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Shrapnel
Author: Joel Brower, with illustrations by Scott Teplin, and typography by Patrick Flynn
Edition: unknown
Year: 2002
Wrapped in gauze and in uniform, with the personal effects still in the pockets, the book is the body of a soldier. The paper made to hold metal shards like the skin of a soldier damaged in battle. Complicity in state sponsored violence and empathy for it's victims are implied through the material signification and illustration of Brouwer's brilliant text. The blood is our responsibility, so too is the healing. The roughly hewn pine caskets made by Mark Wagner serve the emotional coup-de-grace.
Production notes:
This book was conceived in 1997 on New Year's eve in response to Wagner's oration of Brouwer's poem. Years of phone calls, emails, and visits later the books were finished. The type was set three times over in Karnak monotype at Woodside Press, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The illustrations were executed by Scott Teplin, and three metal plates of each drawing were engraved at Royal Graphix. The paper is/was hemp, flax, and shrapnel formed by Master Paul Denhoad in Iowa City, Iowa. The covers of camo and velvet were stitched by the indefatigable Caroline Byrne. Printed letterpress in Madison, Wisconsin, by Patrick JB Flynn who designed this publication in collaboration with the publisher/binder of this edition of thirty books.
Price: $4000.00, last remaining copy.
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