The Printess & the p. By Christine Tacq. With: The Real Princess, by Hans Andersen. 4to, 31cm, 54p, colophon, (Christine Tacq) The p's and q's Press, Thame, 2014.
The text is set in Optima. Relief collagraphs are on Zerkall, intaglio collagraphs are on Fabriano and the covers were designed with relief-blocks. Bound at the Fine Book Bindery. Illustrated with 20 relief prints, including seven richly coloured double-page spreads with embossing, that hint at past and future events. 54 pages including two poems, one by Emily Dickinson. One of 15 (25) copies. Signed by the artist/printer, bound in hand-printed linen, with printed labels to the spine and upper board. Matching slipcase.
Quite simply a knockout, a wonderful book, an early state was awarded the Judges Choice award at the Oxford Fine Press Fair at 2013 and quite rightly so.Likewise a Collinge & Clark Book of the Month - an award with even greater cachet.. Printing just the intaglio collagraph of the twenty mattresses, twenty feather-beds and the ‘real princess’ must have been a staggering task. That these images are centered around a very familiar tale is deeply appealing, but the black-and-white images, very expressionistic in style, tell another story of insomnia and printing behind the scenes. The book combines archetype with colour and texture most successfully.
