** On a short vacation. Orders will be shipped when I return April 1. **
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.
[20] pages. 10-3/4 by 8 inches (oblong). An edition of 200 copies. Mimeographed on low quality paper and papel de estraza (made from sugar cane waste), with handcolored illustrations and collage elements. The pergaminito (the small, folded broadside included in many issues) is an unattributed short poem, "Mi abuelo guamba".....
66 pages. 9-3/4 by 7-1/2 (oblong) plus outcrops on the cover. One of 200 copies. Colección del Estero. A collection of poems by a Havana writer that won the José Jacinto Milanés poetry prize. With illustrations and design by Rolando Estévez. The cover was serigraphed by Guillermo Rojas with paper.....
Colón, Cristóbal [Columbus, Christopher]; edited by Miguel A. Esquivel Pérez and Cosme Casals Corella
51 pages. 6-1/2 by 9 inches. Colophon with a printed limitation of 150 copies. A critical transcription of Christopher Columbus's journal entries regarding his time in Cuba with words and phrases crossed out by hand to indicate the corrections made by Bartolome de las Casas. This selection from Columbus's "Derrotero.....
[20] leaves. 7-3/4 by 9-1/2 inches. An edition of 100 copies. Fourth (?) edition, printed letterpress on handmade paper. This is one of Cuadernos Papiro's most popular titles, which the press has reprinted a number of times in different formats. This version is in standard book form, with descriptions of.....
[6] leaves. 14 by 13 inches. An edition of 100 copies. A single long poem by one of Cuba's great 20th century poets (1902–1989). The poem is printed with excellent results using an attractive sans serif font and Papiro's century-old printing equipment. The poem is illustrated with a collagraph of.....
A single long poem by one of Cuba's great 20th century poets (1902–1989). The poem is printed with excellent results using an attractive sans serif font and Papiro's century-old printing equipment. The poem is illustrated with a collagraph of words related to the title poem composed by José Angel Vincench.....
A three-sheet pergamino (folded broadside). 11 by 40 inches unfolded. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Inicios. The designer behind Ediciones Vigía and El Fortín, Rolando Estévez, has interpreted the work of the Matanzas poet Digdora Alonso (1921–2007) more than any other writer. This text, while called a story, is.....
12 leaves in two accordion-fold sections. 10 by 10 inches, with a 10-by-5-inch outcrop at the top. An edition of 50 copies. Montiel is a Mexican writer and this book is inspired by an artist's book of her work published in Guadalajara in 2005; this edition incorporates new poems, which.....
[13] leaves. 9 by 12-1/2 inches. Edition size not indicated. A collection of Martí's verse in an uncredited English translation. This is an atypical English-only Papiro book. The book is printed and bound using three kinds of handmade recycled paper. The title of each poem is printed on brown estraza.....
44 pages. 8-1/4 by 12-1/4 inches. Published in an edition of 100 copies. A collection of patriotic poems printed letterpress on handmade paper and bound using silver cord. Some of the poems are printed over a linocut of a palm tree scene. The image, by Freddy García Azze, is repeated.....
Five sheets, each 6-3/4 by 11-1/4 inches, laid into a sleeve measuring 7-3/4 by 11-3/4 inches. One of 50 copies. A special publication to commemorate Fidel Castro's eightieth birthday. There are four poems about Fidel and a title page, printed letterpress on handmade paper. The sleeve is handpainted and shaped.....
First Edition. 10 leaves plus covers. 8 by 13 inches. One of 100 copies. A long poem printed letterpress on paper handmade, in part, from garlic leaves. The covers each have a unique monoprint by Freddy García Azze, with the back cover the reverse of the front. The design of.....
Two leaves. 4-1/2 by 10-1/4 inches. One of 50 copies. Colección Río Mar. Two poems by the Jewish American poet (born in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941) printed on a single sheet in English and a Spanish translation by Ruth Behar. Behar, a Jewish Cuban American scholar and writer, has.....
Six booklets, each a single sheet folded to make four pages, laid into a handmade-paper folder with a bellyband. 6-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches. Edition size not stated. Each booklet is printed letterpress in a different color of ink. The text of each piece includes the name of the spirit and.....
[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.....
Pergamino (folded broadside). 8 by 27-1/2 inches unfolded. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. An illustrated short poem photocopied onto several sheets assembled together and handcolored. With a cord for hanging (literatura de cordel). Designed and illustrated by Rolando Estévez. Carilda Oliver (1922–2018) was an acclaimed poet.....
Trujillo, Iraida; María Victoria Oliver; and José White
123 and 47 pages. Two books, 8-1/2 by 11-1/4 inches in a slightly larger paper box. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Andante. With design and illustrations by Rolando Estévez. White was an important Afro-Cuban composer who was born in Matanzas in 1836 and died in Paris in 1918. The first.....
124 pages. 9-1/2 by 12 inches. An edition of 200 copies. An illustrated literary journal with prose and poetry, including contributions by Mabel Cuesta and José Kozer. The featured writer is the Havana painter and writer Loló Soldevilla (1901–1971), with a few excerpts of her prose and many reproductions of.....
32 pages. 8-1/2 by 11-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan.
An anthology of French poetry in Spanish translation. Text and illustrations mimeographed on papel de estraza (paper made from sugarcane waste). Handcolored and collage illustrations by Yovani Bauta.
OCLC: DEIAI FQG UMK. Near fine.
Pergamino (folded broadside). 9-1/2 by 50 inches unfolded. One of 50 copies. Colección del San Juan. A poem in tribute to the then-leader of Cuba. Text photocopied on several sheets and assembled into a single broadside decorated with collage elements and handcoloring. Design and calligraphy by Rolando Estévez who incorporated.....
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. 6-3/4 by 9 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección del San Juan. Poems that won the Premio Rainer M. Rilke. Designed by Enrique Ramos with illustrations by Yampier Báez. OCLC: BNCJM COD CRU CUI CUZ DEIAI EEM FQG FRAFQ FUG GZN IND NDD NOC SSC STF UUM.....
10 leaves, printed on one side only but numbered to 19. 8-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Trébol. An essay about the Argentinean author's grandmother and other women who influenced her. Mimeographed text, with paper collage elements and handcoloring. Designed and illustrated by Violeta Naranjo with.....
8 leaves. 8-1/4 by 9-3/4 inches. This printing of González Sánchez's poem in four décima stanzas is one of the most ambitious uses of the collagraph technique by Cuadernos Papiro. Collagraphs use objects mounted on a printing plate to make images. This book has 12 collagraphs, including the covers; one.....
4 leaves. 7-1/2 by 10 inches. One of 8 copies. One of the first books by Rolando Estévez after he left Ediciones El Vigía to form Ediciones El Fortín. The text is a single poem by the Costa Rican writer, in Spanish and English translation by Ruth Behar. The poem.....