Who Killed Cock Robin? By Carolyn Trant. Facsimile edition, 92 X 112mm, 13 images, Carolyn Trant, Lewes, 2011.
Images reproduced onto art paper; bound in wooden boards and roped. A new copy.
The original is an edition of 13 copies, folio, accordion-fold, c.225 X 1820mm (unfolded), 13 images, Carolyn Trant, Lewes, 2011. I reviewed this in the second of my occasional newsletters Within or Without Oxford:
I’ve already referred to Carolyn Trant’s Parvenu Press as being one of my
high spots for the fair, most particularly Cock
Robin. These extraordinary colour images are printed from woodcuts and
bound accordion-fold between specially cut pieces of mahogany. There are thirteen woodcuts in all, the
edition also being of thirteen copies, price £1,500 (personal score 38). The
woodcuts are also available individually at about a hundred pounds each.
Admittedly, the price makes for an obstacle, but very well worth it. Also very
good – and beautifully made – are her woodcut toy theatres Theatre Karolina.
I bought five of these, which only lacks a text to make it the perfect present
for any six year old man or woman or even someone bigger, they cost about £75. They
put me in mind of a remark by J.B. Priestley to the effect that all the
happiest people he had known owned toy theatres. She also had her
unintentionally scarce series of ‘small’ books, Brighton Belles, Family Album, The Magic Rabbit, concertina-folded
engravings with almost no text, bound in odd materials these are very good
value at around £60 each. They are unlimited, but she has lost the plates for
them so they are (for now) scarce.