signed Hardcover
2022 · n.p.
by Skaar, Anneli (Book Artist, Author of Introduction); Betsy Tyler (Afterword)
n.p.: Two Ponds Press, 2022. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Skaar, Anneli. One of 25 copies, folio size, [36] pp., with the box and three associated art pieces, with facsimile Oil Share, signed by [Anneli] Skarr. Book artist Anneli Skaar (b. 1969), born in America, earned her B.A. at the National Academy of the Arts (Statens HĂ„ndverks-og Kunstindustriskole) in Oslo.
This work, "The Island Whale", is her second artist book to be published by the Two Ponds Press. The text volume contains nine stories written by various individuals, or found within old texts, each relating a story about a whale being mistaken for an island, some of whom had built "fires upon their backs before [the sailors] are pulled down into the depths"...."[i]n these stories the whales, inevitably sinking beneath the sea, become a metaphor for the potential disaster for humans exploiting the natural world (n.b., quotes from the web site of Anneli Skaar).
Skaar's message is to raise our awareness of "the connection of extraction of natural resources to the land sinking below our feet" (ibid). Lavishly illustrated, "[a]ll of the illustrations...drawn with a pen nib using AirInk, an artists' ink extracted from air pollution, and were then hand-colored with watercolor" (n.b., from the web site of Two Ponds Press).
As the ocean is the setting for these tales, Skaar designed her book after the manner of an old sailing log, this contained within a box much like a mariner's sea chest. This chest contains not only the "logbook" but three "artifacts" with ties to the stories: an etched sperm whale's tooth cast in plastic, a red paper rose, and a paper feather quill (pen), all created by the artist.
The included stories (or sections thereof), and their authors/sources, are: "Physiologus" (Second Century Alexandria); "Babylonian Talmud" (Rabbah Bar Bar Hana, Third Century Mesopotamia); "Alexander Romance" (Fourth Century Greece"; "Fastitocalon" (From the Codex Exoniensis, Tenth Century England); "Navigatio Sancti Brendani" (Thirteenth Century Ireland); "Saga of Orvar-Odd" (Thirteenth Century Iceland); "The Island Whale" (Olaus Magnus, Sixteenth Century Sweden); "Sinbad the Sailor" (From the Arabian Nights, Seventeenth Century Persia); and "Paradise Lost" (John Milton, Seventeenth Century England).
Not surprising with an edition this smalll, as of this writing we see no other copies online.
___DESCRIPTION: The "log" (text volume) bound in quarter red leather over marbled paper boards, gilt lettering and rules on the spine, white paper label mounted onto the front board with black lettering and a small vignette of a whale superimposed with the date "2022", bright red endpapers, the same which separate the introduction, the nine stories, and the afterword, all text pages french-fold, illustrated in black with red highlights; concept, design, hand-drawn illustrations, and artifacts by Anneli Skaar, letterpress by Art Larson at Horton Tank Graphics on Rives BFK paper, the typefaces created from historical documents by Brian Willson at Three Islands Press (the typeface "Schooner "drawn from the handwriting of a Boston pastor from the 19th century, in a letter asking for alms for families who had men lost at sea; the title type "Geographica Hand" created from the handwritten titling of a 18th century British mapmaker), the marbled paper by Iris Nevins, the edition bound and boxed by Amy Borezo at Shelter Bookworks, folio size (12 1/8" by 8 5/8"), [36] pp., published in an edition of twenty-five copies, this no. 11, signed by Skarr at the colophon; loosely laid in is a small facsimile of an "Oil Shares Incorporated". Contained within a "ship's case" covered in grey cloth, gilt lettering on one side and the front, with two separate compartments, one holding the log book and the other the three artifacts.
___CONDITION: Text volume (the "log") is fine, the leather shelfback smooth and supple, the gilt lettering and rules bright and unrubbed, the boards clean with the marbled paper unrubbed, perfectly straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new. The three artifacts and Oil Share also fine, all clean and without wear. The ship's case near fine, strong and sturdy, with a few spots of soil and two stray marks.
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.
___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help. (Inventory #: PTMKYB006)
This work, "The Island Whale", is her second artist book to be published by the Two Ponds Press. The text volume contains nine stories written by various individuals, or found within old texts, each relating a story about a whale being mistaken for an island, some of whom had built "fires upon their backs before [the sailors] are pulled down into the depths"...."[i]n these stories the whales, inevitably sinking beneath the sea, become a metaphor for the potential disaster for humans exploiting the natural world (n.b., quotes from the web site of Anneli Skaar).
Skaar's message is to raise our awareness of "the connection of extraction of natural resources to the land sinking below our feet" (ibid). Lavishly illustrated, "[a]ll of the illustrations...drawn with a pen nib using AirInk, an artists' ink extracted from air pollution, and were then hand-colored with watercolor" (n.b., from the web site of Two Ponds Press).
As the ocean is the setting for these tales, Skaar designed her book after the manner of an old sailing log, this contained within a box much like a mariner's sea chest. This chest contains not only the "logbook" but three "artifacts" with ties to the stories: an etched sperm whale's tooth cast in plastic, a red paper rose, and a paper feather quill (pen), all created by the artist.
The included stories (or sections thereof), and their authors/sources, are: "Physiologus" (Second Century Alexandria); "Babylonian Talmud" (Rabbah Bar Bar Hana, Third Century Mesopotamia); "Alexander Romance" (Fourth Century Greece"; "Fastitocalon" (From the Codex Exoniensis, Tenth Century England); "Navigatio Sancti Brendani" (Thirteenth Century Ireland); "Saga of Orvar-Odd" (Thirteenth Century Iceland); "The Island Whale" (Olaus Magnus, Sixteenth Century Sweden); "Sinbad the Sailor" (From the Arabian Nights, Seventeenth Century Persia); and "Paradise Lost" (John Milton, Seventeenth Century England).
Not surprising with an edition this smalll, as of this writing we see no other copies online.
___DESCRIPTION: The "log" (text volume) bound in quarter red leather over marbled paper boards, gilt lettering and rules on the spine, white paper label mounted onto the front board with black lettering and a small vignette of a whale superimposed with the date "2022", bright red endpapers, the same which separate the introduction, the nine stories, and the afterword, all text pages french-fold, illustrated in black with red highlights; concept, design, hand-drawn illustrations, and artifacts by Anneli Skaar, letterpress by Art Larson at Horton Tank Graphics on Rives BFK paper, the typefaces created from historical documents by Brian Willson at Three Islands Press (the typeface "Schooner "drawn from the handwriting of a Boston pastor from the 19th century, in a letter asking for alms for families who had men lost at sea; the title type "Geographica Hand" created from the handwritten titling of a 18th century British mapmaker), the marbled paper by Iris Nevins, the edition bound and boxed by Amy Borezo at Shelter Bookworks, folio size (12 1/8" by 8 5/8"), [36] pp., published in an edition of twenty-five copies, this no. 11, signed by Skarr at the colophon; loosely laid in is a small facsimile of an "Oil Shares Incorporated". Contained within a "ship's case" covered in grey cloth, gilt lettering on one side and the front, with two separate compartments, one holding the log book and the other the three artifacts.
___CONDITION: Text volume (the "log") is fine, the leather shelfback smooth and supple, the gilt lettering and rules bright and unrubbed, the boards clean with the marbled paper unrubbed, perfectly straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new. The three artifacts and Oil Share also fine, all clean and without wear. The ship's case near fine, strong and sturdy, with a few spots of soil and two stray marks.
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.
___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help. (Inventory #: PTMKYB006)