Place publication: Guildford, Surrey Publisher: Circle Press Publications Cat. 28 Exhibition 1996
Additional notes: 9 folders in clear perspex box. In a maroon slipcase by Peter carstens with marbled decorations.
Basilisk catalogue number 1: "Ron King, the press's principal artist, counded Circle in 1967. All the printing, which reaches an exemplary level of craftsmanship, carried out on the premises at a silk screen bench or on a Autovic platen, Weston proofing, or an etching press; Circle is one of the UK's major prinvate presses and easily the most experimental and imaginative. Their productions are brilliantly executed and purchased by libraries and museums throughout the world as contemporary examples of the art of the book. Item 38: Bluebeard's Castle, poem by Roy Fisher, architectural in three dimensions by Ron King. 12 x 8 inches (30 x 20cm). 125 copies signed by the poet and artist. Presented in a clear perspex box. Not a book in the traditional sense: rather a covetable pop-up toy for adults. The work consists of 9 folders of very heavy Hollingsworth mouldmade paper which, when opened, pop up to reveal the rooms in which Bluebeard killed his women. Thescenes are based on th Bartok opera in which seven doors open into seven secret chambers. The character of these sinister apartments bristling with armaments or shimmering with silvered mirrors, is conveyed in Ron King's abstract settings made of metal, plastic and foil. The lines of the poem are silk screened around these amazing miniature stage sets." Listed at GBP158.00
Illustrated on page 123g of The Cutting Edge of Reading: Artists' Books by Renée Riese Hubert & Judd D. Hubert, 1999.
Illustrated on page 15 of Speaking of Book Art by Cathy Courtney, 1999.
Illustrated on pages 45-49 of Cooking the Books: Ron King and the Circle Press, 2002.
Illustrated on page 15 of Marginal Notes, An exhibition of bookworks concening social issues, 2004.