Kuthan's Menagerie Completed

George Kuthan

Printed on Golden Hind paper, a laid sheet, one side only and folded. Reid explains this both helped solve a problem with see-through and bulk up the book (which consists of 13 sheets forming 26 pages, from half title to colophon). The pages were printed landscape, and the sheets bound along the open edge. A cornerstone in Fine Press history in exceptionally Fine condition;

Kuthan's Menagerie of Interesting Zoo Animals was published in 1960 from the private press of Robert and Felicity Reid (under the imprint Nevermore Press). It has since become famous in the history of fine printing in Canada, not just for Kuthan's exquisite multi-color linocuts of animals, but also for the fact that only 60 of the edition's 130 copies were ever bound; the balance remained in the bindery, eventually forgotten but luckily, not lost.

The unbound copies were purchased from the original binder's estate by Vancouver booksellers Stephen Lunsford and William Hoffer, in the late '80s; all of the 50 complete copies remaining have been issued through Heavenly Monkey. Rather than attempt to recreate the original binding, the remaining copies were issued in the livre d'artiste manner, loose, with a new wrap and custom-made clamshell box.

No further copies of Kuthan's Menagerie exist; the 50 copies issued in 2003 through Heavenly Monkey complete the edition.

Price: $1,200.00