Lorca: Soledad/Songs of Loneliness, Spring 2009

Soledad/Songs of Loneliness is a unique artists’ book, which includes four poems by Federico García Lorca, and nine original drawings by Manuel Neri. The poem Amparo was included in Lorca’s book Poema del cante jondo, published in May 1931 by Ulises, Madrid. The English translation is by Robert Nasatir. The poems Casida del sueño al aire libre and Gacela del amor imprevisto are from the book Diván del Tamarit, written in 1931-34 and published posthumously in 1940 in a special edition of Revista Hispánica Moderna by Columbia University, New York. The English translations, entitled Qasida of the Dream in Open Air and Ghazal of Love Unforeseen, are by Catherine Brown. The poem De otro modo is from the book Canciones (1921-24), which was first published in 1927 by Litoral, Malaga, and in a second edition by Revista de Occidente, Madrid, in 1929. The English translation by Alan S. Trueblood is entitled In Another Manner. These translations were published in the book Federico García Lorca: Collected Poems (New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1991; rev. 2002).

The drawings by Manuel Neri, in water-based pigments, ink and graphite, are from the Seated Figure Study series done in 1981, and were selected by Manuel Neri to accompany the poems for this book. The Introduction was written in English by Mary Julia Klimenko and translated into Spanish by Jaime Moreno Villarreal. The calligraphy of the text and page designs were created and executed by Thomas Ingmire on Rives BFK White paper in the Spring of 2009. The calligraphy for the Introduction, biographies, and colophon was done by Akiho Sugiyama.

The binding structure and leather binding for the book were designed by Daniel E. Kelm and produced by Daniel E. Kelm, Kylin Lee and other mechanics at the Wide Awake Garage in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The book is bound in goatskin leather, with a cover design that combines hand-tooling and die-stamping in gold leaf. The book is housed in a handmade paper-covered box produced by Foolscap Press in Santa Cruz, California. The uniquely painted designs, calligraphy, and collage elements on the cover of the box are by Thomas Ingmire.

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