Gypsy & Other Poems

One of fifty special copies out of a total edition of 325, all numbered and signed by the illustrator, Leonard Baskin. With six portrait etchings of Baldwin on various papers, each signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, and an etching of a pomegranate printed in red. From the colophon: "Three hundred & twenty-five copies of 'Gypsy & Other Poems' were printed by The Gehenna Press during the Spring of 1989. The poems are copyrighted by David Baldwin. The special casting of Centaur was made by Harold Berliner's Typefoundry at Nevada City, Calif. The presswork was achieved at Wild Carrot letterpress of Hadley, Mass. The etchings have been printed from the copperplates. The edition is arranged as follows: copies numbered 1-50 have a portfolio of etched portraits, signed & numbered by the artist and are specially bound; copies 51-325 have a signed & numbered etched portrait. Six special copies, 'hors d'edition', lettered a-f, contain an original copper & a drawing. This is copy number 10." The use of the term "portfolio" is a reference to the section of six etchings entitled "Portraits of James Baldwin by Leonard Baskin," not a reference to a separate portfolio.

Regarding this work, Baskin noted "Departing from its new preciosity, the press issued 'Gypsy', a book of unpublished poems by James Baldwin, a recent friend, who had been moved by the Othello woodcuts. The book that we discussed doing turned, alas, into a volume memorializing Baldwin. He died unexpectedly and prematurely. I etched six portraits of Baldwin from early manhood to the visage of his last years."

REFERENCES: The Gehenna Press, the Work of Fifty Years, #93.