#154sonnets

In Stratford upon Avon

In Stratford upon Avon

 

The Bodleian Library, Oxford (UK)

The Bodleian Library, Oxford (UK)

William Shakespeare died on April 23rd in 1616. By then, besides his plays, he had written 154 sonnets. In 2016, 400 years after his death, the Centre for the Study of the Book at the Bodleian Library in Oxford called artists worldwide to print all of Shakespeare’s sonnets afresh.

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I consider myself lucky that I was given the opportunity to be part of this effort. I was assigned sonnet 89 which reads:

Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
And I will comment upon that offence:
Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
Against thy reasons making no defence.
Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill,
To set a form upon desired change,
As I’ll myself disgrace; knowing thy will,
I will acquaintance strangle, and look strange;
Be absent from thy walks; and in my tongue
Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell,
Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong,
And haply of our old acquaintance tell.

For thee, against myself I’ll vow depate,
For I must ne’er love whom thou dost hate.

 

Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace

Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace

There have been many attempts to transfer Shakespeare’s works into German. The list of writers and poets who did so, is a collection of many big names: Wieland, Schlegel, Tieck, Friedrich von Schiller, Theodor Fontane, Erich Fried, Peter Handke. There have been others as well. In the early years of the 19th century a group of writers and poets teamed up to accomplish the task: Schlegel, Tieck and von Baudissin. Translating the sonnets proved to be particularly tricky. In 1826 Ludwig Tieck presented a translation of the sonnets. He admitted due to lack of time and his poor health „a younger friend“ had helped. It took some time until it was revealed that the sonnets in fact had been translated by Tieck’s eldest daughter Dorothea. Years later, in 1831, she would write to Friedrich von Üchtritz saying „I believe, translating is a much more suitable work for women than for men, particularly because we are not allowed to produce a work of our own.“

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Many years ago I came across a book published in Berlin in 1909. The title is „Shakespeare Sonnette: Umdichtungen von Stefan George“. A great poet himself Stefan George did not claim to have translated the sonnets, he tried to write them all over again in German. He kind of converted them. This is how sonnet 89 reads in his words:

Sag, du verliessest mich um einen fehl,
Und ich entschuldige dich für diesen schlag.
Sag, ich sei lahm, so hink ich auf befehl
Da ich mit deinem grund nicht rechten mag.

Du, Lieb, verstössest mich nicht halb so schlimm
Um dem erwünschten wechsel form zu leihn
Als ich mich selbst verstosse .. du bestimm!
So töt ich freundschaft; schau als fremder drein ..

Bin fern von deinen wegen .. nie mehr sei
Dein süss geliebter nam auf meinem mund
Dass ich Unheilliger ihn nicht entweih ..
Und etwa künde unsren alten bund.

Dich schützend stoss ich nach der eignen brust;
Ich darf nicht lieben den du hassen musst.

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Being a lover of the English language I decided to print the sonnet in English.

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I set out on 29 February driving south for this very special working visit at my studio. Some six hours later I unlocked the door. In the afternoon light streaming in from the windows I could see finest cobwebs dangling from the ceiling. I had not been here since Christmas. I was looking forward to set free the scent of printer’s ink into the air in a couple of days time. This time my stay would be a three week working visit.

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Deckle edge paper ready for printing

Deckle edge paper ready for printing

Shakespeare's sonnet 89 in the press

Shakespeare’s sonnet 89 in the press

Choosing type can be difficult. I felt the sonnet was like if the writer imagined an argument against him almost in the style of a lawsuit, a trial or court case. To me it sounded like a parol, or the defendant’s last word, confessing it all, pleading guilty on all counts brought forward against him. A court case is something very matter-of-fact, sober. As far away from romatic as could ever be. No story, a report of a status, a plea of guilt. Nothing to it. Pure information, the sheer character. This broke it down to just one fount: Futura. I went to get the case with Futura, 20 pt condensed light. After some consideration I decided to use only lower case characters. In the sonnet it is the speaker’s intension to make himself small as can be, his own will or needs almost non-existent. Or rather: reduced to serving the beloved’s will whole scale. No justification for a capital I whatsoever. The only capital letter being the first letter of the sonnet printed from lino. The sonnet’s text is printed blue, resembling truth in a double sense: speaking the truth and being true beyond all. The linoblock is printed in purple, with the red hinting on the love that still is a bond between them. Printed on BFK Rives deckle edge paper 250gms, made entirely from cotton. Here it is: an avowal.

