CURVATURES: or fat women

London: Susan Allix, 2015. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Printed on Somerset mould made paper in an edition of 20 (this is number 3), the book measures 20 x 24.5 cm and has 45 pages. Contained in a cloth and paper envelope. Signed by Allix on the colophon. The book is letterpress in two fat face types. The principal typeface is 36pt Braggadocio which was designed in 1930 by W.A.Woolley for the Stephenson Blake type foundry. Some of the letterforms are startling in their weight, brevity, and the use of curve against straight. It is combined with Bodoni Ultra Bold, released in 1928 and designed by Morris Fuller Benton.

"This book takes a wry (truncated) look at seven ladies who are not of the slenderest proportions, accompanied by short quotations by George Eliot, Edith Wharton, and Marilyn Monroe. It also features a moment in the life of Miss Van Eyck where every letter of the alphabet in the typeface celebrated here may be seen. There is little that is straight in the chosen ladies - chosen because drawing a large woman is so much more interesting than drawing a thin one (or indeed, a large man)." - artist statement.

The seven prints are made in various ways, which include etching, drypoint, aquatint, chine colle, digital, and lino cut. One title is from a drawing and five pages have collage with the letterpress.

Born in England in 1943, Allix studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s. She won a Prix de Rome and created her first hand-crafted book in 1973. Her works are held in the collections of The British Library, Yale University, the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), the Claremont Colleges, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Alberta, as well as other fine public and private collections. OCLC locates seven copies of this title held in special collections, with none in commerce. (Inventory #: 75670)