Nawakum Press: A Bonsai-Shaped Mind

Received my Deluxe copy today, it is stunning. Superb execution, beautiful paper, particularly the engravings on Japanese gampi paper. The cover and solander case are fragile, definitely made for gentle handling.

https://www.nawakumpress.com/book-collection/a-bonsai-shaped-mind

>1 LBShoreBook: I agree - one of Nawakum’s best! I attempted to take pictures for my own review but couldn’t quite do it justice.

For those on the fence, I’d say there’s something in here for just about everyone - it’s not just an informative text on Bonsai.

The essays are brief, philosophical, and captivating even for the layman. The story is quite unexpected and genre-bending, with Bonsai really just the uniting theme of a highly-personal 500 year saga that stretches into the near future. The poetry translations scattered throughout are stunning - not just excellent examples for the time periods selected, but also highly evocative in the modern day.

Of course Richard Wagener’s illustrations, not just of Bosnia specimens (many of which are also accompanied by fascinating histories and naturalist descriptions), but of wildlife, plants and scenes from nature are the highlight of the book.

All of it is expertly laid out and printed on a variety of beautiful papers with other interesting design elements, and then gorgeously bound as well.

I suspect this will be my finest acquisition of the year.

Received the slipcase edition some days ago.
I think Barbarian did a better job at printing Wagener's woodcuts, but taken in the context of the Japanese soul, the whole is a beauty!
A + would have been a Japanese style binding maybe!

>3 Maretzo: Jan Elsted is arguably the finest printer of woodcuts alive.

>4 ultrarightist:

Simon Lawrence at Fleece Press is in the same league.

And Gaylord Schanilec. You needn't look any farther than Sylvae for proof.

>3 Maretzo: It’s worth noting that these are Wagener’s engravings printed by his own hand (and presumably to his own preferences) on an Albion hand press.

While he may not be as a skilled a printer as Jan Elsted, that gives it an extra level of provenance for me.

To my eye, they are just about flawless with very crisp details and a variety of depths showing through. I particularly like the transparent overlays for the dual title pages.

>5 dlphcoracl: and >6 grifgon: Point taken

>5 dlphcoracl: Oh Yes, and confirmed by his book on Agnes Miller Parker of 1990 !
Unfortunately, Simon Lawrence has now retired!

>4 ultrarightist: This could start an interesting offshoot! Jan is truly exceptional and easily one of the very best out there (definitely top five worldwide), but I would say the honour of ‘finest’ goes to Graham Williams of The Florin Press (who the Elsteds learned printing from).

>9 Maretzo: Maybe not quite retired, as I believe Simon still intends to print on occasion, just not under the Fleece Press name.

A Bonsai Shaped-Mind looks wonderful. Would grace any bookshelf.

Anyone knows how the colour letterpress printing was done, shown on the left side of one of the website images?

>10 ChestnutPress: I was not aware Graham Williams is still active

>13 What_What: If you mean the photograph, that's a bit of a specialty of Rebecca Chamlee at Pie in The Sky Press, who printed that entire spread.

For her other books, she uses photo polymer plates, four-color printing and really tight registration to be able to get the photorealistic effect with letterpress.

>6 grifgon: Here, here. No one can touch Schanilec's multi-color output. Hard stop. Also check out "Lac des Pleurs". Along with "Mayflies of the Driftless Region" and "Sylvae", it forms a magnum opus naturalist trilogy.

>3 Maretzo: the slipcase edition did not resonate with me, particularly the cover. The deluxe cover is well executed (acknowledging it should be given the price differential).

>16 Sport1963: And Bokeh! — A quadrilogy!

>18 grifgon: Bokeh has its own trilogy, along with A Little Book of Birds and Departures. Though all of the above are just a few of Schanilec’s excellent naturalist works!

>15 NathanOv: It really is impressive. When I first saw it in April at the Manhattan Book Fair I thought at first it was an offset-printed image, that's how well done it is.

>14 ultrarightist: very much so!

>15 NathanOv: Thanks for explaining. This one is printed letterpress too, no?

>22 What_What: it is! I assume the same process, just don’t think it was specified in the colophon for this one, so I referred to her others.

>23 NathanOv: Thanks again.

>23 NathanOv: I’d have to double-check but I think it is specified as letterpress printed in the prospectus.

I fully expected this to be a "must have" edition for me. But it became an easy pass, and I'm not really sure why! I'm sure my irrational dislike of landscape books is a factor.

It wasn’t a topic that resonated with me. This years work (The Poet by Hermann Hesse) should be more appealing, but it isn’t the longest work. I’m not sure a cost per page is the best metric, but I think that the cost will need to be lower than the Bonsai book in order to be justifiable to me

>25 Nightcrawl: Yes, definitely letterpress - I just meant that the exact process wasn’t specified.

>28 DMulvee: my guess is The Poet will be closer in cost to Maelstrom, though I could be wrong. Usually Nawakum’s really premium books are original texts and / or special collaborations.

>28 DMulvee: I asked David about the Hess book and he indicated it will be smaller in number and simpler in execution than Bonsai. This should be reflected in the pricing as noted by Nathan.