 HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN (for more information, please click on title) |
|
How the Light Gets In has been produced as a limited edition of twenty copies in the spring of 2023. The poems and photographs that appear in How the Light Gets In were in no way connected in their creation. That is, the photographs were taken for their own purpose and not to illustrate the poems. The photographs and the poems were created as independent bodies of work. This project evolved when, in a flash of light and surprise, it became clear a photograph and a poem could be paired together, giving each a new and creative way to be seen. 10 x 8 x 1 inches. 51 pages. Archival Box measures 11 x 9 x 1.25 inches. Edition of 20 copies. |
|
|
 ON LOCATION (For more information, please click on title) |
|
Barry Lopez wrote On Location in 2020, the last year of his life. The essay captures his passion for engaging with a particular place, its landscape, its animals, its culture and its people. In On Location he engages with northwestern Alaska and the Mojave Desert – disparate places but in writing about them he shows his uncommon gift as an explorer and seeker.
On Location is a limited edition of thirty copies completed in the spring of 2022. It includes hand-folded envelopes on 80 lb. Coronado paper, postage stamp collages, imaginary stamps and four monotypes reproduced as high-resolution digital prints. Typeface is Times New Roman. Designed by Charles Hobson who assembled the book with the assistance of Alice Shaw. 10 x 9 x 1 1/4 inches. 35 pages. Publication Price: $3,850 |
|
|
 TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY IMAGINARY WATERFALLS (For more information, please click on title) |
|
The central idea of this book is to juxatpose Joseph Goldyne's 250 intimate waterfall drawings with lines of poetry by Billy Collins with cut-out sheets of paper as masks to select pairs of waterfalls. Joseph Goldyne has been drawing and painting imaginary waterfalls for more than a decade. During the last several months of 2019, he made 250 small pen and ink wash drawings, each about two inches square on prepared sheets of watercolor paper. The effect is to offer the reader a way to find new insights in each. Billy Collins’ poem, Elk River Falls, pursues the same exploration.
The ink and wash drawings have been reproduced as high resolution digital prints on 80 lb. Epson Ultra Premium Presentation paper. Laser cut sheets of 250 gsm BFK Rives paper act as masks which can be removed from the spine and rotated. A one-of-kind original drawing, measuring 7 x 5 inches, is contained in each book and can be removed for presentation or framing. 10 x 10 x 1 inches. 27 pages. Clamshell box measures 11 x 11 x 1.5 inches. Publication Price: $3,750 for Copies 1-20. $4,500 for Copies 21-30. |
|
|
 CHACAPA (For more information, please click on title) |
|
Shamans in the Amazon gather palm fronds together into a fan-shaped bundle to create a rhythmic instrument to be used in healing ceremonies. The Shaman rubs and rattles the Chacapa over the participant while singing an icaro, a medicine song. This calms and creates a healing energy around the person.
|
|
|
 SMALL INVENTIONS |
|
What is an Artist's Book? One answer is that it's an artwork that uses the book the way a painter uses a canvas or a sculptor uses a block of marble. An artist's book takes advantage of the special qualities that a book has: sequence, flow, word & image and structure. Charles Hobson has invented ways to use these qualities to give full artistic expression to a wide range of subjects, including poetry, history and myth. Available here and at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Books. A PDF version of the Catalog is available here. |
|
|
|
The human urge to fly like the birds has been an enduring passion for centuries. This double-sided accordion book uses the paper airplane as a metaphor for the pursuit of this passion. Here are five tales giving testament to the strength of that urge from the years before 1903 when the Wright Brothers made sustained human flight a reality.
