PORTRAITS - FRIENDS - ARTISTS: DRYPOINTS, ETCHINGS, WOODCUTS OF OREGON ARTISTS BY LAVERNE KRAUSE, POEMS BY KENNETH O. HANSON

Portland, Oregon: Press-22, 1979. FIRST EDITION. ONE OF 25 COPIES. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST (this an artist's proof copy, out of sequence). 394 x 292 mm. (15 1/2 x 11 1/2"). [22] leaves (16 are plates, all with tissue guards).
Leaves loosely laid into a white coarse linen clamshell case, with paper label on spine and embossed figurative label on front cover. 16 HAND-PRINTED PLATES--six of these woodcuts, 10 etched or drypoint engravings--all with tissue guards. EACH SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. Printed in red and black. ◆A virtually pristine copy.

The drypoints, etchings, and woodcuts by LaVerne Krause were printed by the artist, with the assistance of Virgil Sweeden, on Rives B F K White and Newsprint gray, Arches Buff, and German Etching papers. . . . The text was hand-set in Bembo type, with Cloister initials and Granjon arabesques, by Charles Bigelow and Sara Hill, and printed at the Corvine Press. This is one of a small number of finely produced works, usually poetical, issued by John Laursen at his Press-22 in Portland, beginning in the early '70s. Published in very limited runs, almost always signed, and often with specially provided illustrations, these items included works by Ursula Le Guin, Gary Snyder, John Updike, and Tennessee Williams. Krause (1924-87) was especially known for abstract landscapes, while the portraits here are reminiscent of German Expressionism. (For the poet Hanson, see the previous item.) Since the present work was produced in a run of just 25 copies (two of which are in libraries), it is not surprising that there are no other copies on the market or in auction records..