Jim Dine’s Apocalypse

The Apocalypse: The Revelation of Saint John the Divine.
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1982.
(29195 Oversize)

Woodcut illustrations by Jim Dine – Handmade Apta Velin paper from the Richard De Bas Mill – Members of the press: Gerald Reddan, Christopher Stinehour, Glenn Todd, Lawrence Van Velzer, and Lucy Cohen

The tenth book of the Arion Press is one that the press identified specifically as a livre d’artiste. Arion Press produced a number of livres d’artistes over the years as special publications which stood outside the regular series of two to three publications per year which they offered to subscribers. The Apocalypse represented the press’s first collaboration with a major American artist and the first of eight with the artist Jim Dine (born 1935), who drew and cut the twenty-nine woodcut illustrations. For the frontispiece Dine carved a self-portrait, which he titled “The Narrator,” although his expressionistic images, closely focused on specific objects, are symbolic and evocative rather than explicitly narrative. The bold strokes of the cuts in each image vividly convey the energy put into their creation. The text is Garamond Bold, set in two sizes in order to more clearly distinguish the speakers: the words of the prophet appear in 14-point type while those of God, the angels, and apparitions appear in 18-point. Dictations and attributions of such higher beings is set in 18-point Roman type. Imported Garamond Titles Capitals, from the Stempel Foundry in Germany, were used for display words and initial letters. Arion Press proprietor Andrew Hoyem used concertina sewing in order to ensure that pages lay flat, sewing the headbands himself.

Printed in an edition of one hundred fifty copies, this is number 60 and it has been signed by the artist and Andrew Hoyem.

29195-John-Chap1-candlesticks-MAIN-1000.jpg