Kippers & Sawdust

Llandogo, near Monmouth, Gwent, United Kingdom: Old Stile Press, 1992. First Edition. Hardcover. As New. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Signed by Author. A sterling condition hardcover copy, with unbruised tips, tight binding, and clean internals, showing only very slight shelf- and edge-wear; not ex-library, with neither underlining nor highlighting anywhere. The publisher has featured linen-covered boards with a fine line drawing by the artist and set that into a recessed panel on the upper portion of the cover. The spine features gilt titling. The front endpapers by Graham have been printed in four to six colors each, showing a double-page woodcut of Volklingen, Saarstahl, Germany. The rear endpapers show a double-page color woodcut, too, but featuring Skinners Bottom, Mawla, Cornwall. Gift-quality condition inside and out. Housed in an also nearly As New condition slip-case, single and elegant. Kippers & Sawdust is a stunning work by the master printmaker Rigby Graham, featuring four double-page color woodcuts, with five full-page woodcuts, and another almost three dozen line-drawings.Near double folio in size, published in 1992 by Old Stile Press, 58 pp.From the colophon: "The printing of Kippers & Sawdust was completed in July, 1992, by Nicolas McDowell at The Old Stile Press, Catchmays Court, Llandago, near Monmouth, Gwent NP 3 4 TN, Great Britain. The colour woodcuts (involving between three and six printings each) were printed by Nicolas McDowell from the 44 woodblocks cut by the artist. The pen and ink drawings were printed from line blocks made at The Old Stile Press and the Baskerville type was set by Bill Hughes in Upton-upon-Severn. The text paper is Lana Royal Crown. The books were bound at The Fine Bindery, Wellingborough and the images involved in the binding are by the artist. Images and text c Rigby Graham 1992. This edition is limited to 150 copies each numbered and signed by the artist." This is No. 92 of those 150.Rigby Graham (1931-2015) was a landscape and topographical artist, a celebrated book illustrator and a fine muralist, too and who was deemed to have followed the British Romantic tradition. Interestingly, the publisher notes that the textual portions of this amazing work was conceptualized while Graham was being treated for cancer. He says that he "retreated into recollections of the past to escape the sterile detention of the infirmary; the overall structure of the book is built around that method of circumvention during a time of calamity." As Graham shares in his introduction: "Cuts would be the answer. Woodcuts. I had always like the stiff angularity of woodcuts. The wood was not only unyielding, it bit back with a ferocity more readily associated with a rabid dog. Perhaps it is because of our civilised pattern of living that we tend unthinkingly to look on many natural things as attractive and somehow imply, or suggest, 'gentle'. We imbue them at times with qualities they do not actually possess."Baskerville type, Lana Royal Crown paper, elephant folio size (15 1/8" by 11 3/8"), [1-5] 6-57 [1 colophon] pp.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.