A new project
Our hope is that this new project (which is also, as you have guessed, an appeal to your generosity), will help to renew the friendly ties which bind you to our association and to all those who struggle to keep our valley alive.
The basic contribution, for regular members is 20 €.
The double leaf we are presenting to you (comprising a title page, a poem, a woodcut and a tail-piece) is the first of a series which is in the making and whose final realisation depends on you.
Le crapaud—Bestiaire de Blieux
Those four pages herald a Bestiary of Blieux, a book of animals which will be accompanied, according to the artist’s mood and inspiration, by a book of local plants. We intend to issue at least four double leaves a year, resorting exclusively to traditional printing techniques such as woodcutting, lithography, stencilling, engraving, etching.
We shall keep to the same format and to the double leaf pattern for each new creation, aiming at a collection which will finally constitute a royal quarto volume “le Bestiaire de Blieux” of which the summary, front and off end paper, print off and cover, shall then be offered to you.
This first five-colour engraving on pear tree wood, split with the grain, has been achieved using the restricted wood technique. The wood is re-cut each time a new colour is applied, so that once the engraving is finally printed off, it is impossible to print it again.
This makes this woodcut a unique piece.
The one-colour ornament on the fourth page has been engraved for the occasion to provide a visual and poetic echo to the dominant rhyme of the poem (-euil, oeil).
The lead Bodoni types come from Monotype and have been handset.
The edition on paper “Zerkall 210g” has been limited to 120 copies. We have kept a few separate engravings for eventual amateurs.