The Third & Elm Press ~ Rhode Island
(Ilse Nesbitt)

Captured Views
Impressions of ten gardens
Poems by Kristina Baer
Woodcuts by Ilse Buchert Nesbitt
Newport, Rhode Island: The Third & Elm Press, 2006. Edition of 100.

9.5 x 12"; 32 pages. Printed on Rives paper in Monotype Bembo. Woodcuts printed from the block. Printed on a 19th-century Golding platen press. Handbound with a softcover Japanese paper. Laid in a printed wrapper.

Prospectus: "... comprises 10 original poems by Kristina Baer and 16 woodcuts in several colors by Ilse Buchert Nesbitt. Complementary yet independent, the woodcuts and poems evoke how each garden looks and feels, the memories or dreams it stirs, the associations it calls to mind. For garden lovers and collectors of fine printing, Captured Views offers a heartfelt appreciation of a garden's most precious gift - the essence of life itself, ebbing, flowing, in perpetual transition."

A dream of Eden (Garden of Eden)
For comfort, for love (Hanging gardens of Babylon)
Morning mist, weeping cherry (Japanese garden)
Be praised (Cloister garden)
Pan in the afternoon (Formal garden)
Stourhead in view (English park)
Earthly delight (Kitchen garden)
Border passages: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall (Herbaceous border)
Urban renewal (Community garden)
Storm’s end (Window box with mantis)

$350

Rising and Ebbing Life
By Ilse Nesbitt
Newport, Rhode Island: The Third & Elm Press, 2001. Edition of 100.

13 x 10.5" (33 cm x 27 cm); 32 pages. Text set in Monotype Bembo. Printed on Rives paper on an 1897 Golding platen letterpress. Handbound with a linen spine and paper covered boards. Laid in an envelope style paper folder. Woodcuts and translations by Ilse Buchert Nesbitt.

The Third & Elm Press: "12 profound, thoughtful, passionate, and heartfelt German poems compiled by the artist. With hand-carved texts and illustrations….The original German poem and illustration are cut in the same maple block and printed in several colors in a unique process developed by the artist.

"Each double spread comprises a text and its illustration. The artist’s English translation is ... on the left page, facing the German text on the right...."

Twelve German poems from Rising and Ebbing Life

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe        Born to See
Stefan                                              Song
Georg Heym                                   All the Landscapes Have
Ina Seidel                                        Solace
Theodor Storm                               July
Joseph von Eichendorff                  The Evening
Josef Weinheber                             In the Grass
Friedrich Hebbel                            Nightsong
Friedrich Holderlin                        Half of Life
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer              Abundance
Peter Huchel                                   Late Time
Georg Trakl                                   A Winter Evening

$480

The Best Tailor in the World
By Ilse Nesbitt
Newport, Rhode Island: The Third & Elm Press, 1983. Edition of 100.

10 x 13"; 24 pages. Printed on Rives heavyweight paper. One double-spread page per story. Printed with black ink specially made by the artist. Housed in a printed wrapper of colored cover stock.

Prospectus: "The nine stories in The Best Tailor in the World are folktales. They have their sources in eight different countries: China, Esthonia, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Northeast Africa; and one is a Chassidic tale.

"It was the intention of the artist to present them in a format that would be visually enjoyable and, at the same time, readable. So this book resembles the block books of the early history of printing: the text and illustrations have been cut on the same block.

"The tales were selected from a large and varied collection that was made over many years: some are childhood memories, one is recalled from a high-school French test, and others come to the fore in trying to complete the choice for the book. Each story covers a double spread, printed on one side of the sheet only. The double spreads are hinged together to make a unique binding enclosed in a covering wrapper."

Nine folktales:

German: Mayer Hoppe
Esthonia: Good Luck and Bad Luck
Japanese: The Two Frogs
Chassidic: The Treasure
Persian: Death also comes to Isfahan
French: The Three Tailors
Chinese: Who is the Delinquent?
Irish: The Planet
Northeast African: The Hare

$220