Martha on Copper Mountain
Phoenix, Arizona: Studio D'Ambrosio, 2000. Limited Edition. Item #024138
Limited to only 25 copies. The present copy is AP (Artist Proof) and from the library of the artist/binder D'Ambrosio. When the mountain rises from the box, and is first opened, the title page appears, and there is a preface that explains the soliloquy. The title is printed on real copper leaf and adhered to a four-ply board. Then it is inset into the first box of the mountain. The depth of the title below the surface of this structure allows for crumpled copper like papers to surround the title. It is intended to give the reader a sense of looking into a copper mine located within a mountain. Also hidden in the structure of the first box are weights so that when the section revolves around to the rear of the structure, the weight helps the book stay in a readable position. The second box features an image of a mountain in the Mohave desert; the third box has an image in cast paper of a woman clawing her way to the top of a mountain. Small pieces of lava rock are glued in around the poetry to give a more factual suggestion. The fourth box depicts the desert on a crystal-clear night with pearl stars and a three-dimensional moon. By the time the reader reaches the last box, Martha and the mountain have become one. The boxes are hinged with one-sixteenth inch brass rods. The brass rods are also used to strengthen the top "Mesa". All is bound in ostrich-grained leather (actually, pigskin with an embossed surface). Housed within a special box that when it opens, the mountain rises from its platform. A unique presentation. [see p. 195-198 in D'Ambrosio's "A Memoir of Book Design 1969-2000"
Price: $1,550.00