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William Shakespeare's Sonnet XVIII. Limited Edition of twenty-five, signed & numbered.
Click on thumbnail for larger image. Sorry, this edition is now sold
out.
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| First
published in 1609, Sonnet XVIII has a simplicity, beauty and directness
that make it one of the best-loved poems in the English Language.
Shakespeare's imagery richly conjures up the 'darling buds of May', the
fierce heat of the summer sun, and the fleetingly brief time that these
delights are available to be enjoyed, contrasting them with the
inevitable decline of all living things. "So long as men can breathe and eyes
can see, So long lives this, and
this gives life to thee". Of
course, the same can be said of William Shakespeare. |
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The sonnet was
letterpress printed onto real sheepskin parchment, using polymer
plates on a platen press. Parchment is the material used before
paper was invented, and was still in use in the 16th century for
important documents such as leases and court rolls. The parchment
hexagon is designed to mimic the petals of a rose, which can be unfolded
to reveal the sonnet. In the centre is another rose, like the
Tudor 'rose within a rose', which symbolically united the houses of York
and Lancaster. The rose design is hand-painted with waterproof
inks, using tiny brush strokes to build up layers of colour, a lengthy
process but necessary, as parchment cockles out of shape when subjected
to water. |
| The
hexagon folds into a triangular book, which is bound in red goatskin
leather. The covers are fastened with tiny straps secured by a
lacquered bronze clasp in the shape of a rose, designed especially for
this book by John Hughes, a jeweler from Qualicum
Beach. |
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Ebru is a form of
marbled paper that was imported into Europe from Turkey in the
sixteenth century. The marbling inks are teased out with a needle
to form pictures. Each one is made individually, a tiny work of
art in itself. I commissioned Ann Muir to make Ebru flowers for
the front endpapers of this edition. |
| The
book consists of a title page, the parchment hexagon and colophon,
and is contained in a rectangular book box covered in Japanese Chiyogami
mulberry fibre paper screen printed in rich tones of red, green, blue
and gold, and lined with black 'silk' paper. The
triangular book measures 21/8" x 21/4"
x 21/4" and the box measures 29/16"
square, 13/16" deep. Price CA$395.00 plus shipping. This
edition is now sold out. |
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[ Old London Bridge ] [ Tower of London A to Z ] [ The Malvern Story ] [ Morgan ] [ Shakespeare's Flowers ] [ Shakespeare's Harvest ] [ Shakespeare: Man of Property ] [ Sea-Change ] [ The Fortune Teller ] [ The House that Jack Built ] [ Sonnet XVIII ] [ Qualicum Blue ] |
  
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Copyright © 2004-2009 Jan Kellett. All rights reserved.
Last modified:
June 28 2009
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