Illustrations of Michèle Forgeois

Jonah – Judith – Ruth.
Greenbrae, California: Allen Press, 1984.
(Prothro B-474)

Designed and produced by Lewis and Dorothy Allen – Illustrations by Michèle Forgeois – Printed on handmade paper from Twinrocker Mill – Wrappers of handmade paper from Fabriano Mill – Box made by Cardoza-James Binding Company

Jonah – Judith – Ruth presents three stories from the King James Version, based on the Modern Reader’s Bible. Each story is illustrated with one full-page drawing by the French artist Michèle Forgeois (1929–2000). Lewis and Dorothy Allen were first introduced to Forgeois at an exhibition of her sculptures in San Francisco and subsequently asked her to illustrate their 1971 publication Jealousy. Best known as a sculptor, though versed in various media, Forgeois had never illustrated a book. She subsequently created artwork for four other Allen Press publications, the last being Jonah – Judith – Ruth. Regarding the image displayed here for the beginning of Jonah she wrote, “The nightmare where the sea monster in his night-dark milieu represents punishment for Jonah’s breach of faith.”

The text is printed in brown with Romanée type. Book titles are printed in orange in Solemnis type, while decorative running titles in Sumerian, Syriac, or Hebrew, one language for each book, are printed in either purple or blue. The work comprises seven unsewn gatherings in a stiff brown wrapper, set in a box with gilt title. Printed in a limited edition of one hundred forty copies. This copy is from the collection of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro at Bridwell Library.