Diary of a Madman; Fragments of a Farcical Story by Gogol, Nikolai ; Owens, James J. (Translator); Sayenko, Dmitry (Book Artist) - 2020

Saint Petersburg: (Dmitry Sayenko), 2020. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Sayenko, Dmitry. Number 7 of 19, folio size, 50 pp., signed by Dmitry Sayenko and James J. Owens. Dmitry Sayenko (b. 1965) learned a love of book illustration from his father, a book illustrator himself, by watching him at work. Born in the Ukraine, In 1995 Dmitry graduated from the Mukhina Art School, St. Petersburg, where he still lives and works. Dmitry not only designs his books, but makes the cuts, sets the type, prints and binds the books, makes the paper, and has recently begun to make his own ink.

His works are in private collections as well as institutions around the world, including The Grolier Club, the Russian National Library, the Staatsbibliotheck, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Van Abbemuseum, and the Eoun-ho Kim Collection, among others. Dmitry's illustrations are powerful and evocative, and in addition to wood and linocuts he often uses other media such as pieces of old sheet music in creating his books.

Gogol's "Diary of a Madman", originally published in 1835, is considered one of his best short stories. Reprinted countless times, Dmitry brings Poprishchin's descent into madness into terrifying reality through his stunning linocuts: men with two heads, a half-man/half-rooster, arms without bodies, a moonscape...one is brought even further into the story though the use of Cyrillac text interspersed with the English. Although only "fragments" of the story are in this artist book, one feels the same chill as at reading the full story.

___DESCRIPTION: Half brown leather, patterned paper boards with a linocut in black inset into the front, reproduction of Gogol's signature in gilt on the front, all edges uncut, light brown endpapers, pictorial title page, linocuts on almost every page in black, brown and red interspersed with text, signatures of both Sayenko and Owens in pencil at the colophon; paper handmade by the artist, folio size (13.5" by 9.5"), unpaginated, 48 pages (not counting inserted smaller tipped-in pages nor the tipped-in colophon) with text and linocut images printed on both sides, limited edition of 19 copies, each numbered and signed by the artist, this no. 7. Enclosed in a cardboard slipcase with patterned paper sides, title in gilt on spine.

___CONDITION: Fine, as new; we acquired the book directly from the book artist, it is as it came from his studio; slipcase also fine.

___POSTAGE: International customers please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs, please inquire for details.

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