Main ByLine / Robert C. Smith

Identifier:FA.B120.2175

Dimensions:5.42 x 8.27 in; 13.75 x 21 cm

Subjects: letterpress printing, offset lithography, slipcases, spiral bindings

Description:A collection of 24 drawings taken from sketchbooks made while visiting Maine between 1975 and 1990. Spiral bindings. Reproduced by offset lithography on Brockway text paper. Housed in a slipcase. Type on the cover and slipcase is hand set foundry type printed by the artist on a Vandercook #4 proof-press. Edition number 12 of 100. Signed by the artist.

"'Maine ByLine' is a selection of pen and ink sketches taken from sketch books dating between 1975 and 1990. Since the early 1950's in the summer I have visited the coast of Maine from Small Point to Stonington. These drawings are mostly documents of places loved, savored, and revisited. The coastal landscape has become a source of yearly rejuvenation, a place to reflect and later a place to long for. The drawings are rarely used as references for other work. They are mostly an end in themselves. I enjoy the intimacy of drawing directly from nature and I document other travels such as France, Spain, Kenya, Canada, Rocky Mountains, West Coast, Everglades and elsewhere.
"The drawings are reproduced by offset lithography on Brockway text paper which approximates the sketchbook papers. The book contains twenty-four drawings, not in chronological order. In each book one drawing is hand colored in pencil and signed. The selected drawing varies from book to book. The type on the cover and slipcase is hand set foundry type printed by the artist on a Vandercook #4 proof-press. The edition is 100 signed copies produced at the Eclectic Press, St. Louis, MO." -- colophon.