MIDNIGHT PAPER SALES. SCHANILEC, Gaylord. ~ Sylvae.
One of only 120 numbered copies. 53 relief prints (wood cuts and wood engravings) by Gaylord Schanilec of fifty specimens printed directly from the wood. With historical anecdotes by Benjamin Verhoeven, and production notes by Gaylord Schanilec. Text set in Bembo monotype, and printed on Zerkall mould-made paper. Pp. 192. 31 x 21 cm. 4to., bound at Booklab 2 in quarter-sawn white oak boards and an alum-tawed goat skin spine, in blue silk cloth slipcase. An extremely handsome and fresh copy.
Twenty wooded acres surround Midnight Paper Sales in western Wisconsin. The book documents the journey of Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec into the woods to create a work not only about these trees, but of these trees. In all 24 species have been catalogued individually through image, historical anecdotes, and notes taken during the cutting, milling, engraving and printing. The 53 images consist primarily of long grain and end grain specimens which have been taken from the artist’s property. In each case the image is manipulated through either colour, impression, engraving, or some combination of the above to emphasize a certain characteristic of a species. The text varies as well from tree to tree, focusing on what role each played in the local history and in this project.
The wood used in printing and binding came from the artist’s Farm 590.
Winner of the 2007 Gregynog Fine Press Prize.