Judith Mason's Dante Bestiary Sketchbook Including comments on "Selected Poems" by Patrick Cullinan
Item date(s): 1990?
Judith Mason
Pages: unpaged Size: 465mm Edition: Unique
Publisher: Artists Book
Additional notes: A book comprising 31 signatures of which most of the first 19 have been used and the others are largely blank. There are a few comments on subsequent pages. The printed pages are 'extras' from Judith's book: Dante Bestiary, 1989.
The signatures were not numbered but have been numbered, top right in pencil, by the bibliographer in 2017.
The first and last signatures form the endpapers and the first and last free sheets.
The book is bound in cream linen (probably by Bruce Attwood), which is discoloured through use. The signatures are sewn with string.
Five different printed signatures have been used, sometimes upside-down.
(A=front; B=centre left; C=centre right; D=back):
V. C: Strings
W. A: Hands; B: Monster Head; D: Monster Double Head.
The sketchbook contains aphorisms, newspaper clippings, poems, comments, designs for text and illustrations, notes, essays, samples etc. There are also some notes by Petra dated Sunday 18 March 1990. Included at the back of the book are loose sheets found with the book.
The text, including the longest essays, should be transcribed despite Judith's difficult hand-writing.