1990 · [Columbus]
by Citino, David
[Columbus]: Logan Elm Press at the Ohio State University, 1990. Edition limited to 130 copies, 4to, pp. [38]; 29 multi-color monoprints in the margins, 22 hand-brushed initial letters, bound in handmade raw flax paper covers with visible sewing structure through brown goatskin spine, title embossed in blind on upper cover, brown pastepaper-covered wooden slipcase, the whole designed by Robert Tauber. A magical and wondrous volume, beautifully produced, being a poetic adaptation of Columbus' letter to Ferdinand and Isabella as he was returning to Spain from his first voyage to the New World. Rarely do text and illustration harmonize so. A "tour de force .. On every page of this richly textured paper, handmade appropriately from Spanish flax, there is at least one colored picture: only the half-title and colophon leaf are not illustrated. Dolphins, sharks, turtles, hares, dogs and doves, torsos and trees, and mitred bishops in brilliant profusion fill margins, corners, and half-pages. Crimson and magenta, emerald green and cerulean, lemon yellow and blazing orange, tints of blues and greens and earth colors dazzle the viewer" (review in Fine Print, summer, 1990).
(Inventory #: 50636)