Foolscap Thomas Paine

http://www.foolscappress.com/thomaspaine.php

Website updated with some more information including price.

Reminds me a little bit of the Folio Society treatment of David Jones's In Parenthesis (at a much higher level, of course).

>1 MobyRichard: I had misjudged this as a minor publication after their recent run of big, ambitious projects.

However, it’s a much larger volume than I expected, and at a higher price as well.

I’m curious to see how it stands up to the rest of Foolscap’s work!

This will sell out, too. Ingmire is probably the most notable American calligrapher of the late-20th/21st century (along with Suzanne Moore). His contributions here are much more representative of his work than, say, the initials he did for the Arion Press' U.S. Constitution. With six pages of his writing, $950 is not at all a bad deal.

>3 NathanOv:

Yes, I was not expecting the large paper size. Presumably to showcase the calligraphy? I've never heard of Ingmire even though I briefly owned the Arion Press U.S. Constitution.

>5 MobyRichard: Ingmire had a table at CODEX. It was a lot of fun to talk with him. He was showing his stand alone artwork as well as illustration work. I feel his artwork is a great match for the Foolscap Press Thomas Paine which was also shown at CODEX. These two exhibitors were probably the highlight of my CODEX visit.

>6 kdweber: I can't see on the website how many pages the book makes. The calligraphy is attractive, but I'd like a decent amount of text, too. What's your impression of length?

>7 affle: It’s a full size book. I think it was about an inch thick.

>8 kdweber: Many thanks.

Received an email yesterday from Larry letting me know that they "are in the process of completing the first copies" for Standing Orders. Eagerly awaiting their note when my copy is ready to ship.

My copy arrived this afternoon! Too busy to give it more than a cursory look today. I will share details with photos mid-day tomorrow.

>8 kdweber: Actually folio sized (15 1/4” x 10”) and 5/8” thick (text block 3/8”) 68 pages.

>11 Powderfinger69: Thomas Paine in His Own Words uses a binding technique I don't think I've seen before. The pages are sown to carbon fiber rods so that the book can lay flat.

>13 Powderfinger69: As you can see, the concept does work.

>13 Powderfinger69: >15 Powderfinger69: No idea why these images are so small. I have used the LT junk drawer in the past....

In any case, the book itself is an essay on the importance of Thomas Paine drawing heavily from several works and letters. This will not replace my LOA for reading Paine. Foolscap Press does an excellent job explaining why we should be, while creating a nice piece of art that is easy to read with beautiful calligraphy.

On a side note, I'm not sure if I have found a production error on pages 13 and 21, or I have purchased a flawed copy. I have emailed Larry and will update my comments after his response.

I would love to have or review this book but it is out of my range right now. Seeing the comments made me wonder if I've read my EP copy of Common Sense. If I did it's way back in the foggy times of my blonde and 60'ish brain and before I started keeping track of reading dates in LT.

But I've read 87 books that reference Paine in some way. That's pretty impressive right there.

>18 jveezer: reading 87 books on Paine? have you ever wondered if you're a masochist?

>19 gmacaree:

Yes, they really love paine ;)

Hmm....surprisingly I'm not finding this edition to my taste. If anyone wants to make me a reasonable offer for my copy ($$$ or trade), feel free to PM me.

>21 MobyRichard: I'm not exactly with you on this one, although I get where you're coming from. I like the book, it's well-made and interesting and honestly very good, but I'm not madly in love with it like I am my other Foolscaps.