A first proof.

A first proof.

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Shakespeare's Sonnet 89

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 89

Work finished. I was pleased. I started to tidy up, sort back the type. Sorting back type is something very letterpress, so to speak.

Sorting back type

Sorting back type

A job nobody would think of in times of digital work. A rather unloved job because it seems so unproductive. A task that seems utterly tedious, but needs to be done with utmost care. Otherwise the next time you set out to use this case of metal type, you’ll pay the price with the specimens being in the wrong places. Still, sorting back type can have side effects. It had with me as my mind remained under the spell of the sonnet. I could see another layout, with another typeface, another print altogether. I was mesmerised. I went to get the case containing 16 pt Baskerville. I went for the floral border. I tore the deckle edge paper to size. And there it is: the classic in black and green. The green representing hope. Printed on Zerkall mould made printing paper, white, smooth, 225gms.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 89: the classic

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 89: the classic

I like them both. As I write this, I sit in the kitchen of the old farmhouse where we moved in only a few weeks ago. We have had considerable amounts of rain during the past couple of weeks. While we were staying at Turn The Page Artist’s Book Fair in Norwich severe thunderstorms were lashing through this part of Westphalia. Luckily, the farm was unscathed. Today saw some showers but also brilliant sunny spells that made the pigeons shine like if they were made of pure silver while they were diving into the old oak trees. Their foliage now having taken the heavy shade of green they wear for summer.

In Stratford upon Avon

In Stratford upon Avon

This effort of the Centre for the Study of the Book at the Bodleian Library is ongoing until September this year. More information on this project is to be found on Twitter: #154sonnets, @theBroadPress, @bodleincsb

My Books and Prints with English Roots

 

In London in the 70s

In London in the 70s

The first time I visited Britain was in 1977. I kept coming back. I remember I had to fill in these forms that were being handed out on the ferry. The note read: „Notice of leave to enter the United Kingdom for Nationals of EEC countries“. In 1984/85 I went there as a one year overseas student, staying at Keele University in Staffordshire. During the Easter vacations I was hiking from Cornwall through Cumbria and Yorkshire and visited Hull and Kings Lynn and some more places – covering the long distances by train. I’ve seen Goathland Station years before anybody knew about Hogwarts. I was staying in Youth Hostels that were old castles with thick walls and, boy, some of the nights were cold. They’d hire out hot water bottles for the nights in one place. I remember getting soaked while walking the perimeter of Beverley. I still keep coming back. I reckon it is not only to do with Walker’s crisps ‚Salt ’n Vinegar‘.

Keele Hall, Staffordshire

Keele Hall, Staffordshire

 

The Fox - broadside

The Fox – broadside

My first work with English roots is a broadside about a little black fox. I heard the story sung to me in the students‘ union at Keele University. The folkband „Falstaff“ was playing there one night. Their song „The Fox“ mesmerised me.

„And there a-sprang like lightning / a fox from out of his hole / his fur as black as the starless night / his eyes were like burning coal.“

the-fox

In 2001 I figured out a German translation trying to keep both rhythm and rhyme (and still making my metal type work out on it). I handset the text from a fount called „Wallau“ and made a woodcut of a black fox with bright red eyes. People kept asking for a separate edition of the fox on a sheet smaller in size, „You don’t happen to have a print of the fox on its own, do you?“. Well, this fox quickly became kind of everybody’s darling. In the folksong the fox is the devil himself. Of course he is astute, but in a very charming way. So, in the end I printed a limited edition of the fox on its own, on strong deckled edge paper.

"Reinecke"

„Reinecke“

 

 

Did You Like the Battle, Sir? - broadside

Did You Like the Battle, Sir? – broadside

Two years later, in 2003, I started working on a second song of the tape I had bought back at that Falstaff gig.  I felt it was the perfect song to choose as 2003 was when the war in Iraq begun.  The song is called „The Battle“.

