Rod Smith
Spectacular Books
New York, NY
(c)2001
Okay, you are going to ask so I will start with that explanation. This cover was hand-painted by the artist "Larsen" so I refused to attempt to lay the cover flat therefore damaging the actual cover so, I copied it thusly and I am such the luddite that I don't know how to adjoin them better than this.
This alone makes this collection of poetry so so so so very interesting. Tall and thin. Awesome and absurd.
Dan Gutstein
Primary Writing Books
Washington, DC
(c) 2022
Phyllis Rosenzweig is the publisher of this and other books under the capable umbrella of 'Primary Writing Books' which has published work by a number of DC luminaries since starting up in 2011.
This is an odd one in the sense that it was part photo album, part love story. Well done.
Alastair Johnston
Jungle Garden Press
Fairfax, CA
(1986)
There just isn't anything like getting a surprise item in the mail from the author themselves, which is how I got to hold, admit, and now write (perhaps intelligently) about this specimen of letterpress excellence.
Jungle Garden Press was started by Marie C. Dern in Berkeley, CA during 1974. Berkeley, like Iowa City, and other college towns of note, became a hub of creative expression and liberation. All the books published during its run (1974-2006) were letterpressed and hand stitched. When asked about her process and intentions, Marie C. Dern with Jungle Garden Press in San Francisco said: “My intention in printing and bookmaking is to elucidate a text by the shape, binding, design, typography, and drawings of books, to make the experience of reading beautiful to the touch and the eyes as well as the mind, and to make the text understandable to the reader in the way I interpret it.” Jungle Garden Press was well known in the Graphic Arts community and their archives are stored at the University of Utah special collections space in Salt Lake City.
According to Mr. Johnston, he was asked to provide a mss. for publication and whipped this together in short order. Some of the poems seem almost LANGUAGE poetry-esque although I am not certain Mr. Johnston would agree.
There are some well known names attached to this project. Walter Hamady (founder of Perishable Press Limited) suggested the title. The book was designed and printed by Marie (Christensen) Dern. It was bound by Shelley Hoyt. The cover paper was painted by Victoria Weiss-Bohlman. The color drawing which appears on the page facing the title page was done by Carl Dern.
Outside of something created by Perishable Press Limited, I can not imagine a more lovely and well conceived book than this one. It's astounding and I graceful to have it in my collection.
A Guide to the Desert and Sea of Baja California
Greg Meyer
self published
Santa Cruz, CA
(c)1992
The booklet is untrimmed. It's a labor of love by Mr. Meyer. Illustrated throughout by he himself. What is intriguing is that the cover is plastic. I applaud the effort.
Crystal Clark
The Poet's Haven
Massillon, OH
(c)2018
tiny format chapbook. Poetry is fine. The publisher seems to have disappeared online. The author lives in southeast Michigan. She can turn a phrase. Hope to read more from her in the future.
United States Department of Labor
Washington, DC
(c)1957
Staple bound "booklet". It's 85 pages so it's not a chapbook but it is staple bound and it is important in this era of "new gilded age" to remember that Labor is how billionaires came into being in the first place. Black and White images throughout.
Mary-Lou Brockett-Devine
Comstock Review, Inc.
(c)2025
The cover actually makes sense with the title.
Contest winner. Staple bound chapbook. The work here reflects a family connected to the sea. Fine poetry.
Mather Schneider
The Rattle Foundation
Studio City, CA
(c)2018
I should have learned this lesson long ago when my daughter, who could speak but hadn't started reading yet, pointed out an unforgivable error in a children's book. There was a page in which the text read "five violins" but there were only 3 violins shown on the page. She was not having it.
As a publisher I have attempted to wed book titles and content with a cover image that "worked" with everything else for over 25 years. This cover does not succeed.
This chapbook was the 2018 Chapbook Prize Winner but that doesn't excuse this apparent slap-dash cover image. The poetry is okay but I can't separate the cover image from the content.
I am certain my opinion has no bearing in the career of this writer or Rattle, just stating it for the record.
A long time ago now I happened across a statement - a proclamation really - by the artist and printer El Lissitsky who stated that "The book must be the unified work of the author and the designer. As long as this is not the case, splendid exteriors will constantly be produced for unimportant contents, and visa-versa.
He wrote this in 1931. I have been writing this chapbook blog for over a decade and I seldom mention the cover art nor whether the cover the poetry and the presentation work together as a unified effort.
I will strive to do better in the future. Many of the books I have mentioned have had covered that did not convey anything about the poetry, nor have any connection with the title of the book at all. Beyond my "save a tree" pronouncements throughout the blog over the years, I ought to have pointed out the often glaring contradiction that some publishers have offered for books that they deemed worthy of publishing.
Other books have been master classes in detail.
I will be adding commentary about the entirety of the "package" for now on.
beginning with the next one : A Bag of Hands by Mather Schneider.
Nancy Holt: Massachusetts
College of Visual Arts& Performing Arts
Dartmouth College
(c) 2021
This is an exhibition booklet for the artist's thesis work containing photos and a blueprint of a structure and artistic representations. There was a similar artist concept book from a different artist what was ruined by water. The artist died in 2014. This seems to have been a retrospective piece.
Naomi Thiers
Finishing Line Press
Georgetown, KY
(c)2013
Heartfelt memories woven together in this collection of poetry. Cover image of grandfather is a nice touch as well.
