Ediciones Dos Amigos. Borges, Jorge Luis. Milongas. Prologo and Epilogo del Autor. Grabados Originales de Ana Maria Moncalvo. Buenos Aires Ediciones Dos Amigos 1983
First Edition thus, one of 30 Roman-numeralled copies only, all on Richard de Bas hand-made white paper, each signed in pen by the author, Jorge Luis Borges, and the designer / publisher, Samuel Cesar Palui. Page size: 9-3/4 inches x 6-1/4 inches; 58pp. Bound by Maria Sol Rebora: full fawn-colored goatskin with onlays of three shades of cream, plus tan and black morocco, each applied in vertical bands of irregular widths, with gilt fillets tooled horizontally at irregular widths, the title in gilt on a smooth spine, fawn colored morocco doublures with vertical gilt fillets at irregular widths on the front and rear flyleaves, signed in gold gilt on lower rear turn-in, Sol Rebora," top edge gilt, headbands of fawn colored and gold gilt thread, white Japan paper guards with gold gilt threads in the paper, original wrappers bound in, housed in quarter goatskin clamshell box of gray goatskin with title and author stamped in gold gilt on spine and edges, with gilt fillets running length of spine, and gray paper over boards, fine. Sol Rebora has designed and executed an especially elegant binding for this beautiful book from Ediciones Dos Amigos. The design is deceptively simple as she has used vertical and horizontal lines at irregular distances to form a strong architectural image. A further integral part of the design is her use of the grains of the morocco placed in contrast to one another to create visual depth on a flat surface. Maria Sol Rebora began her studies in fine bookbinding in 1996 in her native Argentina. She has since studied binding with Betsy Palmer and Deborah Evetts and design with Monique Lallier, Edwin Heim, Jean-Luc Honneger and Jan Sobota, as well as at the Centro del bel Libro, Ascona. Her work is currently featured in the 100th Anniversary Exhibition of the Guild of Book Workers, a juried exhibition. Under the direction of Samuel Cesar Palui, one of the "Dos Amigos," this edition was hand set and printed letterpress in Kluekens 12pt. in two colors, black for the text and red for the running heads, initial letters, and page numbers, by Ruben and Claudio Lapolla. The four aquatints by Ms. Moncalvo were pulled with the assistance of Mirta Ripoll; all are sepia and black. Borges has added an Afterward to his poetry for this edition in which he thanks the artist, publisher, and printer for their work in bringing this book to life. Combined with Ms. Rebora's classically beautiful binding, the reader / viewer sees a true livre de peintre in the French tradition with a decidedly "New World" emphasis and twist. Borges' poems, known as "Milongas," were frequently set to the music of the tango and have contributed greatly to the cultural life of Argentina. This copy is about as beautiful contemporary book as one could hope to find.
$US8500
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