„Did you like the battle, Sir, / tell me of its use. / How many did you kill, Sir, and / how many did you loose.“

Originally this song is written by J. Richards and D. Pegg, says the leaflet that goes with the cassette tape.

„Take a sip of this glass of wine / take a morsel of this food of mine / lay your body on this bed so fine / before you die.“

This text is handset from Bodoni. Prior to printing the words I had painted some of the sheets with dye specially made from soil pigments in the colours of earth and blood;  as these would be the colours of a battle. The sheets that went with no paint in 2003 I painted over in 2008.

battle-refrain

 

Where the Red Poppies Dance

Where the Red Poppies Dance

When living in England as a one year overseas student in 1984/85 I had met with the tradition of Remembrance Day for the very first time. I was touched by the way how the consequences of war were dealt with and also by the scale of it. It left me impressed and thoughtful. Years later I came across the folksong „No Man’s Land“ by Eric Bogle. It is about the countless teenage soldiers lost during WorldWar1. I felt the lyrics expressed some very deep truth. As a young man my father had been a soldier in WW2. He was severly wounded, and even though he survived the experiences left him scarred in many ways. I felt I wanted to turn Eric’s lyrics into an artist’s book. I got in touch with Eric in Australia and thanksfully he agreed that I translate his lyrics into German and make a book from it.

 

Where The Red Poppies Dance

Where The Red Poppies Dance

 

The text is set from a very old and severly worn fount of Trajanus. I deliberately chose this fount because the characters had been kind of wounded during the decades during which they had been used for printing. I felt this connected with what the lyrics were about. I made five woodcuts of poppies dancing in the wind. The blocks are oak wood. They were torn and slighlty faulted so I had to print them by hand instead of in the press. I made the book a concertina folding. I wanted it to display the whole text when folded out completely. It is a strong deckled edge paper and I used a special paper in poppy red to connect the sheets.

The book itself is housed in a portfolio with a latch made of box wood and a satin ribbon in poppy red. I chose box wood for its widespread use as a border around graves and for its symbolic character, beeing connected with eternal life. The work is an edition of 11, relating to the end of WW1 on November 11th, and was published in 2006.

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Where My Books Go - William Butler Yeats

Where My Books Go – William Butler Yeats

My first artwork in English is the broadside I contributed to the broadside project of „al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here!“ in 2009. The call for artists asked for a response to the bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad in 2007. In the course of this attack 130 people were wounded, some of them died. The aim of the project was to have 130 different broadsides in the end, one for each wounded or dead person. The text I choose was a poem by William Butler Yeats „Where My Books Go“. It is accompanied by a black woodcut portrait of a lady looking straight ahead. Prior to printing I painted all sheets with my own dye, prepared, again, from soil pigments. I wanted the sheet to look as if it had been torn from the rubble after the attack. Every sheet is unique in its colouring, its brushstroke, in its shades and surface structure – as unique and individual as the people affected in the attack. The project was a success: 130 artists contributed their personal broadsides. One complete set went to the Iraq National Library, many were sold as fundraisers for Doctors Without Borders. And there were more projects to follow.

 

Manarah: issues 1,2, 3

Manarah: issues 1,2, 3

 

Manarah: issue 1

Manarah: issue 1

In 2011 the al-Mutanabbi Street coalition sent out another call for artists to contribute. They were to make an „Inventory of al-Mutanabbi Street“. The bomb attack not only took lives it also destroyed books and book stores and cultural heritage. The second project was an attempt to in a sense make up for the loss by creating new artists‘ books of all sorts. Be they dairies or magazine-like structures or large books, notebooks, tiny books – whatever you could think of might have been lost in the attack on a street full of bookshops and coffee houses. I contributetd three issues of the magazine-like work „Manarah“. Like with a magazin each issue deals with another theme. I choose „War“, „Time“ and „Love“ for the reason that it needs love and takes time to overcome war. Each issue is a collection of poetry. All together the poetry covers a period of four centuries of human thought and writing. The poems show what mankind has been suffering from and, also, what people have been wishing for, for a long, long time. „Manarah“ is an old Arabic word and means lighthouse, or more general a place shedding light. In the course of time it was to develop into what we now know as „minaret“.

