I find the physical book to be imperative to my reading experience. The book is always beautiful, connecting us as readers, users, and individuals who will undoubtedly have different experiences and insights; and, we are all brought back together to discuss and engage in our own unique interpretations that illuminate our conditions. Literature that embodies the artistic wonder of the book, both physically and through its language, is extraordinary. Distinctive Collections is home to a myriad of these expressive mediums, ranging from artists books, to poetry, to incunable. Here, there is something for everybody.
Some of my favorite books in our collections play with the intersection between the narrative and physical text. Listed below are three distinctive works: a version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson, the poem “Bomb” by Gregory Corso, and Chrysalis by Julie Chen. These holdings engaged me, struck me, and were powerful in how they chose to either re-interpret an existing narrative, or to write anew.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
With a limited use of colorway in order to beckon to the surreal nature of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Edward A. Wilson’s artistic homage to Robert Louis Stevenson’s original narrative was published by the Limited Editions Club in 1952. Wilson’s pictorials, interpreted from Stevenson’s original narrative in 1885, heightens our interaction with the chilling tale. Wilson plays with our perspective: the colors of the depicted scenes, either in pink or grey, are dependent on which character we are gazing upon. Pink is respective to the violence enacted by Mr. Hyde, an innocent character looking upon him, or the violent emotions of Dr. Jekyll’s crueler half. Grey symbolizes the moments Dr. Jekyll is in control over the narrative of his own mind and body. Wilson utilizes color in a way that, for lovers of Gothic literature, horror, and fantasy, completely changes the way the reader interacts with the story. A battle for the Doctor’s space, both internally and externally is shown visually, through the flux of these two, limited colors, and a hazy, yet haunting, artistic style.
“Bomb,” by Gregory Corso
A first edition, first printing of “Bomb,” published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti's San Francisco City Lights in 1958, is housed at our Distinctive Collections. Considered as an “homage to terror,” Corso’s humorous yet dark interpretation of the H-Bomb symbolizes a duality of emotions– unreal and feverish, such as terror and ecstasy– under the looming, nuclear specter. The original manuscript emphasizes the shape of the mushroom cloud, a sweeping plume that dominates how we view Corso’s poetic verse. The original manuscript of “Bomb” opens in an accordion style from a single sheet of paper; the momentum that is built up over time in Corso’s poetry is reflected through the visual image. With minimal foxing, the poem, originally a part of Corso’s The Happy Birthday of Death, is in fantastic condition.
Chrysalis, by Julie Chen
Chrysalis, by Julie Chen, is an artist's book that prioritizes the reader's involvement with both touch and sight during the act of reading. By definition, a chrysalis is linked to the four stages of life in insects; a similar metamorphosis is actively displayed within the text itself, as Chrysalis symbolizes the author’s transformative journey through grief. Chrysalis, published in 2014, was crafted with a terra cotta and black denim paper. The shape of Chen’s book signifies the oloid, discovered by Paul Shautz in 1929. The oloid is defined by the space of two conjoined circles on a perpendicular plane, to which the intersection of these circles creates the oloid shape.
Held together magnetically, this oloid can be deconstructed by the reader to lay flat. Inside, a circular book rests in the middle, also magnetized on its spine. Although the book lays flat, it fans out: a beautiful image of the deconstructed, winged-like oloid, and the half circle of pages, symbolizes an ethereal scene, or the journey from cocoon into “butterfly.” The reader can interact with this half-moon book separately from the flattened oloid, creating a truly embodied relationship to Chrysalis.
--Alexa Nino, Distinctive Collections