Three Constitutions [3 vols].

Maret (Russell, Printer)

Three Constitutions [3 vols].

Description: 66/90 COPIES printed on Zerkall Book and Twinrocker Handmade papers, signed by Maret at the colophon, folio, 8vo, 8vo, binding by Amy Borezo, the folio in a sewn binding of white boards, lettered in black to upper board, the 8vos both charcoal grey cloth lettered in white to upper board, 3 vols together in three-panel grey cloth dropback box, the folio in a vitrine (to ironically present it as 'an immutable relic'), fine condition

Publication Details: New York: Russell Maret, 2021

Notes: The culmination of a five-year progression towards the incorporation of more political themes into his printing – having observed its oblique presence in some of the literary choices of work such as 'Character Traits', and used his ephemeral printing as an outlet for more emotional responses to the state of the nation. The present work was printed (by Maret and Sarah Moody) during three months of unrest and upheaval in the public sphere – Biden's defeat of Trump and the attack on the Capitol building that ensued; it comprises three printings of the same essential text, the largest with the...moreThe culmination of a five-year progression towards the incorporation of more political themes into his printing – having observed its oblique presence in some of the literary choices of work such as 'Character Traits', and used his ephemeral printing as an outlet for more emotional responses to the state of the nation. The present work was printed (by Maret and Sarah Moody) during three months of unrest and upheaval in the public sphere – Biden's defeat of Trump and the attack on the Capitol building that ensued; it comprises three printings of the same essential text, the largest with the full text of the Constitution and its 27 amendments in a typeface (as elsewhere, Maret's own design) that obstructs without impairing the legibility of this familiar text, and then two smaller volumes 'arrived at via the most prevalent modes of constitutional interpretation: selective redaction and algorithmic skewing' – i.e., one achieved through omission of key words and phrases (the lacunae achieved by using the underside of the type, Maret's Hungry Dutch), the other by a process of circumtraduction enacted via Google Translate, which passed the original through Esperanto, Russian and Chinese, before translating back into English.Together, the three 'are intended to embody the fractured state of political discourse in America' (Prospectus). They are additionally, though it need hardly be stated, further evidence of Maret's excellence in the fields of lettering, printing and book design. [With:] Maret (Russell) The United States Constitution and Amendments, Redacted. New York: Russell Maret, 2021, 66/1,000 COPIES, four broadsides in original titled envelope, with the text of the redacted volume from the large work – these 'roughly the size of the parchments on which the original Constitution manuscript was written in 1787' (Printer's website). HIDE