Richard Minsky Collects Thomas Watson Ball
Book artist (and our book art columnist) Richard Minsky has just unveiled his latest collection -- The Book Art of Thomas Watson Ball. Following in the footsteps of his three highly successful collections of American publishers' bindings, he assembled this single-artist collection of more than sixty books, dating from 1897 to 1905. Ball was a designer for Harper's and other turn-of-the-century publishers, and his work was often unattributed (and copied). Writes Minsky, "Ball was a master of silhouette and skyline, and excelled at landscape and marine subjects. His abstract landscapes on book covers predate Kandinsky and other modernists' ventures in that direction, beginning in 1897." The exhibition is up now at Minsky's Hudson, New York, studio, and some of it can be seen online.
Though not intended to be definitive, Minsky's exhibition will guide scholars and collectors in this area. To that end, Minsky has also produced an exhibition catalogue. Until February 29, a pre-publication discount in in effect for both the limited and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition of twenty-five is signed and numbered
with color photos of all books in the exhibition, printed in
archival high resolution inkjet, in a hardbound cloth binding by Minsky, based on a T. W. Ball cover design.The limited edition of one hundred is printed in full color on an Indigo 5000 digital offset press and housed in a flexible cloth cover with a gold-stamped panel adapted
from a T. W. Ball design, an archival inkjet printed dust wrapper, and
polyester protective overwrap.
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Though not intended to be definitive, Minsky's exhibition will guide scholars and collectors in this area. To that end, Minsky has also produced an exhibition catalogue. Until February 29, a pre-publication discount in in effect for both the limited and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition of twenty-five is signed and numbered
with color photos of all books in the exhibition, printed in
archival high resolution inkjet, in a hardbound cloth binding by Minsky, based on a T. W. Ball cover design.The limited edition of one hundred is printed in full color on an Indigo 5000 digital offset press and housed in a flexible cloth cover with a gold-stamped panel adapted
from a T. W. Ball design, an archival inkjet printed dust wrapper, and
polyester protective overwrap. Related articles
