I mentioned last week
that Joyce Cutler-Shaw’s (JCS) book, The Anatomy Lesson, was presented at the book
arts symposium. I was able to get to The Dibner Library to look at
it closer.
In 1993, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the Washington Project for the Arts invited a well-known group of book artist to choose a book from what is considered the Heralds of Science. Because JCS has been the artist-in-residence at The University of California, San Diego’s School of Medicine since 1992, she chose the 15th century book, Fasciculus Medicinae, by Joannes de Ketham. In its day, this was THE medical text. Below is a photo of the one off book JCS made in response and for the show.
That one off book was not the end of the journey, but became a catalyst for a larger, more detailed and interesting artist book. When I arrived at the library, the book
was ready for me to look at. With the
white gloves on, I opened the stainless steel box that housed the book. Once out of the case, the gloves came off and
I was able to look at the book in detail.
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| Stainless Steel Box |
With design collaboration
with binder Daniel Kelm and printer Robin Price, this book is interesting in so
many ways. The front cover has an embedded holographic image of 18th
c. brass lancet and is bound in
concertina style. Finally, the paper for this book is handmade by John and Kathy Koller of HMP
Papers. The thick richness of the paper gives it a sumptuous feeling.
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Holograph
|
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| View of Spine |
Once past the
introduction page, you encounter a title page. There are 10 sections that
divide the book. each with a title page. Once it is turned, on the left hand page in the upper left
margin is a translation of some of the original Latin text to English. The
main body of text on that side is what JCS wrote about her research for the
subject at hand. On the right hand page, is a scholarly contribution from various experts in the field for that
specific topic.
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Title page for topic
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After reading the text on
both of those pages, you open the spread.
The left is the original Latin text and the enlarged image from the Fasciculus Medicinae . On the right are these lovely loose contour like drawing by JCS and a
poem or prose written by her making the subject come to life and have a modern
context.
I wish I could have photographed each section/page for you to see, but I could not. I urge you, if you ever get a chance to look closely at this book, to take advantage of the opportunity. It is an interesting one.
