Feb 192017
 

We are starting what we hope/intend will be a regular element of the blog: images and/or video profiling various specific artists books. We debut with Jun Suzuki‘s metal meta masterpiece, In the Beginning. Part of Kaldewey Press’ artist book series (this being Kaldewey 7), it is an elegantly simple piece of work, concealing subtle complexity.

The limited edition of thirty-five is comprised of hinged metal sheets (oxidized) with red ink Japanese characters and the English equivalent in cut-out letters…and one letterpress printed leaf tipped in. It is housed in a slipcase designed ‘spine up’, so that the leave hang free.

The book illustrates the process of the creation of language. The last page includes the first sentence of the earliest known work of Japanese literature. The work is found in a handful of special collections and we have not found another copy in the market in at least a decade.

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