A Sea Bird #Feathursday
This week we present some images from Greg Peterson’s and John Balkwill’s 1991 printing of English poet Keith Douglas’s collection of poems entitled The Sea Bird. It was printed in Lake Tahoe at Peterson’s and Balkwill’s Huckleberry Press in a limited edition of 120 copies with handset Pastonchi type from Harold Berliner’s Typefoundry on Rives Heavyweight White paper. Calligraphy for the titling was done by Laura Sackett, and the images of the Sea Bird (ostensibly a Sea Eagle, but we know of no eagle with markings as described in the poem) is printed from relief plates made from original art by Jennifer Dewey, and hand-colored using a pochoir process.
Keith Douglas, who was killed during World War II, has been called by Ted Hughes, “one of the most purely gifted poets ever born in England.” The poems in this collection were written during the war and deal with the insights and experiences the poet had during his service as an officer in the British Army. The title poem is a moving, almost mystical meditation on death.
Our copy, another donation from our friend Jerry Buff, is one of 110 copies quarter bound in navy blue cloth and marbled paper over bards. The marbled paper was created by Peggy Skycraft, and the binding work was done at Booklab in Austin, Texas under the direction of Craig Jensen.
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