Hand Over Hand by Plimpton, Sarah - 2006

[New York, 2006. One of 15 copies, all on Arches and Hosokawa Ohban papers, each hand numbered and signed by the author / artist / printer, Sarah Plimpton, in pencil on colophon page. Page size: 7 inches x 10 inches; 30pp. Bound by Claudia Cohen: wrappers of gray handmade paper, sewing exposed on spine of red linen thread, also visible in the gutters of text pages, label printed on red Japanese paper with author's name and title, fine. Containing 8 original woodcuts, 7 of which are in black; the 8th is in red. Printed letterpress in Dante by Brad Ewing at The Grenfell Press in New York, this prose poem explores a man-woman relationship always against a background of great natural beauty. The words themselves take on the organic feel one associates with nature writing. Throughout the book, the artist / author juxtaposes sharp images, angular and geometric, that intrigue and refer back to the letters on the printed page - making the soft, intimate words seem all the more piercing.