Animal Tapestry
Stillwater, ME: Nancy Ruth Leavitt, 2024. Fine binding. Item #10888
Quarto. 23 ll., illus. Unique artist's book, 1/1; signed by Leavitt at the colophon. Sewn on vellum strips and bound in limp linen with printed paper pastedown on the front cover; lettering is drawn by hand in built-up Roman capitals; the lettering and the paintings are on Katie MacGregor's handmade paper and Arches text wove. All housed in linen clamshell with paintings of the night sky on paper lining the trays; hand-lettered and painted-paper title label on the spine.
The title, introduction, and colophon are hand-lettered in black on white paper. But the body of Leavitt's book contains excerpts of four dreams about animals from her dream journals, each written out in closely spaced white lettering floating above the field of color giving the reader visual space to imagine the story. Each of these dreams is on a fold-out leaf that invites us to slow down and engage with the ethereal painting and surreal, dream-like text. The dream spreads are separated by a painted spread, allowing a transition between them, with additional "night pages" at the opening and closing of the book which are surprisingly preparatory for the emotional journey on which Leavitt takes the reader. A book that must be experienced, as a mere description falls short. This is the first in a proposed series by Leavitt on dreams and imagination.
Price: $5,500.00