A 320-page catalog of more than 300 handmade books from Ediciones Vigía, Cuadernos Papiro, and Ediciones El Fortín over the last 30 years.
Short videos of individual books are available on my YouTube Channel.
Ediciones Vigía
Of the three publishers, Ediciones Vigía is the oldest—established in 1985 by Alfredo Zaldívar and Rolando Estévez—and the best known inside and outside of Cuba. It has been the subject of exhibitions in many countries and even a monograph in the US, the recently released Handmade in Cuba.
Estévez, a set designer by profession, established the design aesthetic for Vigía. A large group of writers, artists, and artisans in the Vigía circle collaborate to publish hundreds of individually designed, and hand assembled books.
Typically, one artist creates a maquette for a book and then a group of artisans will figure out how to replicate the design 200 times. Most early Vigía books had print runs of 100 and later 200 copies, because that was as many as it was possible to produce before the mimeograph masters wore out, a tradition that continued after new printing technology was acquired.
While Ediciones Vigía has published many well-known writers from Europe and the Americas, it has retained its focus on the community of writers in and around Matanzas. Few publishers anywhere have produced so many literary books by regional writers and Vigía’s local emphasis is unparalleled among the makers of artist’s books.
In the post-Estévez era, several designers who once worked alongside him have begun to shape a new Vigía aesthetic, notably Elizabeth Valero Molina, Frank David Valdés, Adrián Milián Suárez, Marialva Ríos, and Johann E. Trujillo.
Ediciones El Fortín
Ediciones El Fortín is a spinoff of Vigía, founded by Estévez in 2014. This new Matanzas imprint claims to be based in “Bellamar”, which means “lovely sea.” Bellamar is intended to counter the violence implied by naming a city Matanzas, which might be translated as “Murderville.”. El Fortín produces books in small numbers, usually fewer than 50 copies, with elaborate structures and packaging. While Fortín books are much closer to Estévez’s one-of-a-kind book-art pieces than the typical Vigía title, they also make extensive use of Vigía-style handcoloring and paper and fabric collage.
Cuadernos Papiro
Cuadernos Papiro started as a papermaking collective in 1994 and began publishing books in 2001 under the direction of Tatiana Zúñiga Góngora and Manuel Arias Silveira. The press is in Holguín, on the opposite end of the island from Havana. Cuadernos Papiro (whose name translates as papyrus notebooks or papyrus quartos) makes all its own paper from recycled materials. Its founders obtained a linotype machine so they could print all their books with lead type. A dedication to obsolete equipment is central to Papiro’s vision. Most of Papiro’s books are illustrated with relief prints, most often linocuts and collagraphs.
14 pages. 6 by 11 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Clásicos. A single poem in Spanish with an accompanying English translation. The author is a late Chilean poet. Designed and illustrated by Elizabeth Valero Molina. Introduction by Héctor R. Rivero Martínez. OCLC: BLSTP CLU CRU CRU CUY DEIAI.....
14 leaves, plus covers. 14 by 13 inches. One of 100 copies. Printed letterpress on various handmade papers and stringbound. A collection by women poets (all but the first from Cuba)—Marife Santiago Bolaños, Nancy Morejón, Reina María Rodríguez, Soleida Ríos, Susana Haug, and Wendy Guerra—with a cover design by Freddy.....
38, [5], [3 blank] pages. 7 by 11 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. A collection of poems mimeographed from typescript on brown paper. Illustrated on separate sheets of white paper, each with spots of color illustration. Covers collaged and handcolored. A thick green rope is looped.....
32 pages. 8 by 10-3/4 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems from a prolific and popular Cuban poet. With an introduction by Agustina Ponce Valdés, who succeeded Alfredo Zaldívar as the director of Ediciones Vigía, printed on a fold-out sheet mounted near the front of.....
12 by 16 inches. 8 leaves, printed letterpress with red ink. Unlike most Cuadernos Papiro books, this one is printed on both sides of the sheet. An edition of 60 copies. Arrufat is a prolific poet and winner of the Premio Nacional de Literatura de Cuba. The poems printed here.....
[32] pages plus an illustrated pergamino. 6-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches. Edition of 40 copies. Colección Puente de Hierro. Poems in Spanish and French translation. Text laserprinted. The book has collage illustrations at the front and back, and long fold-out strips attached to the cover flaps which reveal the name of.....
12 leaves of handmade paper, plus covers. 5-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches. One of an unknown number of copies, perhaps 200. A collection of poems by a Holguín native, printed letterpress and illustrated with five full-page, multicolor collagraphs by Yunia Pavón Gómez. Bound Japanese-style, with thin cord. A beautifully illustrated book.....
35 pages. 8-1/2 by 10 inches. Edition of 200 copies. Colección Trébol. Designed and illustrated by Ulises A. Guerra Yi with a cloth cover and collaged interior illustrations. The text is four short stories from the author's first book, photocopied on white paper. OCLC: DEIAI EEM FQG FXG IQU NDD.....
