Scipio’s Dream by Cicero - CLINKER PRESS LIMITED EDITION 2012

Scipio’s Dream by Cicero - CLINKER PRESS LIMITED EDITION 2012

A PICTORIAL REVIEW

30 unnumbered copies.
Afterword by André Chaves.
Illustrations taken from historic editions of the book.
Hand-made, letterpress printed and hand bound.
Marbled endpapers.
Deckled outer and lower page edges.
Printed on A Patin & Cie. pre-aged old paper.
Bound in brown cloth with title printed on cover in dark brown.
Cream dustjacket with portrait of cicero printed in black on cover.
Wrapped in Mylar.
25.5x20.2cm.
24 pages
C$85

Cicero’s themes are the immortality of the soul and the relationship between humans in society, God and the order of the universe. One must contemplate the heavens in order to act rightly on Earth.

































An index of the other illustrated reviews in the this series can be viewed here.

One of the best books I have gotten from Andre, and perhaps his most individualistic. His very small limitations can limit experiencing his works in person to the few, so thanks for sharing this.

>1 wcarter: Great pictures of a great book. I think this is the only book in my collection that has any foxing; something I'm usually quite particular about. Psychologically, I guess 'pre-foxed' makes all the difference!

>3 GardenOfForkingPaths: Ha ha, likewise, it's the only book I have with foxing that I keep in the main collection (I have a few kept elsewhere until I find better editions). That the foxing is a "feature" rather than a "bug" does help.

>4 Shadekeep: Indeed, especially if it's done in a humorous way like this. It almost has me rethinking my whole stance on foxing!

I have a few of their books and am candidly ambivalent - love the aesthetics, layout, etc. and a steal at the books' price points. The horrendous proofreading drives me nuts, jokes in the colophon regarding that lack of attention to detail notwithstanding. I appear to be in the minority on this but, having been an Editor-in-Chief of a student journal, the dude cannot abide.

Very interesting, I really like the overall design, seems reasonable at that price. I kind of like the idea of pre-foxing it, as I assume early printings of this work would now look similar. Getting the paper from Agnes Dawson is very cool too!

>6 LBShoreBook: The jokes are lame, and pointing out an edition of 30 is "small" doesn't need to be pointed out either.

Thanks for that, or maybe I should say "dang nab it, another beautiful book to add to my want list!" :)

By the way, the 11th picture you posted is the famous Flammarion engraving. I believe the earliest known work that includes that is (not surprisingly) from the 19th century French astronomer Nicolas Camille Flammarion. There have long been rumors it predates Flammarion by hundreds of years, but if so, I don't believe anyone has ever proved that. It typically includes a mystical caption that says

A missionary of the Middle Ages tells that he had found the point where the sky and the Earth touch.

>7 PBB: I think they are mostly intended to be self-deprecating. To wit, the hand-drawn annotation to the new version of The Months of William Morris.



And that's not even the only mistake in that one line. Andre is pretty famous for his typo-strewn work, and I can't personally fault him, as I can barely type a post with more than five words without having to come back and edit it. If I ever do letterpress, the required corrections are going to make the end product look like a ransom note.

>9 Shadekeep: Now imagine typing on an Intertype machine! Think typewriter – except you have to wait minutes to see what you've typed and then only mirrored and at low contrast.

Andre's books are pure joy. If you saw his workshop and his craft process it'd knock your sox off.

Cut the man some slack. It's a private press, and those imperfections are what give the book their character. They reflect the personality of the printer/proprietor and give them their charm. That's what I like about private presses.

Say what you will, but Andre Chaves seems to enjoy what he does, and his work certainly shows something of its printer. Anyone who attempts real innovation and artistry in printing has to look forward, so it's bound to seem quirky to quite a few readers at the very least.

And he doesn't charge a lot for his books, which is cool too.