book cover for "The TSANTA Expedition"

book cover for "The TSANTA Expedition" a photo by Marc Snyder on Flickr.

I was delighted to do the drawing for the cover of Joseph Ridgwell's "The Tsanta Expedition", beautifully produced by Bottle of Smoke Press

d. a. levy

Making the Jim Lowell linocut for Bottle of Smoke Press got me thinking that it was about time that I did a portrait of d. a. levy. So, here it is!

Jim Lowell linocut for Bottle #5

I recently completed this linocut for the cover of Bottle #5, a collection of broadsides by 20 poets published by Bottle of Smoke Press. This image is another in a series of heroes of the small press that I have made for the Bottle broadsides. The subject is Jim Lowell, and that flowering plant is a reference to Asphodel, his bookshop. Jim Lowell was a bookseller in Cleveland, where he specialized in first-edition, small-press publications, especially those of the counterculture movement of the '60s.

I printed this 2.5" x 2.75" linocut in an edition of 40, all of which will be found on the covers of a special first edition of Bottle #5, signed by all of the living contributors. Bottle #5 includes 20 letterpressed broadsides by 20 different poets, with a healthy mix of styles and poems from both well established poets (including Charles Bukowski) and some younger writers. Bill Roberts has hand-set all of these broadsides with various type and has fed them with those very same hands into his 1914 Chandler & Price press, without losing a single finger. The broadsides are printed on various colors of high quality cardstock. Bill does beautiful work, and his letterpressed broadsides are as much a delight to hold and to look at as they are to read.

There will be a regular edition of 200 available as well, where the Lowell linocut will be reproduced on the cover.

The first edition of 200 will cost $25.00, the special edtion of 40 signed by all of the living contributors and including the original linocut will cost $150.00. If history is any guide, that special edition will probably sell out quickly, and orders should be placed in the next week to insure a copy. If you want to reserve a Bottle #5, you should visit Bottle of Smoke Press at http://www.bospress.net/index_current.htm for details.