Above: The book open for a reading.
The binding structure is designed by Hedi Kyle specifically for New World
Suite Number Three. Each volume within the book forms its own lectern when
it opens. The page size is 8" x 12".
This innovative interdisciplinary work
intersects at the pinnacle of creative writing, graphic design, book art,
and performance. This is a poem for three voices, meant to be read by three people at once. In addition to the poem, the author has written an
afterword articulating the evolution of his polyphonic poetry,
documenting for the reader a history of this definitive edition. It is made
to be performed, and his essay concludes
The
printed text should be as fine as it can be, but it should never be the
final incarnation. A book must be a place where things begin.
We are printing the text letterpress in the
Center's Jane Meade Timken Printshop. Our Master Printer, Barbara Henry,
came to the Center after managing the Bowne & Co. letterpress facility
at the South Street Seaport Museum for 20 years. The display type is being
set by hand, and the text is printed in Monotype Dante, with composition by
the Bixler Foundry in Skaneateles, NY. Each line is then hand wordspaced at
the Center by Ms. Henry to Robert Bringhurst's exacting specifications. Mr.
Bringhurst has created the typographic design for the book, as well as the
text.
The binding is also being done at the
Center. Our Master Binder, Mirah von Wicht, studied conservation bookbinding
in Germany, and has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York.
Below: All three voices are printed in each of the
three parts. In each part, one of the three voices is foregrounded in black, with the other voices underprinted in ochre and blue.
This enables each reader to follow all the parts and allows all readers to make their entrances on cue. The score consists of
words, not notes, but it functions like the score for a string trio
At the end of the volume containing the essay, we will be printing the List of Subscribers. This will
include the names of all those who have paid for their subscription in
advance of publication. In order to help finance this project, we are
offering a special pre-publication discount price of $950.00 during this
period. Once we have closed the pre-publication period, the price will be
$1,500.00.
Robert Bringhurst has published more than a dozen books of poetry, and is the author of the classic
work, The Elements of Typographic Style (3rd ed., 2004). Click here
for more information about him.
You can subscribe
now online with MasterCard or Visa, or call 212.481.0295 to
secure your copy number. You can give us your credit card number by
telephone, or send us a check within seven days of ordering your
subscription. After seven days we may reassign your copy number. We
will not include the names of any subscribers in the book whose payment has
not been received.
Below: When closed, the book
has a stunning architectural presence, and is 17" x 17" x 3".
Left: Detail showing how a cover flap becomes a lectern support.
Below: With all four volumes open, including
the three 28 p. reading parts and the 20 p. introductory essay/List of
Subscribers/Colophon.
|
