poems selected by Eric Williams

images by Garrick Palmer

1996
48pp
227 x 270mm (8.9 x 10.7in)

£125

240 copies signed by the artist

It is many years since we first came upon Garrick Palmer's engravings. On my travels one day as a young publisher, I chanced upon an exhibition of his work in a Hampshire bookshop. Here was an artist with, by coincidence, the same surname as Samuel Palmer ­ whose paintings and etchings were, at that time, already deeply important to me. Although Garrick's work was different in so many ways from that of his namesake, I found it had a very similar effect on me for he also endowed his landscapes with rich layers of story and hinted-at spiritual meaning. I came under their spell. While we were working on The Ballad of Reading Gaol we agreed to present a number of these engravings alongside a sequence of poems chosen by Eric Williams. The engravings, which were cut from the wood over three decades, display the originality of a powerful and visionary artist.

Handset Poliphilus and Blado type. Printed on Zerkall mould-made cream and white paper on a FAG Control 900 press.
14 wood engravings printed from the wood.
Boards covered in paste coloured Simili Japon paper printed with an additional wood engraving on the upper cover with sepia coloured titling above and below. Sepia spine titling. Slipcase covered in turquoise cloth with title printed on inset panel.