The Reed. Translated by Zahra Partovi. Etchings by Susan Weil

New York: Vincent FitzGerald & Company, 1989. One of 50 copies only on handmade J.B. Green paper, each copy signed by the artist and translator. Illustrated by Susan Weil with 18 original hand-colored line etchings, mirrored on verso in colored mezzotints by Shigemitsu Tsukaguchi. The text was hand printed by Dan Keleher at Wild Carrot Letterpress in Diotima type by Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse with calligraphy by Jerry Kelly and Zahra Partovi. Page size: 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, 24.5 x 16.4 cm. Bound: gray Dieu-Donne handmade paper over boards in Japanese style binding, title in silver gilt on lighter gray paper label bordered in green paper on front cover. Housed in matching gray Dieu-Donne paper folding box with ebony and silk ribbon closure.
This poem of the thirteenth century Persian poet is translated into English by Zahra Partovi. The original Persian text is also printed (offset from Ms. Partovi's calligraphy). The book reads front to back in English and back to front in Persian in an accordion-style binding. The English text is printed in slate gray over the delicate grey-green lines of the etch on gray paper. The Persian text with its calligraphy is printed on the gray paper. Ms. Weil's illustrations are of reeds with one or two stalks per page. The top quarter of each page is cut away leaving only the tops of the reeds on each page forming a three-dimensional bouquet -- no matter what page or language the book is opened to! Classic in its simplicity, yet elegant in conception and execution, this is one of the most subtle books from the best publisher of livre d'artiste working today -Vincent FitzGerald. Featured in the exhibition "Jewels in her Crown - Treasures from Columbia University Libraries Special Collections.