Janus Press ~Vermont

Batterers
By Denise Levertov. Powerful poem of concern for the earth written as about a battered woman. Clay paperwork, made by Kathryn Vigesaa and set into a wooden tray, forms the base of this sculptural book. The "pages" of Twinrocker paper, printed with an image by Claire Van Vliet, unfold into a fiery landscape. Text is printed on tabs at the bottom. Powerful and evocative. Slipcase. Three years in the making. Edition of 100.
$750

Beauty in Use
Sandra McPherson. Poems inspired by the writer's collection of African-American quilts. Illustrated by Claire Van Vliet with interlocking pages to form two-sided quilt squares. Janus has been collecting and creating the papers for this edition for five years. Counting the front and back covers, there are twenty squares made from brightly colored and variously patterned papers--including paste papers, floral and other elaborate designs, Japanese and handmade papers. The unique structure, created for the edition, allows for two intricate weavings per sheet, one to each side. The lines of the last poem, "Quilt of Rights," perhaps speak best for the diversity in the squares. "Once, every quilter knew she had a right / to color and shape . . ." Nonadhesive concertina. Housed in a box covered in bold-patterned cloths. Some early copies include a bag full of paper scraps much like the cuttings on a quilter's floor. A delightful addition to Janus' exceptional quilt books. Edition of 150 signed by the poet and book makers.
$450

Bone Songs
Poems written by Clifford Burke in response to line drawings by Ruth Fine. In 1990, Fine sent her drawings of animal skulls to Burke and asked him to write poems to go with them. Text and image transport us into the realm of spirit and nature, reminded of Native American lore as we would be by bleached skulls in a dry desert--a liminal world of spirit and earth. The construction and presentation of this book are exceptional. Each deckled sheet was printed whole with two drawings and two blocks of text, then folded in four and bound together with paper strips for alternating spreads of text and image. The paper stripping forms a spine at the center of the illustrated pairs of pages. The two word titles of the poems--"Fire Song," "Wind Song," "Root Song"--straddle the fold, printed in a tiny point size and repeated in vertical columns, an echo that anchors the page without overwhelming it. Thus, the book opens like a series of spread wings. Letterpress in a delicate, capitalized san serif font that reflects the quality of the line drawings. Printed on thick, handmade paper the color of sun-bleached bones. Housed in a two-sided slipcase made of folded paper and folded skin the texture of a drum. Completely non-adhesive. Signed edition of 150. (8 x 10.25 inches cased; 40 pp.) 1992.
$500

Compound Frame
Seven poems by Emily Dickinson. Woodcuts by Susan Johanknecht and book structure by Elizabeth Steiner. A truly collaborative effort on the part of the artists in rendering Dickinson's poems on the printed page. The physical and emotional qualities of Miss Dickinson's poems are given ample space by each artist's careful sense of placement. The poems are complemented by the woodcuts and linocuts which accompany the text. Handset text in Berthold Walbaum. Wood and linoleum cuts printed on Kozo Natural paper. Endsheets of Rowland vinyl; cover constructed from needlepoint mat and bound in a backstitch.Unusual. A modern version of Miss Dickinson's own handmade books. Slipcase. Edition of 100.
$200

Narcissus
Text by W. R. Johnson. This is one of Claire Van Vliet's beautiful, linked, unfolding books. It is a cascade of colored squares, bound at the top to form a ripple of increasingly larger equilateral diamonds--lavender, green, blues, mauves--cool calming hues like the still waters into which Narcissus peers. A brief poem introduces us to the contemplation of the book--"They see or think they see a stripling crazed / By his own loveliness, / but in this flawless glass . . . I ponder the wide sky/ I seek the secrets of its endless calm . . ." It can be "read" by turning page to page. Or let it fall from above, like water, to be viewed and displayed from either side. One side has diamonds of laserprinted clouds and trees and a mirrored square that place us in the sylvan environ of the story. Letterpress printed text. Accordion binding with holes to allow for wall hanging. The sumptuous handmade papers are from MacGregor-Vinzani in Maine. Housed in a box built of wood with a diamond-shaped tray for the book and lavender paper covers that recall a Monet painting. Slipcased as well. The thoughtful construction and text of this book invites deepening layers of contemplation. Edition of 120. 1990. Gorgeous.
$450

Praise Basted In: A Friendship Quilt for Aunt Sallie
By Margaret Kaufman. For lovers of Aunt Sallie's Lament, here is a sequel (of sorts). "Each of us made a quilt square for your 95th birthday," writes Sallie's sister Maude, "but we've waited on the quilting so you could join us at the frame." Like its predecessor, Praise Basted In unfolds so that each quilt square reveals a bit of the previous one as you turn the pages. Each spread features the patterned square, a section of the poem, and a handwritten note from one of Aunt Sallie's quilting cronies. Colorful, detailed, and exquisite, the pages are sewn into a quilted cover and housed in a box covered in Waverly fabric. A small bouquet of silk flowers is set into the inside cover of the box. Edition of 100.
$800
(The original of Aunt Sallie's Lament is out of print, but we do sell the Trade Edition. See Chronicle Books under Offset Artists' Books.)

Summer Day/Winter Night
Linoleum block prints by Ruth Fine. A wordless excursion of color and shape. What narrative you find here will be of your making as you explore a wooded, park-like landscape at different seasons and times of day. The prints are a profusion of overlapped hue and loosely defined cuts that nevertheless evoke a familiar landscape. The Summer scene is printed in green, yellow, blue and rust, with numerous dramatic variations from overprinting these base colors. Winter, with more white space left to suggest snow, is only two colors--dark blue and rust deepen into darker blue and brown, again through overprinting. The Japanese paper sheets have been printed on both sides and folded lengthwise with the feathery deckle to the top like a soft sky. A gold border anchors the bottom of the page. Enclosed in a brown handmade paper wrapper, the book block is adhered at the front only. Housed in a gold paper covered slipcase. Edition of 150. (7.25 x 4 opens to 64 inches.)1994.
$200

Tumbling Blocks
You must unfold your way through the variously colored and textured letterforms of this unusual alphabet book. The bright colors and bold prints, coupled with the structural insistence that you engage the work at a physical and tactile level, invite a childlike fascination. Double-edged concertina. Multiple papers. Housed in a folded-paper box the size of a child's toy block. Edition of 200.
$150