Carol (1993)
Carol was the second Christmas book issued by the press. I set the text of the carol that the mice sang in “Wind Of The Willows” and engraved an illustration. This time, everything was printed on Zerkall paper , which has been the case ever since. Once again, an Adana 8 x 5 press was used and a typographic label was printed.
A maximum of fifty copies of the book were offered for sale, of which 1 – 10 had a special binding. In addition, 26 lettered copies were made for presentation to friends and family. After “Carol”, no more books were made for a while as I spent more time learning wood engraving.
December (1992)
“December” contains three short extracts from an anonymous description of the month, dated 1870. Each text is accompanied by a small wood engraving; they are printed in burnt Sienna ink on white ingres paper and sewn into card covers., with a wrapper of brown ingres paper and a printed label. The regular edition measures 165 x 130mm.
This was conceived as a presentation volume of 26 lettered copies but 26 numbered ones were printed for sale, together with 5 specials. These were hardback, printed on a larger sheet of Zerkall paper with a label which repeats one of the engravings.
Birds & Beasts (1992)
This tiny (70 x 90mm) book was inspired by the purchase of some small Indian wooden batik blocks from the Museum Of London. It was very much an experiment in making a book. The woodcuts were printed in Terracotta ink on Kent edition paper using an Adana 8×5 press, and sewn into a cover of grey Khadi paper. Although a limitation of 100 copies was given, very few were made and sold. and it was the making that was the most important thing. This was the first use of “The Isle Handpress”.
The Isle Handpress 