An Important Transitional Book Between Ediciones Vigía and El Fortín
Odios falsos
Notes: 29 pages, plus an attached pergamino (scroll) illustration. 7-1/2 by 11 inches; the scroll unrolls to 6-1/2 by 18 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan.
Odios falsos is both a significant literary work and an important marker in the development of Ediciones Vigía and Rolando Estévez as book artists. As a book artist, the pergamino is central to Estévez's practice and one of his formal innovations in the medium. Estévez has defined a book as "something you open" and his use of single sheets that open are part of his interrogation of this idea. The inherently fragile (and crushable) scrolls mounted to the fronts of books may also be Estévez's way of ensuring that his books continue to degrade over time even as the quality of his materials have improved. From the beginning of Ediciones Vigía, the fragility and ephemeral nature of the books was an artistic choice, not just an economic one.
A collection of poems, printed on recycled Kraft paper. Lorente is one of the most distinguished of the Cuban poets who were children during the revolution. This collection includes "Negro spiritual", an ode to the martyred 19th century Cuban poet Plácido, one of Lorente's most widely anthologized and translated poems.
The book is designed and illustrated by Rolando Estévez with handcolored illustrations and carefully shaped collage illustrations. A handcolored illustration is mounted to cloth affixed to a pergamino (scroll) mounted on the front cover. This design element prefigures Estévez's regular use of scrolls under his post-Vigía imprint, Ediciones El Fortín.
The covers are stiff cardstock covered in crumpled paper. Estévez used this technique at least as early as 1995 in "Una salva de porvenir" but it did not become a regular design choice and or a complete covering for a book until about 2010. It gives the cover a third dimension and a tactile sense more akin to soft leather than the hard surfaces of paper or cloth typical of most books. Estévez has not made much use of the technique since he left Ediciones Vigía but the press continues to employ it with great regularity. This is a good early example.
OCLC: DEIAI FQG FXG GZM LRU NOC STF UMK
Edition + Condition: Scroll somewhat crushed, as usual, else near fine.
Publication: Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 2012.
ISBN: 9789592402034
Item No: #306724
Sold