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.
[13] leaves. 6-1/2 by 7-3/4 inches. Edition size not noted. A small chapbook of poems from writers from a village about 20 miles from Matanzas. The poems are mimeographed from typescript with vignettes by Rolando Estévez. The cover and the four illustrations are handcolored with quick strokes of single colors.....
29 pages. 8-1/4 by 7-1/4 (slightly oblong). One of 200 copies, signed by the author. Colección del San Juan. A representative Ediciones Vigía book from the period. Mimeographed from typescript on both sides of various types of low-quality paper. Designed by Ediciones Vigía co-founder Alfredo Zaldívar with the title poem.....
A pergamino (folded broadside) in a three-part paper folder. 8-3/4 by 8 inches, unfolding to 70 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección Inicios. This is a commemorative edition of the poem, issued for the 70th anniversary of its publication. The paper folder is extensively handcolored after a design by Marialva.....
60 pages. 10 by 6-1/4 inches (oblong). An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. A collection of poems, photocopied on white paper. Designed and illustrated by Manuel Darío García de Zayas, with covers serigraphed by Guillermo Rojas. The covers are also handcolored in places. Two of the interior.....
44 pages. 7-1/2 by 9-3/4 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems by a Havana-based writer who was born in the Soviet Union. The book is designed and illustrated by Marialva Ríos with several collages. The text is printed (photocopied?) on brown Kraft-like paper. The.....
9 inches. 5-1/4 by 7 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. A single long poem inspired by the American poet Charles Bukowski. The covers are stiff paper that open to reveal the chapbook inside. The front cover is cut-out to show illustrations from the lower cover.....
37 pages. 7 by 8-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Barquitos.
A collection of very short stories for children. Illustrated with drawings by Javier Dueñas.
OCLC: BNCJM DEIAI EEM EYM FHM FQG FXG IND IXA NOC NYP. Near fine, lacking the bookmark issued with the book.
195 pages. 7-1/4 by 10 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección Aniversario.
An anthology of poems, photocopied on white paper. Illustrated by Sigfredo Ariel.
OCLC: AZS BLSTP BNCJM CLU CSL CUT DEIAI DRB EEM EYM FHM FXG IQU NOC NYP UCW UIU UMK. Near fine.
93 leaves (mimeographed on one side only). 7-1/4 by 10-1/4 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. Poems by Vitier, with a long introduction by Roberto Méndez. Illustrated and designed by Rolando Estévez. The poems are reproduced from typescript, with titles in calligraphy and small vignettes by Estévez.....
Hernández Espinosa, Eugenio and Rigoberto López Pego
81 pages. 8-3/4 by 11-3/4 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección Aforos. A film script inspired by El romance de Angerona by Leonardo Padura. Hernández is a playwright and López is a film director. The text is photocopied on white paper. The book is designed and illustrated by Johann E......
15 pages. 6-1/4 by 11 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. A chapbook of poems that won the Premio Poesía América Bobia 2011. Photocopied on brown recycled paper. Designed and illustrated by Abdel de la Campa with handcolored collage elements and bits of cloth. One illustration.....
31 pages. 6-3/4 by 12 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. Poems photocopied on brown paper. Designed and illustrated by Johann E. Trujillo. The paper covers are sewn Japanese style and are decorated with paper collage elements. The main illustration is a cutout of a tree with.....
68 pages. 8-1/4 by 11-3/4 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Clásicos. Pushkin's poems in a Spanish translation by Juan Luis Hernández Milián. The text is photocopied onto white paper. The design and illustrations are by Manuel Darío García. The cover includes a fold-out belly band that lifts to.....
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.....
8-1/2 by 11-1/4 inches. 84 pages. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems translated from the Portuguese by Karel Bofill Bahamonde and Maylan Álvarez Rodríguez. Ivo (1924–2012) was a noted Brazilian poet and journalist. The text is photocopied onto white paper with a densely illustrated.....
8-1/4 by 9-1/2 inches. 99 pages. One of 200 copies. Colección Aforos. A play for puppets, which won the 2006 Premio de Dramaturgia para Jóvenes y Adultos. With a prologue by Rubén Darío Salazar and the design and illustrations by Zenén Calero Medina. The text is photocopied onto white paper.....
33 pages. 7-1/4 by 10 inches plus outcrops. One of 200 copies. Colección Barquitos. A collection of poems photocopied onto white paper. The poems are alternately by mother (Bárbara) and daughter (Patricia). Designed and illustrated by Marialva Ríos. For the covers, Ríos employs collage elements, handcoloring, various types of paper.....
[12] pages. 6-1/2 by 9 inches. One of 100 copies. Colección Clásicos. Poems by Verlaine in the original French with Spanish translations René Suárez Seva, who also selected the contents. This is the third entry in a series of similar books of poetry in translation issued by Ediciones Vigía in.....
10 pages. 8-1/4 by 6-1/4 inches (oblong). One of 100 copies. Colección Clásicos. Introduction by Teresita Burgos. This is one of several works in translation published by Vigía in 1989. Those books were reprinted with new designs in the 1990s; the original editions are scarce. The text is mimeographed on.....
[7] leaves. 6 by 7-3/4 inches. One of 100 copies. Colección Clásicos. An edition of this popular 19th century Cuban poem. Plácido was an Afrocuban writer who was executed in 1844 at age 35 for conspiracy. He is remembered as one of Cuba's first literary martyrs. This edition is mimeographed.....
11 leaves, printed on one side only. 6 by 8 inches. Edition of 100 copies. Colección del San Juan. Typically books in the San Juan collection are poetry; this however is a short story or perhaps a chapter from a longer work. The text is mimeographed on estraza (sugarcane waste).....
[16] leaves, mimeographed on one side only. 6-1/4 by 8-1/4 inches. An edition of 100 copies. Colección del San Juan. Poetry from a Matanzas writer who won the Premio América Bobia for this collection in 1988. The colophon of the book is dated both 1988 and 1989. It seems most.....
[14] leaves. 6 by 8 inches. Edition size not noted. Lyrics to songs, apparently to be performed at the first Festival de la Nueva Canción in Matanzas, Cuba. The lyrics are mimeographed on one side of each leaf of various types of low-quality paper. The author and the performer of.....
Two books, 6 by 8-1/4 inches, in a handmade Kraft paper bag, 7-1/2 by 11 inches. 63 and 61 pages, printed on odd pages only. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Barquitos. Two poetry chapbooks for children by a noted Matanzas poet, published in honor of his 80th birthday. The.....
62 pages. 7-1/2 by 7 inches. One of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. This is a beautiful handmade book that displays Ediciones Vigía's fierce interest in the local, incorporating the work of many Matanzas-area artisans who work with found materials from the region. A collection of poems photocopied on white.....