“Literary Figures” - 1978

This is copy number 17 of a limited edition of 50 numbered copies and seven Artist's Proofs of "Literary Figures" by Joseph J. D'Ambrosio. The item was published in 1978 by The Compulsive Printer of Portage, Indiana. The objective of this folio, as stated in the Preface, is to use "a collection of graphic prints...intended to visually convey the style and writing content of ten different authors through the medium of serigraphy and letterpress. The object of each graphic print is to communicate the aura associated with each author making the writer unique in literature." The ten authors chosen by D'Ambrosio are James Joyce, John Steinbeck, John Fowles, Shirley Jackson, Andre Gide, Thomas Mann, Lawrence Durrell, James Agee, Leo Tolstoy, and Emile Zola.

The Preface continues with "...The commentary introducing each author is intended to allow the viewer to more clearly understand the premise on which the completed graphic print is based...The paper on which the images are printed has been chosen so as to be an integral part of the composition by using color and texture as a common ground."

There are a total of eleven graphic prints in the Folio. The first, located immediately behind the Title page, is titled "Literary Figures" and is signed and dated by D'Ambrosio. The remaining ten graphic prints are each titled with one of the chosen ten author's name and similarly signed and dated by D'Ambrosio.

The entire folio is contained in a clamshell box, designed to look like a large book, with decorated cream colored boards containing black writing on the front and a black cloth binding on the spine containing black printing on a white pasted label. The "book" in the clamshell is securely fastened to the clamshell, but opens like a book to exhibit all the text and graphic images. The graphic images are all easily removable for framing or other display application.

The entire item, from the clamshell to the shortest page, is in "as new" condition.