FlugBlattBuch Nr. 7
Rafael Alberti, Rameau/Minué/Menuett
This small booklet, made of mould-made Zerkall paper, focuses exclusively on the sonnet Minué/Minuet from the cycle Invitación a un viaje sonoro/Invitation to a Journey in Sounds by Rafael Alberti. At the beginning is the complete poem in the Spanish original; on the following five double spreads it is presented simultaneously in the Spanish original and in a German translation. The text is complemented by visual counterparts of the four objects in the poem: la rosa/the rose (printed with a real pressed rose), la gracia/grace (printed with a real bird feather), la risa/laughter (printed with a zinc plate), la brisa/the wind (an arrow printed with a brass rule). At the end is a German translation of the sonnet. Nature prints from plants and bird feathers are not as hard to accomplish in letterpress printing as one might think. However, the delicate “printing blocks” need to be prepared appropriately, and the print run cannot be too large, since small pieces always come off in the inking and printing process, especially with brittle dried plants. Bird feathers are much more robust. Thus it was all the more amazing that I was able to make more than 300 usable prints from the very delicate rose for this edition.
20 pages, Zerkall mould-made paper, hand-set, letterpress printed, booklet with title label, 12.5 x 18.3 cm,
100 numbered and signed copies. Lahnstein 1991