Lyricards: Dunbar

Lyricards: Dunbar

A choice of the poems from the three issues of „Manarah“ is part of the series of cards called „Lyricards“. And a strictly limited special edition of cards was printed as a fund raiser for the project. In 2013 there was a large exhibition of „An Inventory of al-Mutanabbi Street“ at the stunning John Rylands Library in Manchester (UK). The show is touring worldwide.

Lyricards special edition

Lyricards special edition

 

An Inventory of al-Mutanabbi Street - John Rylands Library, Manchester (UK)

An Inventory of al-Mutanabbi Street – John Rylands Library, Manchester (UK)

 

Artist's book "Cumbria"

Artist’s book „Cumbria“

Artist's book "Cumbria"

Artist’s book „Cumbria“

During my travelling in spring 1985 I visited Cumbria. I was staying in Keswick Youth Hostle which is right on the banks of river Greta in the town centre. And of course I’d read „The Guide to the Lakes“ by William Wordsworth. „Cumbria“ is a small book published in 2013. It comes with 5 woodcuts and text passages from Wordsworth’s lovely 19th century writings. All sheets are painted prior to printing back and front. The text is handset from Trajanus. It is a small edition of only ten numbered and signed copies. The cover is made from mat with a cutout window. This book is completely in English.

Artist's book "Cumbria"

Artist’s book „Cumbria“

 

Greno printing office in Noerdlingen

Greno printing office in Noerdlingen

Greno-monotype

Just a two hours‘ drive to the east from where we used to live and only a few miles into Bavaria there is a small town called Noerdlingen. Until a couple of years ago you could find Greno printing office there. The building used to be a stable not far from the town centre. After being refurbished it became a stronghold of letterpress. Mr Buser, who was running the office, also kept a number of Monotype machines. When we went there to visit him he offered us the opportunity to cast our own type. Without hesitation we went for it. Well, to be honest: my husband was as passionate as he was excited about the Monotype casting process, which I was too, but still I opted for sorting the type into the cases, letting my husband have the joy (and excitement) of casting. Trying to print English text using German founts is tricky. Why? Because there are so many ‚y‘ in the English language. German hardly uses any. By casting our own type we could adjust the frequencies of characters to our own needs. It goes without saying: that was exactly what we did. Between 2000 and 2003 we went there again and again to complete our stock of Baskerville.

52 Weeks

52 Weeks

In spring 2011 Marianne Midelburg, living in Australia’s state of Victoria, and I decided to make a book together. We agreed to each take one photo per week for the period of one whole year. Also, we wrote a short comment to accompany each photo. This was the idea for the book that would be published in 2014 by the title „52 Weeks“. The book itself comes in four volumes, each volume covering 13 weeks. All comments in this book are handset from Baskerville, the very metal type we had cast ourselves some ten years ago. Marianne’s comments are in English, mine are in German, but there is an English translation enclosed in a bag in volume 4. The book is being described in two earlier posts on this blog. If you just give the Photobook category a klick or the Artist’s Book category, that’s where you find more on this piece of art work.

52 Weeks

52 Weeks

 

Woods in Winter

Woods in Winter

„Woods in Winter“, published in 2014, is one more book completely in English. It is a pamphlet stitch book with two linocuts and a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow printed on deckled edge papers. As the poem focuses on winter, the book is kept mainly in cold colours like whites and blues. The endpaper is a sheet of white glassine paper with a pattern of ice crystals. The thread used for the pamphlet stitch is blue. The cover is printed from an old wooden board. This book, too, is a very small edition of ten numbered and signed copies.

Woods in Winter

 

 

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As I write this the Fine Press Book Fair in Oxford is only days ahead. My new book will be out there, hot off the press – so to speak. This book, as well, is completely in English. Its title is „away“. Away-ness has become a very present if not dominant feature in my life over the past couple of years. Right now my presses and metal type are some 500 kilometres away from where I currently live. Away-ness can be a temporary phenomenon or lasting for ever. The book is all about the various aspects of away-ness. I did all the composing and printing work during a working visit at my studio in early October. Each book comes with an individual choice of 12 photographs, making the work an edition of 12 numbered and signed one-offs. The first copies will be on my table at the Fine Press Book Fair at Brookes University in Gipsy Lane, Oxford on 31 October and 1 November 2015.

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