Flight is a limited edition of 30 copies, completed in the fall of 2017. Charles Hobson wrote the text and created pastel monotypes and drawings for the front and back of each book which have been reproduced as high-resolution digital prints. The typeface is Adobe Garamond and the text has been printed on stained paper created with an acrylic wash. Each book contains five folded paper airplanes fitted into pop-up tabs. The pages of the accordion are printed on Coronado SST 80 lb. Stipple paper and the backing pages are Graystone Classic Linen. Charles Hobson designed the edition and John DeMerritt editioned the covers and the drop leaf boxes. The accordion itself was assembled by Charles Hobson with the assistance of Alice Shaw and the 150 paper airplanes were folded with the assistance of Anna Rauh. 11 x 7 x 2 inches. 26 pages and 5 paper airplanes. Publication Price: $3,500 |
|
|
 MERMAID (For more information please click on title) |
|
This story comes from the Salish people of the Pacific Northwest for whom storytelling is the primary way of transmitting their history, religious beliefs and myths. In the story a young girl comes to the beach in despair and find a beautiful sleeping mermaid. Upon awakening, the mermaid shows the young girl her compassion and how they are inextricably connected. |
|
|
 THE MAN IN BOGOTÁ (For more information please click on title.) |
|
Amy Hempel's elegant and spare short story offers an insight about how fragile and often unreliable are the judgments we make about events in our lives. The question at the end of the story opens the gaze to wider possibilities that may come with reflection and time. |
|
|
 THE WOLF WHO ATE THE SKY (For more information please click on title.) |
|
The Wolf Who Ate the Sky, a story by Anna Isabel Rauh, and her mother, Mary Daniel Hobson has been designed and illustrated by Charles Hobson.
A very hungry wolf eats the sky, plunging the whole world into darkness car, but a brave boy and a menagerie of animals are determined to bring back the light. The book includes an author's note on how the story was developed by mother and daughter and then illustrated by Anna's grandfather. You can hear Anna at 3 1/2 years old tell one version of this tale on YouTube. This three-generation project has been published as a trade edition by Heyday Books, Berkeley, 2015. Hardcover $16 32 pages. 10-1/4 x 7-1/4 inches. Available here, and at Heyday, at Amazon, or at your local bookstore. |
|
|
 MATISSE'S FISHING POLE Matisse Remembers the River (For more information please click on title.) |
|
Matisse's Fishing Pole has been made as a limited edition of fourteen copies in the fall and winter of 2014. The French door binding allow half-views of three of Matisse's famous paintings of bathers which open to a 34-inch scroll that pictures bathers at Trebas, a small village on the Tarn River. The book maybe reversed on its easel to show a painted monotype of a scene from the scroll. The text, imagining Matisse's relationship with the river and his bathers, has been written by Charles Hobson. The board covers on the book were made by John DeMerritt, Emeryville, California. The book structure was designed by Charles Hobson who assembled the edtion with the assistance of Alice Shaw.
The book in its box measures 17 x 12 x 3.5 inches. The scroll and the monotype are mounted on a stretched canvas that is 14 x 11 x 2 inches. The easel when assembled measures 17 x 6.5 x 6.5 inches. Sold Out. |
|
|
 DIDEROT DECAPTIONED A play on Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie (For more information please click on title.) |
|
The "Diderot Encyclopedia," fully entitled Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et dés Métiers, was a key work of the Enlightenment. It became famous and controversial because many of its articles reflected the attitudes of contributors such as Voltaire and Rousseau. |
|
|
 DEGAS IN ROME (For more information, please click on title) |
|
Degas in Rome is a fictional diary of Edgar Dégas covering a week in Rome in 1857. Dégas was then only twenty-three years old and had traveled to Italy to immerse himself in its culture and artistic traditions. The diary contains imaginary entries and drawings by Charles Hobson in which a beautiful woman escorts Dégas to the City’s masterpieces and opens his eyes to the lessons they hold. As an old man Dégas said, speaking of his time in Rome, "It was the most extraordinary period of my life."
Dégas in Rome has been made as a limited edition of 34 copies in the last months of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. Five independent signatures have been sewn into an 11 x 15" accordion of BFK Rives paper. Each signature has a page-edge design from an actual Dégas sketchbook. Original drawings in the style of Dégas have been made by Charles Hobson with pencil on stained or acrylic washed paper and reproduced as high resolution digital prints that have been accented with handwork in many instances. The maps used are from the Nolli Map of 1748 by Giambattista Nolli and would have been available to Dégas as he traveled about the City in 1857. 33 pages, plus 5 inserted cards. 12 x 8.5 x 2 inches. Publication Price: $2,100 |
|
|
 QUARANTINE (For more information, please click on title) |
|
Eavan Boland’s moving poem is a stark and severe depiction of the deep relationship between a man and a woman that transends the traditions of love poetry. The imagery and design of the book have been inspired by the bleak winter landscape of snow and frozen trees and by the practice of grafting.
