Artist Books
Artist books are limited edition, handmade works that use various book forms and bindings. The Befuddled Press has printed books on love, death, and beauty featuring haiku from the Haiku Society of America. It has also collaborated with the noted historian Calvin Luther Martin on Confessions of a Fugitive. A-flight is a short meditation of the relationship between spirit and the body. All the books featured on this page are made from scratch with paper made by hand, with letterpress printed text, and various types of artwork from cyanotypes, indigo dye, pigment printed images, and natural onion dyes. Click on the images to learn more or to acquire your own special little book.
Description: Not Unaware is limited edition artist book of short form poetry on the subject of beauty. It features twelve poems from twelve different poets and a title from a passage from Judy Van Der Veer. It is entirely handmade with handmade paper, letterpress printing, an indigo dyed cover, all in a pamphlet stitch book.
Description: Like the Pumpkins is limited edition artist book of short form poetry on the subject of beauty. It features eight poems from eight different poets and a title from a passage by Willa Cather. It is entirely handmade with handmade paper, letterpress printing, two original pigment printed photos on the cover and title page, all in a pamphlet stitch book.
Description: Confessions of a Fugitive is a collaborative book with the noted philosopher and historian, Calvin Luther Martin. It is entirely handmade featuring letterpress printing on handmade paper consisting of old t-shirts, jeans, and a little bit of abaca fiber and featuring an original cyanotype photogram of a feather. Signed and numbered in an edition of 36 copies by both the writer and the artist.
Description: A-flight is an accordion fold artist book, which is a meditation on our fleshy existence and desire for spiritual connection to the cosmos. It is in an edition of 6 copies, with 6 additional artist proofs. The numbered edition features black covers and the artist proofs, tan covers. The book's covers are hand-marbled paper with a letterpress printed title. The interior features a poem by Jack Kerouac and original pigment printed photographs.
Description: The Alchemist: Prologue is just that, a printed version of the prologue from the book, The Alchemist. It is a letterpress printed book in an edition of 10 copies, with an engraving on the cover and pigment printed images. It is a pamphlet stitch book with uncut quartos, on esparto and cotton paper. The images, or "effluviographs," are images of what the spirt world might look like, if we were able to photograph it.
Description: Time's Shadow is a limited edition artist book featuring sixteen short form poems by sixteen different poets on the theme of love. The title comes from an extended excerpt by the poet Mary Oliver. It is entirely handmade by the Befuddled Press - with handmade cotton paper. letterpress printing, natural onion dye, all in a pamphlet stitch binding.