Ginger: Spiceography series

Tacoma, Washington:: Springtide Press,, 2002.. Edition of 15. 15.125 x 20", single sheet broadside. Printed letterpress in Escrita on handmade paper. Jessica Spring: "Ginger was brought by Arabs to the Greeks and Romans, who believed it grew in the land of the Troglodytes - people who lived on the edge of the earth. Marco Polo recorded cultivated ginger throughout China. The Portuguese grew ginger in West Africa and fed it to men in slave gangs, hoping the aphrodisiac would boost population and productivity. "One of the oldest spices, ginger is mentioned in the Talmud and the Bible. The Koran celebrates ginger as one of the two aromatics of the next world. Muhammad grew up in the great trading city of Mecca, part of a merchant family. He married the daughter of a spice trader and recognized the mutual benefits of spreading spices and Islam. "Escrita (writing in Portuguese) was designed by Mario Feliciano for T26, a Chicago-based digital type foundry. According to Feliciano, Escrita 'was designed as an attempt to reproduce a sense of Portuguese writing. It is based on the work of 18th-century Portuguese calligrapher Manoel Andrade de Figueiredo.' Escrita includes flowing initial and finial alternate characters that serve to emphasize the handwritten feel.