Quarantine has been made as a limited edition accordion book in an edition of forty-two copies in the spring and summer of 2011. The images are monotypes of bundled twigs that have been printed as high-resolution digital prints with additional pastel finishing. The text is 12 point Palatino and has been printed letterpress by JR Press, San Francisco, on BFK Rives. The box was cut on a Gunnar 3001 Cutter at Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California and the covers have been editioned by John DeMerritt in Emeryville, California. The book design and images are by Charles Hobson who assembled the book and the boxes with the assistance of Alice Shaw. A stop action animation about the making of Quarantine has been created as a video on Youtube. See the video. 18 pages. 9 x 6.5 x 2.25 inches. Sold out. |
|
|
 TREES W. S. Merwin (For more information, please click title.) |
|
W. S. Merwin’s soft and contemplative poem conveys a sense of quiet awe as he looks into trees from a mysterious time and place. The poem was first published in 1977 shortly after he settled in Hawaii. He now lives on a former pineapple plantation in Haiku, Hawaii, where he has spent years restoring the property and raising endangered palm trees. The plantation has more than 700 palms that he planted, some of them very rare. |
|
|
 THE MAGIC JACKET (For more information, please click on title) |
|
The Magic Jacket is a short story based on a concept developed by Sandra and Charles Hobson. In the story a young mother soothes the discomfort of her son who has had a bad day at school, or rather, a series of bad days at school. She tells him about a little girl who, many years before, was also having a bad time at school. In the tale the little girl learns a vital life lesson about self confidence from her encounter with a magic jacket--a jacket her grandfather got for her when he took her to her first big league baseball game. |
|
|
 RITUALS FOR LIFE MILESTONES (For more information, please click on title) |
|
For more than twenty years Sandra Hobson has traveled around the world encountering and engaging with indigenous cultures and shamanic traditions. Her travels have taken her to Nepal, Ecuador, Lapland and Tuva (in Siberia), to name a few of her destinations, as well as to Native American sites in the United States. From the travel and lessons learned in these cultures she has created rituals for contemporary life transitions and events. |
|
|
|
|
|
Roger Angell, the distinguished senior editor at The New Yorker magazine, is best known outside the magazine for his writings about baseball. However, his memoir “Ancient Mariner” about sailing in Maine displays his ability to use language elegantly and precisely while conveying vivid images of his experiences of more than sixty years. Edition of 39 copies. Sold out. |
|
|
 EXPERIMENTS IN NAVIGATION The Art of Charles Hobson (For more information, please click on title) |
|
Catalogue published by Stanford University in conjunction with the joint exhibitions at Green Library and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. Text by Charles Hobson. Preface by May Castleberry. Foreword by Roberto Trujillo. Stanford University Libraries, 2008. |
|
|
 NELSON & EMMA Aphrodite & Ares Contemplate Admiral Nelson and Lady Hamilton (For more information, please click title) |
|
NELSON & EMMA has been made as a limited edition of thirty-five copies during the fall and winter of 2007-2008. The text has been written by Charles Hobson who also designed the edition. Concertina binding with sewn signatures, hand painted pages with digital prints on transparent sheets, lenticular photo, pop-up, and board cover, in net embossed slipcase. |
|
|
 red thread, two women (For more information, please click title) |
|
red thread, two women, 2006, is a limited edition artists' book built around the collaborative poem by Paula Sager and Lizbeth Hamlin. Each book is constructed with two signatures sewn into an accordion structure incorporating hand-colored cotton and jute twine. The book is bound in boards and housed in a fabric covered slip case made by John DeMerritt. Charles Hobson designed and assembled the book with the assistance of Alice Shaw. |
|
|
 FIVE BEETS Charles Hobson Limited Edition Portfolio from red thread, two women (For more information, please click title.) |
|
Five Beets is a portfolio of five hand-colored digital images from red thread two women in an edition of 20. Each image has been accented with pastel and has been printed on BFK Rives paper. The sets are numbered and signed by the artist and measure 12 x 8 inches and are contained in a grey presentation portfolio. Publication Price: $900
|
|
|
 R.O.W. A consideration of the Right of Way rules for sailboats (For more information, please click title.) |
