Surroundings: Engravings in Wood

St. Paul, [Minnesota]: The Wood Engravers Network [printed at Piano Press], 2006. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. No. 36 of 110 copies, oblong quarto, 22 leaves (printed on rectos only). Wood engravings (as opposed to wood carvings) are produced by practicing "the exacting art of hand engraving in endgrain hardwood" (n.b., quote from the Colophon).

This book a collection of seventeen stunning wood engravings by various artists, each printed and signed below the plate by the artist. Gale Mueller (who signed the essay page "In the Beginning...") invited the artists "to submit an edition of engravings on the title theme of 'surroundings, ' and the variety of responses shows the versatility of wood engraving as a medium" (ibid). The theme of "Surroundings" is explained by Mueller in the essay which focuses on the glacial history and forces which created the beauty seen in nature, which now "provide a tapestry of tranquility for the creative processes..."

The artists included are: Carl Montford, Sylvia Pixley, Jim Horton, Dale Kennedy, Lezle Williams, Earl Nitschke, Michael McGarvey, Abigail Rorer, Judith Jaidinger, James Todd, Richard Wagener, Carol Inderieden, William Andrew Myers, Andy English, Mary Thompson, Richard Franklin, and Gale Mueller.

Scarce in the marketplace; as of this writing we see no copies online, and our search of OCLC locates two copies only with institutions.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter leather over tan linen boards, paper label mounted into an debossed area on the front board, marbled paper endpapers, title page in brown over a yellow printed rectangle, Introduction also in brown with an initial capital over a yellow rectangle, the seventeen wood engravings follow each printed on the rectos only, all signed by the artist in pencil below the plate and several also titled in pencil, one with a few areas of hand-colouring; hand-set text in Goudy and Goudy Oldstyle with Castellar capitals, printed on a Vandercook proofing press, all engravings printed directly from the blocks, oblong quarto (10.75" wide by 7.5" high), unpaginated with five leaves of text, sixteen leaves with engravings, and one leaf with both text and an engraving, both text and illustrations only on rectos.

___CONDITION: Fine, the boards clean and without wear or soil to either the linen or the paper onlay, the leather spine smooth and supple, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new.

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