NASH, Paul. NONESUCH PRESS. ~ Genesis.
12 woodcuts by Paul Nash for the first chapter of Genesis in the Authorised Version. No.318 of 375 copies. Printed at the Curwen Press in Rudolf Koch’s Neuland type on Zanders handmade paper. Pp.56, french-folded. Sm. 4to, original black paper covered boards lettered and decorated with gilt stars, crosses and letters on spine and edges. In the original dust jacket repaired at the spine, which has some spotting and fading but has done its job as teh boards are extremely bright, fresh and unsullied.
A seminal Modernist piece in which Nash examines the evolution of primary form using the woodcut. The first of the the cuts ‘The Void’ is solid black and each new stage of creations is a fresh primary form cut out of the black of the void and the design for the creation of Man and Woman is a synthesis of all those before it (The Nonesuch Century p. 55).
Koch’s Neuland type, a modern version of German blackletter typef, was created by the typographer the year before this book was printed. He designed it by directly carving each size of letter into metal, and it gives the appearance of being slightly crudely cut into wood - reflecting the elemental nature of Genesis and Nash’s woodcuts.