Text by Marie Rouanet with eight mezzotints of snails by Judith Rothchild. One of 50 copies printed on Hahnemühle paper on an 1867 handpress by Mark Lintott, this no.32 signed by the author and artist. 223 x 174 mms. Oblong 8vo., in concertina format the whole loose as issued in green screenprinted wrappers with images of a shells on sides and black lettering on spine, in the original green board slipcase with the same shell images. Octon, Verdigris, 2000.
A stunning production with Rothchild’s mezzotints of snails wandering around the pages as a snail invades an abandoned garden. Mark Lintott has set the short text perfectly to reflect its style and the illustrations. The whole has a serene, balanced beauty.The short text is reprinted from the last chapter of the Occitan author Marie Rouanet’s book Tout jardin est Eden. Rouanet has published many books on the culture of the Occitan region and although a regional writer she enjoys a national reputation in France.Judith Rothchild is an American painter/printmaker who collaboraters with the English printer Mark Lintott on Verdigris in the South of France. She has an international reputation and her work has been exhibited at more than thirty solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe and is in numerous public collections. She has been represented by Francis Kyle Gallery since 1985.
