Robin Eschner

The Letters of Heaven

Letters of Heaven bookThe Letters of Heaven, by Barry Lopez was published in the summer of 2000 by The Knight Library Press of Eugene Oregon as a limited edition.

Included in each book are five of my hand colored etchings. This book was printed from Bembo monotypes cast by Michael Bixler, passed through the stick at the Press, and printed on Hahnemuhle Heine using a Vandercook 219 proof press.

The calligraphic title, headings and ornaments are by Marilyn Reaves. Laminated handmade papers from Twinrocker and Moulin de Larroque were used to construct the cover.

Sandy Tilcock, director of Knight Library Press, designed, printed and bound this edition. There are 125 numbered and signed copies priced at $425.00 (plus $10.00 shipping and handling). Dealer discount: 30%.

Sandy can answer further questions and you can reach her by calling (541)465-9079, or by sending e-mail to:

klibpr@darkwing.uoregon.edu

Collaboration with Author Barry Lopez

I am privileged to have worked with the author Barry Lopez on a number of projects since 1989. Our collaborations on two books: Apologia and The Letters of Heaven are noted here. You can view some of the paintings I have done in response to Barry's writing by following the links on the left.

Some of the paintings were exhibited in May of 1997, at the Edith Caldwell Gallery in San Francisco and additional pieces were shown in the spring of 1999 at the I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, California.

Barry Lopez website: www.barrylopez.com

Apologia: The Book

ApologiaIn the fall of 1989, Barry Lopez made a road trip from his home in western Oregon to South Bend, Indiana.

A chronicle of that trip, entitled Apologia, appeared in Witness magazine and later in Harper's.

Shortly after this, Barry and I began discussing the idea of creating a fine press edition of the story. In 1990, I started carving a series of poplar woodblocks, each nearly a foot square, ultimately completing twenty-three images which visually convey a journey that parallels the one described in the essay.

Apologiais a limited edition accordion book which hinges the woodblock prints into a continuous presentation almost twenty-two feet long, with the words of the essay woven through the flow of images. Designed and organized by Charles Hobson, San Francisco, the edition has been printed letterpress on Stonehenge paper by Susan Acker at Feathered Serpent Press, Novato, California. The typefaces used are Poppl-Laudatio Regular and Trajan.

The woodblocks were editioned by Nora Pauwels at KALA Art Institute, Berkeley. John DeMerritt, Emeryville, California, hinged the pages and bound the book in boards covered with Lami Li handmade paper and sections of USGS topographic maps of Wyoming. Sandy Tilcock of lone goose press, Eugene, Oregon, has made clamshell boxes covered in black Canapetta fabric for the edition.

Enclosed in a folder on the back cover of each book is a unique tire-tread print made by Barry Lopez (with the assistance of Sandy Tilcock) on a segment of USGS topographic map of Wyoming. The prints were made by inking-up the tires of Barry's Toyota 4-Runner, the vehicle driven on the journey described in the essay. Each print is signed and numbered by the author, and each book is signed and numbered by Barry and by me.
Completed in the spring of 1997, the book has been published by lone goose press, Eugene, Oregon in an edition of fifty copies (numbered 1-50) with sixteen additional copies (lettered A-P) reserved for the participants.

For information regarding Apologia, please contact Sandy Tilcock, lone goose press, 1166 West Second Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97402. Telephone (541) 465-9079. Price - $1,800.00

Apologia was also published as a trade edition in 1998 by The University of Georgia Press, Athens and London.