Fulcrum Press ~ Florida

Sonnets to Orpheus
By Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Patricia Holburd
2001. Edition of 25.

6 x 14.5 inches; 24 pages. Letterpress printed by Maureen Cummins from Monotype Bembo Semibold on Hiromi Shiramine paper. Handprinted collograph images of the underworld by Heidenheimer. Accordion spreads are secured to front and tabbed to back cover for extended display. Dark blue cloth over boards with matching slipcase. Signed.

Heidenheimer to whom "the sound and flow of the poems in spoken English were no less important than the fidelity to the sense of the original German." This selection of fifteen Sonnets, as well as Rilke's narrative poem, "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes," is an intriguing and illuminating pairing. The Sonnets, addressed to the great poet, bereft husband, and "inhabitant of the dual kingdoms of life and death," float like clouds in grey ink at the top of each page. Printed below, in the dark, wine-colored underworld where Eurydice is " already root" even as Orpheus attempts to lead her back to life, is the companion narrative. Evident in the juxtaposition is Heidenheimer's — and of course Rilke's–recognition of the interconnectedness of grief and praise. This is perhaps best expressed in Rilke's own verse tribute to the singing god: "One ordained to praise, / he came forth like ore from the silence / of stone . . . / No dust can stifle his song.”
$800

The Hollow Men
By T. S. Eliot
Illustrated by Patricia Holburd Heidenheimer
2000. Edition of 25.

8.25 x 10.5” accordion fold structure. Collographs were printed by Heidenheimer and the text, Gill Sans Medium, was letterpress printed by Maureen Cummins on Arches Cover White. Accordion book is adhered to inside front cover and tabbed into back. Black cloth over boards with printed front cover is housed in a matching slipcase.

First published in 1925, Eliot's poem eerily foreshadows the genocide, war and spiritual emptiness of the twentieth century. This edition, conceived by Heidenheimer as an epitaph for the last century, is comprised of the handprinted poem and eleven black, grey, and white-on-black collographs. The images are suggestive—haunting yet playful, ominous yet hopeful. Except for a single spread printed on black paper, images always fall to the recto. Since the book is accordion bound, and can be opened fully out, this placement creates an interesting sequence. Unprinted pages create islands of space between text and image (when read unfolded as a visual line rather than within the codex format) and supply visual caesuras, pauses that invite a slower consideration.
$650