pablo Neruda (1904-1973, Chile), Nicanor Parra (b. 1914, Chile), Joaquin Pasos (1914-1977, Nicaragua), Octavio Paz (1914-1998, Mexico), Idea Vilarino (1920-2009, Uruguay), Claribel Alegria (b. 1924, Nicaragua), Ernesto Cardenal (b. 1924, Nicaragua), Juan Gelman (1930-2014, Argentina), Roberto Fernandez Retamar (b. 1930, Cuba), Marco Antonio Montes de Oca (1932-2009, Mexico). Issued in orange cloth tray case made by George Wieck. Edition of fifteen signed copies. The University of Utah copy is no. 3.

Antonio Frasconi was born in Buenos Aries and grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay. His parents, of Italian descent, had moved from Italy to Argentina during World War I. At the age of twelve, he began apprenticing with a printer. Frasconi liked the idea of making multiples in order to offer art at reasonable prices. Frasconi moved to the United States from Argentina in 1945 at the end of World War II on a scholarship to study at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1952, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1959, he was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal, an honor awarded to the illustrator of the best American picture book for children. The House That Jack Built, was also written by Frasconi and remains a favorite today. He was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member and became a full Academician in 1969. In 1982, Frasconi was named Distinguished Teaching Professor of Visual Arts at the State University of New York at Purchase. Frasconi illustrated more than one hundred books. His woodcuts appeared on album and magazine covers, holiday cards, calendars, posters and a U.S. postage stamp. His work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian and private collections.

19 Poemas de Hispano America joins several other pieces illustrated by Frasconi in the rare book collections:

12 Fables of Aesop
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1954
PA3855 E5 W48

Linoleum blocks by Antonio Frasconi illustrate fables adapted by Glenway Wescott. The book was designed by Joseph Blumenthal and honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts as one of the year’s 50 best books. Edition of nine hundred and seventy-five signed copies. University of Utah copy is no. 724.



Kitty Hawk, 1894
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
New York: Spiral Press, 1956
PS3511 R94 K57 1956

Issued as holiday greetings from Henry Holt and Company, Christmas, 1956.

PS3511-R94-K57-1956-dustjacket


Kaleidoscope in Woodcuts
Antonio Frasconi
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968; Japan: Zokeisha Publications, Ltd., 1968
NE1112 F72 A4 1968

Printed to honor Antonio Frasconi by the Republic of Uruguay at the 34th Biennale in Venice. Color reproductions of woodcuts printed on a continuous strip of paper folded accordion style. Bound in grey cloth boards. Issued in black slipcase with printed paper label. University of Utah copy gift of Gabriel Rummonds.

NE1112-F72-A4-1968-spread


Overhead the Sun: Lines from Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969
First edition
PS3204 F65

Color woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. University of Utah copy signed by artist.

PS3204-F65-SunImage


¡Apoye santuario!
Tempe: ASU School of Art Pyracantha Press, 1985
HV645 F73 1985

Broadside designed and printed by Antonio Frasconi and John Risseeuw “in support of the churches that take part in the new underground railroad known as Sanctuary.” – from the colophon. University of Utah copy nol. 123, signed by the designers.

HV645-F73-1985


Prima che tu dica « Pronto »
Italo Calvino
Cottondale, AL: Plain Wrapper Press, 1985
PQ4809 A45 P713 1985

From Fantasies and Hard Knocks, Gabriel Rummonds, 2015: “…in October 1983 Antonio Frasconi invited me to give a talk to a group of art students at the State University of New York at Purchase. During that visit he inquired about the Calvino project and I reluctantly had to admit that I still had not published it – partly because I had been unable to find an artist who would work within my specified parameters. I related the problems I had had working with Alan Sundberg and Sergio Pausig. Antonio, who had always wanted to illustrate at least one PWP book, asked me to send the manuscript to him, saying he would like to give it another try. Knowing of his wonderful landscapes and not wanting to risk disappointment again, I gave up on the idea of having circular illustrations and suggested that he use the geographic locations mentioned in the story as themes for his illustrations. And that is exactly what he did with great success.”

PQ4809-A45-P7713-1985-LandscapeSpread

English translation by William Weaver (1923-2013). The aesthetic and technical challenge of binding this edition inspired Craig Jensen to pursue edition binding over an intended career in book conservation. It also marked the beginning of his work with master printer Gabriel Rummonds. Illustrated with four multi-colored woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. Printed on an 1847 Washington handpress by Gabriel Rummonds and Alessandro Zanella. Some pages printed on double leaves. Type is handset Post Mediaeval cast by H. Berthold A.G. Paper handmade at the Cartiere Enrico Magnani, printed damp. Tan quarter leather with paste paper sides by Antony O’Hara. Binding is a tight joint, in-boards style, incorporating a spine hollow and handsewn silk endbands. Housed in a cloth-covered, drop-spine box with the Plain Wrapper Press device set in a recess on front board. Edition of seventy-five numbered copies, signed by the poet and the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 4, printed for Tom and Elfie Rummonds.

PQ4809-A45-P713-1985-spread


Five Meters of Poems
Carlos Oquendo de Amat (1905-1936)
Isla Vista, CA: Turkey Press, 1986
First English edition
PQ8497 O5 C513 1986

Carlos Oquendo de Amat was born in Puno, Peru, but spent most of his childhood on the streets of Lima. Puno was a provincial capital on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Amat’s father was a Sorbonne-educated progressive newspaper publisher, a prominent member of Puno society and a vocal opponent of Peru’s conservative Catholic establishment. Upon the death of his father in 1918, Amat and his mother moved from genteel comfort in Pano to poverty in Lima, at a time when the city experienced growth and transformation in the form of new working and professional classes. Amat became a part of an extensive avant-garde poetry movement in Lima. Cinco metros de poemas is his only publication, written between 1923 and 1925, and printed in 1927, when Amat was 19. The original publication, produced in Lima by La Editorial Minerva, was printed on a single sheet of folded paper five meters long. The lines were composed in varying layouts throughout the sheet. The poem-object is reminiscent of earlier and contemporary European modernist movements that included poets such as Baudelaire and known to the literati in Lima. Amat joined the Communist Party, and spent the rest of his life in and out of jail for dissent. He contracted tuberculosis in prison. He was deported to Panama, from where he managed to get to Spain. He died there shortly after he arrived and just before the Spanish civil war. Translation of Cinco metros de poemas by David M. Guss, with an introduction by Guss. Illustrated with woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. Formed as one folded sheet, five meters long. Typeface is Goudy modern. Paper is Mohawk. Edition of three hundred copies.

PQ8497-O6-C513-1986

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