GAWAIN. A Response to the Opera by Harrison Birtwistle Using Words from the Libretto by David Harsent.

Second edition. Softcover. Signed by the author. Original green handmade Khadi paper covered boards, with a dark green woodcut print of the Green Knight to the upper board and another of Sir Gawain with tree-like hair to the lower board. Housed in a bespoke dark green felt-lined buckram solander box, onlaid with with light brown morocco titles to the backstrip, and a sword illustration to the upper panel. Deckled top, bottom and fore- edges. Concertina bound handmade Khadi paper, with 20 colour woodcuts hand-printed with a spoon accompanied by computer-generated text printed in black on cream paper mounted to each page, with tissue-guards variously loosely laid in. A superb fine copy, the binding square and firm, bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout, and without previous owners' inscriptions or stamps. The solander box has just a couple of light marks to the bottom edge. A beautiful production. Signed by the author, artist, and publisher Carolyn Trant in pencil on the rear pastedown. First published in a limited edition of just 20 copies in 1997, in a calf-bound and handsewn large format. It was Trant's first artists book, and featured hand-cut text. Winner of the inaugural 'Complete Book' award in the Society of Bookbinders International Binding Competition. In a 2007 blog post, Trant describes being inspired to create her striking woodcuts upon seeing the opera of the same name by Sir Harrison Birtwistle to a libretto by English poet David Harsent, "wonderful words, which inspired images which were rarely related to what was going on on stage visually; but close I hope to the spirit of both the opera as a whole and the medieval story of Gawain and the Green Knight. In fact I came to feel totally consumed by this spirit as I set myself the task of completing the book, like Gawain's task, in one year and a day" (Carolyn Trant and Parvenu Press, 2007). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. All items are catalogued by humans. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.…