Research Catalog

Title

Diptera : a book of flies & other insects / etchings by Leonard Baskin ; note by Jose Yglesias.

Author

Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000

Publication

[Leeds, Mass.] : The Gehenna Press, 1983.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Yglesias, Jose
• Gehenna Press, publisher, printer.
• Gray Parrot, Inc., binder.

Description

• 1 case (3 volumes) : 34 illustrations (some color); 32 cm
• 1 case (5 volumes) : 68 illustrations (some color) ;

Summary

• The case contains 3 (regular edition) or 5 (deluxe edition) individual sewn gatherings of various handmade papers of various sizes. The first contains 8 unnumbered pages of letterpress, comprising title page, introductory note by Yglesias and a list of subjects of the etchings; pages 2 and 8 are blank. The second and third contain the etchings, on respectively 18 and 16 unnumbered leaves, and are without textual content, except for an additional leaf with letterpress colophon and etched publisher's device at the end of the second. In the deluxe edition, a fourth and fifth gathering contain another impression of the etchings, with variants in color and on variant papers; without the colophon leaf.
• The etchings vary in size, location on the page and shape of the plate mark. One of the illustrations, "Tachina grossa," is comprised of 3 separate impressions from the same plate (4 in the deluxe suite); "House fly," the final etching, is printed from a plate in the shape of a housefly. "Many of the etchings are printed in color, some in the French a la poupee manner, others are printed onto colored papers, employing the finesse of the Chine-colle process, & several have printed color overlays"--Prospectus.
• Deluxe copies 1-5 contain, in addition, an original watercolor drawing by Baskin in a passepartout and a canceled plate in a well in the bottom of the case.

Subjects

• Artists' books
• Flies in art
• Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000
• Artists' books > United States > 20th century
• 1900-1999
• Diptera in art
• Insects in art
• Drawings > United States > 20th century
• United States
• Watercolors > United States > 20th century

Genre/Form

• Artists' books – United States – 20th century.
• Drawings – United States – 20th century.
• Watercolors – United States – 20th century.

Note

• "Forty five copies of Diptera were printed at the Gehenna Press. The etchings were printed from the original plates on divers English hand-made papers. The edition is arranged as follows: copies numbered 1-5 have a second signed suite of the etchings, differentially printed; these copies also contain a watercolor drawing & one of the etched plates, lightly cancelled. Ten copies, numbered 6-15, have a second signed set of the etchings, printed as above on different papers & in variant colors. Thirty copies forming the regular edition are numbered 16-45. All copies have some watercolor in-painting"--Colophon.
• Place of publication from prospectus.
• Spencer Coll. copy (no. 11) contains 5 original watercolor drawings by Baskin, mounted on unnumbered pages 3-7 of a four-leaf sewn gathering. Inscribed on page 1: "Five specially commissioned water-colors by Leonard Baskin for this copy of Diptera."
• The list of subjects in the letterpress gathering omits one, "Squashed fly."
• Prospectus on 1 folded sheet (4 unnumbered pages) laid in.

Indexed In (note)

• Gehenna Press
• Fern, A.M. Complete prints of Leonard Baskin

Binding (note)

• The gatherings are issued loose in a tan leather chemise with a red leather label, lettered in gilt, on front cover, in a clamshell box with tan leather spine and edges and marbled paper-covered sides. "The sewn signatures ... are laid into a full leather chemise & protected by a half-leather tray case; these are made at Grey [sic] Parrot's handbindery of Easthampton, Mass."--Prospectus.

Contents

(from Fern, Complete prints of Leonard Baskin) Cicada -- Earwig -- Squashed fly -- Bee fly -- Grasshoppers mating -- House fly -- Small headed fly -- Blow fly -- Long-clawed scarabs mating -- Praying mantis -- Blow fly: yellow paper -- Earwig -- Boatman -- Blackfly -- Robber fly -- Cave cricket -- Caddis fly: head -- Horsefly -- Firefly: lightening [sic] bug -- Tachina grossa -- Yellow fever mosquito -- Dragon fly -- Tsetse fly -- Cockroach -- Damsel fly -- Robber fly -- Tiger beetle -- Horsefly -- Silverfish -- Crane fly -- Ichneumon fly -- May fly -- Flesh fly -- House fly.

Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 1983 16-72

LCCN

86152406

OCLC

14358109

Author

Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000, artist, etcher.

Title

Diptera : a book of flies & other insects / etchings by Leonard Baskin ; note by Jose Yglesias.

Publisher

[Leeds, Mass.] : The Gehenna Press, 1983.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Local Note

Spencer Coll. copy is no. 11; signed on colophon leaf by Leonard Baskin; each print is numbered 11/15 and signed in pencil by Leonard Baskin.

Indexed In:

Gehenna Press, entry 82

Fern, A.M. Complete prints of Leonard Baskin, entries 688-721

Binding

The gatherings are issued loose in a tan leather chemise with a red leather label, lettered in gilt, on front cover, in a clamshell box with tan leather spine and edges and marbled paper-covered sides. "The sewn signatures ... are laid into a full leather chemise & protected by a half-leather tray case; these are made at Grey [sic] Parrot's handbindery of Easthampton, Mass."--Prospectus.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Place of Publication

United States Massachusetts Leeds.

Added Author

Yglesias, Jose, writer of preface.

Gehenna Press, publisher, printer.

Gray Parrot, Inc., binder.

Research Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 1983 16-72