Eight Colour Woodcuts on J. Green mould-made paper with accompanying poems chosen by the artist. Signed. 23 x 16 inches, 58.5 x 40.4 centimetres Michael Rothenstein had for some time been working on the twin images of the sun and the moon, and the idea grew between us of producing a portfolio of eight prints, each enclosed in a folder on which was printed a poem selected carefully for its visual suggestiveness but yet not calling for too specific illustration. After some discussion, we settled for four sun poems to alternate with four moon poems, from Donne, Shelly, Yeats, Baudelaire, Sylvia Plath and Odysseus Elytis. When Michael Rothstein sent the first proof- of the last print which accompanies the wonderful Yeats poem `The Crazed Moon'- all our hopes were justified. Rothenstein, with his printer Shelley Rose, had printed from a piece of sea-bitten marine ply, and had kept so much of the texture that a bit of calico stuck to the lower part shows up perfectly. And they had developed a way of inking the wood with merged bands of different colours, to richly subtle effect.(1) Rothenstein can be seen to be one of the most inventive and ambitious woodcut artists working in England, cutting massive sections from riven trees and printing directly from them or composing prints from packing-case wood and pieces of timber he found. In 1970 Rothenstein agreed to collaborate on a further two books entitled Seven Colours and the Songs of Songs. The format of all three is the same; large Imperial folio organised as eight letterpress folders with Rothenstein's prints loosely inserted. 1. The Rampart Lions Press:Printing workshop through five decades Cambridge 1982.
Published by The Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge, 1972 Handset in 24pt Albertus light. Title page lettering by Sebastian Carter. Prints on Crisbrook hand-made paper, printed by Shelley Rose The folders loosely laid in a box made by John P.Gray, in black canvas with printed paper label on the front.