Production Narrative

by J.Drucker

Setting the initial parts of this book and laying out the original structure and form were relatively easy. The type drawer were full and composition, though it often required moving from drawer to drawer, was fairly straightforward for introductory sections. Picking type faces to match character styles and then setting the original "poems" on the recto of the sheets was the next step, and editing was often required as type ran short. The setting of the back sides of each character page required three steps. First, all the sorts left in the case had to be set up and proofed, then they had to be arranged on paper, as in a scrabble game of punning sense. The setting into a final form came after, with pressure to use as many of the sorts as possible. Part way through the process, after I had worked out many of the solutions to these puzzles, I had the manuscript stolen from the back of a car. It was in a knapsack, no doubt taken by someone who thought it contained something of value. I had no choice but to start again, and was quite overwhelmed at the time. The marginal notes took forever, since they were in six and eight point type. The ten and twelve point narrative texts went without difficulty. The tiny header and footer texts took patience, but no particular extra effort. The setting of the table of contents, edition numbers, and above all, the final end notes were the more virtuosic achievements. The binding choice was the result of having spent an inordinate amount of time binding the previous book, 26 '76. The black combs were quick and easy. The plain brown wrapper covers seemed very funny at the time. And writing and printing the review that looked as if it had come from the NY Times made me feel very clever.

Critical Analysis

by J. Drucker

Design Features

typographic: The book is all typographic.

graphical: Layout and format are crucial structural elements of meaning.

Critical Discussion

As a book about the poetry scene, about language, about form, and letterpress as a creatively constrained and productively generative medium, this is a unique work.

Edition 1

From A to Z: Our An (Collective Specifics) an im partial bibliography, Incidents in a Non-Relationship or: how I came to not know who is

Agents

Johanna Drucker

type: initiating

role:
artist
author
printer

nationality:
born: United States
active: United States
citizenship: United States

dates:
birth: 1952-05-30

Publication Information

edition type: editioned

publisher: Chased Press

place: West Coast Print Center, Oakland/Berkeley, California.

dates:
publication: 1977-00-00

Measurements

horizontal: 7.375 inches closed

vertical: 12 inches closed

depth: .25 inches closed

Production Information

production means:
letterpress (local)

binding: comb (AAT)

substrate:
bookBlock: paper kraft paper
endsheets: paper brown paper

media:
ink (local)

other materials: none

Appearance

format: codex (AAT)

cover: The front cover, 7.375" x 12", is plain brown paper with nothing printed on it, bound on the left.

color: no black ink on brown paper.

Content

pagination: unpaginated 66 pages

numbered?: numbered

signed?: unsigned

Colophon

none