Enso. Four Haiku for the Seasons.

One of 30 copies. Four seasonal haiku by Matsuo Basho with English translations by Lucien Stryk, designed, letterpress printed and bound by Richard Zauft and with 4 dye-printed photographs by Zauft. With four Kanji symbols drawn by master calligrapher Chihiro in Hiroshima for this book representing Spring (Haru), Summer (Natsu), Autumn (Aki) and Winter (Fuyu). Enso, the Zen circle (of life) is brush drawn by Richard Zauft for the frontispiece. Printed in Agaki typeface, designed by Neil Summerour in 2007 on several papers: Johannot for the texts, Ito-iri for the covers and Gampi for the endpapers. Bound in full double paper wrappers, attached to a wooden rod at the spine which allows it to be suspended inside its handmade mahogany slipcase. Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) is considered by many Japanese to be their country's greatest poet, almost single handedly being responsible for the raising the esteem of the haiku which until he began writing, had been little more than a pastime. Lucien Stryk (1924-2013) was an American poet, translator and educator. He wrote the epilogue and provided the translations for the book.…