13 pages. 6 by 8-1/2 inches. An edition of 100 copies. Colección Clásicos (?). Five poems by the Brazilian writer, in Portuguese with a Spanish translation on the facing page. The translations are by Eugenio Gardinalli Filho and Juan Luis Hernández Milián. The design and illustrations are by Rolando Estévez.....
11 handmade sheets in a bag. Sheets measure 7-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches. Edition not stated, but ca. 100 copies. The letterpress printed sheets are wrapped with a bellyband and are laid into a tie-dyed cotton bag (8-1/2 by 13 inches) with a wood grain design by Freddy García Azze of.....
16 leaves. 9-1/2 by 10 inches. An edition of 80 copies. A posthumous retrospective collection of poems. Baquero, a native of Holguín, was closely associated with the Orígenes group of writers founded by José Lezama Lima. Following the revolution, Baquero lived in exile in Spain until his death in 1997.....
Pergamino (folded broadside). 8-1/2 by 5-1/4 inches; unfolding to 20 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. A poem, assembled from several sheets of Kraft paper, mimeographed from typescript with a border illustrating a city street. With a string for hanging at the top and a bellyband with.....
98 pages. 7-3/4 by 11-1/4 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. An anthology of Catalan and Cuban poetry, the former with Spanish translations and the latter with Catalan translations. The text is mimeographed from typescript, reproducing handwritten titles above each poem. The cover reproduces a photograph of.....
67 pages. 7 by 9-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems about Paris photocopied on various kinds of recycled industrial paper stocks. This is a particularly inventive book designed and illustrated by Rolando Estévez. The cover is linen with paper collage elements. This cover.....
11 leaves, printed on one side only (rectos). 6-1/4 by 8 inches. An edition of 100 copies. Colección Clásicos. A small selection of Baudelaire's poetry in French and Spanish translation, mimeographed from typescript. This is the first in a series of several books of poetry in translation published in 1989.....
19 pages. 6-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección Clásicos. Poems by Baudelaire in the original French and in Spanish translation. This is the second edition of this book, which was first published by Edicioned Vigía fifteen years earlier. This edition is designed and illustrated by Marialva Ríos.....
10-1/2 by 8 inches, plus an 8-inch wide scroll that unfurls to 58 inches. An edition of 35 copies. Colección Puente de Bacunayagua The book-like portion of this production consists of two leaves connected with a strip of cloth. The inside covers include the colophon and an about-the-author section digitally reproduced.....
97 pages. 11-3/4 by 6-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems by the Cuban-American poet and anthropologist and one of the great books designed and illustrated by Rolando Estévez. Mounted to the cover of the book is a cardboard suitcase that opens to.....
11 leaves. 6-1/2 by 14-1/2 inches in a handmade paper bag measuring 12 by 14-1/2 inches. One of 50 copies. Colección Puente de Hierro. Poems in Spanish and English translation by the author photocopied on white paper. The book is illustrated with collage elements and handcoloring. The cover includes shells collected.....
4 leaves. 5 by 8 inches. Edition of 100 copies. Colección del San Juan. A single poem mimeographed from a manuscript with calligraphy and two collage illustrations by Hiram Aguiar. The sheets are stapled into stiff paper wrappers, with a thin, translucent paper dust jacket, decorated with collage elements and.....
One horizontal sheet folded to make four leaves. 10 by 26 inches, folding down to 7-1/2 inches. Edition of 100 copies. Colección del San Juan. A horizontal pergamino (folded broadside) printed with a poem in three columns mimeographed from calligraphy. The cover is black paper decorated with the figure of a......
43 pages. 9-1/4 by 8 inches (oblong). An edition of 200 copies. Colección Barquitos. Ocean-inspired stories for children. Text photocopied onto white paper, with handcolored and collaged illustrations by Marialva Ríos. The cover is also decorated with bits of shell, seaweed, and sand collected on the beaches of Matanzas. Issued.....
87 pages. 7-1/2 by 11-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 signed copies. Colección del San Juan. Poems and prose digitally printed on brown estraza (sugarcane waste) paper. Designed by Alfredo Zaldívar with illustrations by Violeta Naranjo. The cover design incorporates paper collage elements, wood, and leaves. OCLC: BNCJM DEIAI DLC.....
[39] pages. 6 by 13 inches. An edition of 60 copies. Colección Ultramar. Blanco was born in Madrid to Cuban parents who were passing through Spain on their way to the US. He grew up in Miami and became a poet. He read the poem "One Today" at Barack Obama's.....
10 pages. 6-1/2 by 7-1/2 inches. One 200 copies. Colección del Estero. Poems, photocopied on white paper. The binding is stiff paper covered with cloth and decorated with handcolored drawings, cardboard, and lace. Illustrated by Diana Balboa; designed by Elizabeth Valero. Bobes is a Cuban writer and the winner of.....