Paul Reps: Letters to a Friend …, Stillgate, 1981, 1st Ed., 1/2500, NF w/DJ

Reps, Paul, et al. Paul Reps: Letters to a Friend; Writings and Drawings, 1939 to 1980 (South Acworth, NH: Stillgate Publishers, 1981).

English, First Edition, Limited Edition, one of 2500 copies, a Near Fine book in a Near Fine dust jacket, HC, 4to, 12 1/4" x 9 1/4," 184 pp., including plates and illustrations.

ISBN: 0938286013

Brown cloth-covered boards in a red paper dust jacket. Black lettering on dust jacket spine. Covers have slight fading along edges and light rubbing, else pristine and intact, binding tight, sharp tips. Dust jacket has light age toning, slight wear to extremities, a few small closed tears along edges, and slight bumping to head of spine, else clean and intact. Dust jacket protected in a paper-backed Mylar sleeve. Pages have light age toning, else pristine and intact. Replete with black-and-white illustrations, some of which are accented in red. 12 tipped-in plates (facsimiles of artworks by Reps) also included. A beautiful and unique biographical book about Paul Reps (1895-1990), an American artist, author, and poet. Reps is perhaps best-known for his personal take on Japanese haiku poetry and Japanese sumi-e painting. This book acts as a scrapbook of sorts and features Reps's reprinted letters to a friend named Bill, haiku by Reps, and numerous illustrations of his signature sumi-e-inspired "picture poems." 12 of these "picture poems" are printed facsimile reproductions on Japanese paper. Excerpt from back colophon: "This first edition is limited to 2500 copies. Printing by Halliday Lithograph. Color printing by New England Book Components. Japanese paper printing by Rich Lithograph. The gold paper was silkscreened by Simon Chalfoun and the silk tissue paper was silkscreened by Jane Collister."