2005
Punica Granatum
COLOPHON
Punica Granatum was inspired by Harriet Bart's
travels through Israel in 2000 and 2001. The profusion of pomegranate
trees, and the many images of them inscribed on ancient stone fragments,
fired her interest in the "fruit of the gods." In 2002 Bart cast
a series of pomegranates in bronze. That work led to the creation
of this book.
In
Punica
Granatum the
pomegranate is presented as the fruit of love and seduction. Excerpts
from classical and contemporary sources are threaded together to
form a new text, which speaks, as it were, in the manner of a symposium
and extolls the mythic powers of the pomegranate. The text itself
is then ingeniously fitted around embossed images of Aphrodite and
a nineteenth century botanical engraving of a pomegranate.
From the shimmer of its Coptic binding to the
sumptuous impression of foundry type, Punica Granatum is a resplendent
book.
Punica Granatum is three-color throughout, their muted tonalities enhancing the delicate feel of the type and embossings. In keeping with this, the title page and colophon are handled in an allusive typographic style, emulating that of the engraving.
The binding of Punica Granatum is in the ancient Coptic manner. Masonite boards are covered in a textured apricot cloth, and the spine of each page is reinforced with a silk hinge. A ribbon, serving as a marker, is adorned with two ruby glass pomegranate seeds. The book is housed in a clamshell box, monogrammed PG on its spine. The book was designed and printed in collaboration with Phillip Gallo at the Hermetic Press: binding executed by Jill Jevne. Published by Mnemonic Press in an edition of 35; all press-numbered and signed by the artist. Two artist proofs, lettered A and B, are hors commerce.
