A Brief Condensed Diagrammatical Abridgement of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in Twenty-Six Pages (ABCD)

Graphite, ink, and watercolor on handmade Arches paper; bound as an accordion with magnet closure; housed in a clamshell box covered in linen and silk. 2008. 12” x 8.5” x 2.5”

The illustrations and diagrams from a 1960 set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica were the catalyst for the 10-foot-long drawing that winds through the pages of this book. The information has been disarranged and reassembled in a Frankensteinian mishmash of tectonic plates from the world of knowledge creating strange, humorous, or jarring juxtapositions.

The drawings in the book were letterpress printed from polymer plates created from digital scans of original drawings. Diagram labels have been handwritten throughout each copy of the book. The edition is limited to 40 signed and numbered copies in leporello bindings of Arches Text and Japanese mulberry paper. Five of these are deluxe copies housed in oversized clamshell boxes; 35 copies in hard slipcases covered in handmade paste paper.