BLACK IRISH BLUES

Waldron Island, Washington: Brooding Heron Press, 2000. COPY B OF 26 LETTERED COPIES on Rives Lightweight paper (and 274 on Mohawk Superfine). 242 x 160 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 1/4"). [17] leaves.
Publisher's blue and black cloth, front cover titled in black, spine with a paper label. Illustrations on frontispiece and colophon by Julie Loyd. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the title; signed by the printer, binder, and illustrator on the limitation page. With a publication notice from Brooding Heron Press laid in. A very fine copy of the deluxe edition.

This is a lovely small press edition of Joe-Anne McLaughlin's rich, thoughtful verses. McLaughlin (1950-2023) was a poet and professor, and the winner of Poetry magazine's Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize. In Black Irish Blues, her third poetry collection, she writes about love, death, and the richness of the everyday. This volume was produced by the Brooding Heron Press, which is operated by husband-and-wife team Sally and Sam Green, who are the press' printer and binder, respectively. They are known for printing small editions of the works of major poets. Our copy is from the library of Laure-Anne Bosselaar (b. 1943) and her husband Kurt Brown (1944-2013). Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, and editor who has published numerous works of poetry in multiple languages, including five collections of her own works. She has received various prizes and recognitions (Pushcart, Isabella Gardner, Breadloaf) and was named Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara in 2019. Sometimes publishing jointly with Bosselaar, Brown was also a prolific poet and editor of anthologies, as well as the founder and first director of the Aspen Writer's Conference, playing a pivotal role in shaping its early vision and establishing Aspen as a literary center..