David Burnett — The Island

Berwick upon Tweed, Alex McClaren, 1994. First edition. Cloth. A beautiful limited edition of a very scarce poem inspired by Homer's Odyssey, with lovely woodcuts on Japanese handmade paper. The beautiful limited edition of The Island, a very scarce poem inspired by the Odyssey, written by Scottish poet David Burnett, with colour woodcuts by Danish artist Inger Lawrance. Privately printed by Alex McClarenon an 1852 Hopkinson & Cope Albion hand press. A limited edition, one of only two-hundred copies printed, with this being no. 14. In the publisher's original blue quarter cloth, with blue marble boards. Contains a woodcut title leaf and all five tipped-in colour woodcuts, printed from the original blocks on Japanese handmade paper. Collated complete. Burnett co-founded Colpitts Poetry in 1975 to foster a poetic community at Durham, while also creating lyrical gems such as this whimsical poem filled with mythological symbolism. Lawrance fell in love Japanese woodcuts after receiving the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship in 1994. Her artwork has been showcased at The Victoria and Albert Museum, and she has an award named after her in the Art History Department at Oxford University. In the publisher's original blue quarter cloth, with blue marble boards. Externally, in excellent condition, with minimal marks and edgewear. End papers are bright and clean. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean. Fine . Ill.: Inger Lawrance. Fine .