El Compás/Counting Time is a unique artist book, which includes three poems by Federico García Lorca, and eight original drawings by Manuel Neri. The poem La casada infiel was first published in Primer Romancero Gitano, written between 1921 and 1927 and printed in 1928 by Revista de Occidente, Madrid. The English translation by Will Kirkland is entitled The Unfaithful Wife. The poem Madrigal first appeared in Libro de Poemas, published in 1921 in the printshop of Gabriel García Maroto, Madrid. The English translation is by Catherine Brown. The poem Y después was included in Lorca’s book Poema del cante jondo, published in May 1931 by Ulises, Madrid. The English translation And Then is by Cola Franzen.
The drawings by Manuel Neri, in water-based pigments, graphite, and oil pastel, are figure studies from the Lucia Series done in 1983, 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 2007.
The binding structure and leather binding for the book were designed by Daniel E. Kelm and produced by Daniel E. Klem, Kylin Lee and other mechanics at the Wide Awake Garage in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The book is bound in goatskin leather, with gold foil stamping. The book is housed in a Japanese 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.
