Edward Edward. Philip Gallo, David Rathman. The Hermetic Press. 2013.
Edward Edward. Philip Gallo, David Rathman. The Hermetic Press. 2013.
Edward Edward. Philip Gallo, David Rathman. The Hermetic Press. 2013.
Edward Edward. Philip Gallo, David Rathman. The Hermetic Press. 2013.

Edward Edward.

The Hermetic Press, 2013. Item #3366

Paper wrappers with coptic stitching, 14 pp., letterpress.

In character with Gallo’s other printing projects, this book’s primary subject of contemplation is typography, and its effect on the transmission and interpretation of an early Scottish ballad. The ballad that forms the subject of this book was suspected to have been revised in both its textual and oral states prior to its inclusion in Bishop Thomas Percy’s influential Reliques of Ancient English (in 1765)—a text whose ballads provided serious inspiration to English Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel J. Coleridge.

The intrigue around this poem occurred in part due to its unique orthography: including “qu” for “w” and “z” for “y,” the latter of which sometimes replaces a “thorn” (the Old English character).  To render this tension typographically, Gallo juxtaposes the contemporary advertising type of Aurora Bold Condensed against a ninth century uncial, Visigoth. In addition to this typesetting, he replicated worn type on orange-printed initials from a title page of a book printed in Edinburgh in 1614. David Rathman, a painter from Minneapolis long involved in the book arts through Granary Books and others, provides the startling illustration that Gallo has printed with a plate.

This is from an edition of 50 copies.

Price: $500.00

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