Alan James Robinson: Fine Press Books

Fine Press Books with

Etchings and wood engravings by Alan Robinson

The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe Book with Wood Engravings and Etchings by Alan James Robinson. Printed by Daniel Keleher, text Printed by Harold McGrath at Wild Carrot Letterpress. The Raven consists of text and 10 wood engravings and etchings gathered in an oblong Book with a red leather over black heavy paper on boards with black titling on the spine. Frontispiece has stunning etching of Poe with tissue guard. In addition, there is a linen covered binder with 11 prints – 10 the same as the book, and an additional bust of Poe with a raven. Both housed in a gray linen cloth covered clamshell box with a red title label affixed to spine. This is the original 1985 deluxe edition of 50 (Robinson released a larger edition in 1986).

The Black Cat

Finely printed by Harold McGrath and illustrated with eleven wood engravings by Alan James Robinson. Designed by Robinson and Arthur Larson, the text based on the 1845 Witney-Putnam edition “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe.

TORTOISES: SIX POEMS BY D. H. LAWRENCE

Fine press publication of Lawrence’s 1921 collection of poems, written after the conclusion of World War I and the publication of The Rainbow and Women in Love. The poems were later included in the First English edition of BIRDS, BEASTS AND FLOWERS in 1923. Masterfully illustrated with seven wood engravings of tortoises by Alan James Robinson, and an introduction by Jefferson Hunter. No. 92 of 200.

Roadkills

Roadkills. A Collection of Prose and Poetry. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson. Texts by John McPhee, Gillian Connelly, Gary Snyder, Madeline DeFrees, William Stafford and Richard Eberhart 1981by Cheloniidae Press.

“Roadkills” is Alan James Robinson’s third publication, and he handles this often encountered and frequently ignored slice of reality with dignity and grace.

Measuring approximately 12.25” by 9.25”, “Road Kills” is a fascinating artists book that is bound in quarter grey Moroccan goat and black Japanese paper covered boards with a “tire tread” design along the edges of the leather.

The Birds and Beasts of Shakespeare

Cheloniidae Press, 1990. Hardcover. Deluxe edition. This is the artist’s copy, signed and notated AP by illustrator and book designer Alan James Robinson. This magnificent book was undertaken by the press as a celebration of its tenth anniversary. It is one of the great achievements of Robinson’s Cheloniidae Press. The original text for this edition was written by Arthur F. Kinney, who was then the Thomas W. Copland Professor of Literary History at the University of Massachusetts and an extensive publisher and lecturer on Shakespeare. Beautifully bound by noted binders Claudia Cohen and Sarah Creighton in full rust Morocco with the title stamped in gilt on the front panel within a blind rule at the outer edge of the covers, raised bands, and leather hinges. Illustrated with 54 wood engravings depicting the birds and beasts found in Shakespeare’s plays and poems, plus two portraits of the Bard: one etching and one wood engraving. The book is accompanied by an additional suite of 56 signed and numbered prints from the illustrations. The Folio (10-3/8″ x 15-7/8″) is the exact untrimmed size of the First Folio of 1623.

Ancient Needs

Foreword by Brian Davies. Story by Mark Carol. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson.

Signed by the illustrator Alan Robinson, authors Mark Carol and Brian Davies, binders Claudia Cohen and Sarah Creighton, this is unnumbered but the first impressions of the etchings and wood engravings, dedicated to the well known book collectors, and Robinson patrons Arnold and Mimi Elkind. It includes 2 original watercolors by Robinson, and each print is also signed. This is the deluxe full vellum edition with a cut-away window on the front cover, exposing a wood-engraved illustration;. Non-adhesive binding structure, with pages hand-sewn over exposed vellum laces. In a linen-silk covered case and including the original prospectus.

Ancient Needs is an original narrative about the Harp Seal and the Magdalen Islands. Carol’s account takes as its subject the white-furred seal pups, whose exploitation has been the subject of controversy and the hunters, whose lives have involved seals for centuries: and the magnificent but hostile environment in which they interact.

CETACEA: THE GREAT WHALES

One Of Ten Artist’s Proof Copies from a total edition 110. The artist’s personal copy.  A suite of seven etchings with aquatint depicting the major species of whales, plus two wood engravings on title and colophon leaf. Letterpress text printed by Harold P. McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae on Arches Cover Buff includes biological information and two-color maps showing migration routes and breeding areas.. The upper cover of the folder is in full black niger morocco with the figure of a whale’s head in full bas-relief produced by David Bourbeau of the Thistle Bindery. All housed in a quarter leather tray case produced by Gray Parrot (case measures 15 1/2″ X 23 1/4″).Produced in conjunction with a grant from the Environmental Marine Arts Fund, which is part of the Center for Environmental Education and the Whale Protection Fund. (Easthampton, Massachusetts, 1981)

The Banging Rocks

The Banging Rocks: a Dissertation on the Origins of a Species of Rock Descended with Modification from the Ancient Piroboli, Complete with Elaborate Descriptions of its Sexual and Social Habits, Information Regarding its Behaviors and Activities, as well as Details Pertaining to its Care and Feeding. Deluxe edition XV/XXV. This is a humorous look at contemporary social and sexual values through the guise of rocks (occasionally referred to as the “pet rock turns 30-something”) with two wood engravings and seven line drawings depicting the Galapagos Islands, the Galapagos Tortoise and of course, the Banging Rocks. This deluxe production’s book is bound in quarter leather green Moroccan goat with a millimeter leather fore-edge and Japanese Chiri (bark) paper. The book and its set of two actual banging rocks of green Beryl crystals from Connemara, Ireland are “housed” in an elaborate hand crafted cherry dove-tailed jointed wooden box with expansion joints. This geo-stable enclosure was crafted by Allan Wheeler and protects the Banging Rocks, which are of a semi-precious nature. Printed by master printer H.P. McGrath. Bound in paper over boards by Kim O’Donnell. Book measures 5 x 8 inches. The box is 5.5.x.8.5 x 3 inches