36 pages. Compiled under the direction of Professor Kitty Maryatt. 11¼x14¼", letterpress printed, set in Scripps College Old Style, Centaur, Arrighi, and Weiss Initials; printed on Rives BFK paper; signatures sewn over Tyvek reinforced tapes with gold thread; bound in Ginga Iridescent Orange bookcloth.
Colophon: "Inspired by our medieval books in Denison Library. Students chose to write commentaries, like the medievals, on an important text, a 14th century poem by the Persian poet Rumi: An Understanding of the Question. Geometric images suggested by the structures of medieval imagery were printed in medieval colors of minimum red, lapis blue, and royal purple."
Scripps College Press: "Since Denison Library at Scripps College and Honnold Library at the Claremont Colleges have significant collections of medieval books, many still in their original bindings, the assignment to study these rare books was the focus of the Typography and the Book Arts class at the Scripps College Press. For the semester book project for undergraduates, the students selected eight books from the 14th to the 15th centuries at Denison for in-depth research into which medieval attributes persist in contemporary artist books. The books presented a range of subjects from Cicero and a law text to graduals, pontificals, and books of hours. The students made PowerPoint presentations to each other on the books they studied, highlighting not only physical characteristics but also translation of a short section of the book.
"In addition to the obvious physical characteristics in medieval books: vellum, leather over wood boards, calligraphy, illumination, and miniatures, the students remarked that the texts that were hand-calligraphed were serious and of vital importance to the makers. In that vein, they decided to search for texts that were important to them to present in their book. Twelve students brought in twelve texts for consideration: poems and excerpts from novels, a family letter found after a fire burned down their house, a job acceptance letter, texts projected into space via the Voyager project, Harry Potter novels. After extensive discussion, the students winnowed down those twelve texts to the final selection of a poem from a 13th century Persian poet, Rumi. As did the medievals, they wrote commentaries on this evocative text, which was interpreted by Coleman Barks, who generously gave us permission to use his poem. The text was presented anew by each student in their section, either the entire poem or a selection, arranging the text and commentary within a structure.
"The visual aspects of the book were inspired by the geometric structures of medieval book imagery, which included rectangular storyboarding and non-rectangular narrative structures. The colors of the linoleum blocks reflect the preponderance of lapis lazuli blue, crimson red, and royal purple in medieval miniatures. They were printed lightly in order to read the text printed on top. The Ginga Iridescent Orange bookcloth used for the binding introduces gold, which was quite prevalent in medieval manuscripts."
Donated by Vamp & Tramp Booksellers, Birmingham, AL.