| R.O.W was made as a limited edition artists' book in 2006. The central image used in the book is a three foot square relief print which was created as part of a program at the San Francisco Center for the Book. It was originally printed in 2005 by a steamroller at Carolina and 16th Streets, San Francisco. Kay Bradner and Charles Hobson collaborated on the design of the print. Kay Bradner cut the linoleum block and printed the relief prints on Rives BFK 300 gm paper. Charles Hobson designed the book and assembled it with the assistance of Alice Shaw in an edition of 12 copies. It is covered in a transparent corrugated chemise which is closed with sailing line and a cleat. R.O.W. measures 18 by 9 inches closed and extends, when opened fully, to a length to 7 1/2 feet. Edition of 12. Sold Out. |
|
|
 THE NEAR WOODS (For more information, please click title.) |
| A BEAR came last night. It came down through the trees into the clearing around the house, most certainly in the bright moonlight. -- from The Near Woods |
|
|
| Barry Lopez's multi-layered short story has been made into a limited edition of forty-eight copies in the summer and fall of 2005 with images and design by Charles Hobson. Images of hands emulating gestures of a map maker at work have been reproduced as digital pigment prints on transparent film. Each book has been assembled using original USGS maps for the concertina binding and selected pages, and the cover has been wrapped with a reproduction of a 1911 map of Bogotá from the collection of the Library of Congress. Landscape images and the images pencils from Barry Lopez' writng desk have been created as monotypes with pastel and printed as digital pigment prints. The text has been printed letterpress by Les Ferriss on BFK Rives using a Garamond Narrow typeface. John DeMerritt made the slipcase and board covers with the assistance of Kris Langan. Edition of 48. 11 x 10 x 1.25 inches. Out of Print. |
|
|
 THE WRITER, 2004 (For more information, please click title.) |
| This two-part limited edition artist’s book with images and design by Charles Hobson has been inspired by Richard Wilbur’s warm and gentle poem conveying a parent’s respect and love for his child as she begins the voyage into adulthood. The two volumes are housed in a clamshell box with the larger volume containing the text of the poem set in 14-point courier and printed letterpress on BFK Rives paper. The smaller volume is a flip book, or rather a "flutter book," and contains selected words taken from the poem that reprise the poem with a new cadence. The edition in its box measures 12 x 12 x 1-1/4 inches. Edition of 54 copies. Out of Print. |
|
|
THREE KISSES, 2004 |
|
THREE KISSES is a handmade limited edition book that has been made from postcards, translucent envelopes, various papers and features the photographs of Robert Doisneau. Each envelope contains a photograph and a fictional story by Charles Hobson about the persons in the photographs. A pastel monotye by Charles Hobson has been reproduced as a digital pigment print with hand coloring. The book is bound as an accordion and has a corrugated board slipcase which measures 5 1/2 x 4 x 3/4 inches. Edition of 90 copies. Publication price: $275
|
|
|
 POEMS FROM THE HEART, 2004 |
| POEM FROM THE HEART is a hand made artist's book picturing the heart sculpture by Charles Hobson which contains eighteen poems by children about love and the heart. Each book has been hand sewn into a painted cover and mounted in a folded corrugated folder. It contains digital pigment prints from an Epson 2200 printer which portray the printed books and poems used on the heart sculpture. Sales of the book, Poems from the Heart, benefit the San Francisco General Hospital through its "Hearts in San Francisco" project. The poems have been used with the kind permission of the poets which have been made available through the California Poets in the Schools. 24 Pages. 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. Sold out. |
|
|
ADAM & EVE, 2003 |
| EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARIES OF ADAM & EVE as translated by Mark Twain was made as a limited edition of 38 copies during the summer and fall of 2003. The images of a running man and woman created as pastel monotypes by Charles Hobson are printed as digital pigment prints and are based on the human motion studies by Eadweard Muybridge made in 1901. Additional versions of the Muybridge studies have been collaged onto each page and contain the handwriting of Mark Twain and Livy Clements from letters they exchanged in 1903. The concertina and French door structure with cut-out pages and collaged folded sheets has been designed by Charles Hobson and assembled with the assistance of Alice Shaw. John DeMerritt made the board covers and slipcase. 13 x 5-3/4 x 1-1/2 inches. 46 pages. Out of Print. |
|
|
 |
|
WHY I LOVE BOOKS
The Artworks of Charles Hobson, 2003 (For more information and a link to the PDF version, please click title.) A fifty-six page exhibition catalogue with an introduction by Barry Lopez covering more than fifteen years of the artist's books and related work. The catalogue contains 110 four-color images and has been printed in an edition of 2000 copies, 100 of which have been specially bound in hard cover with hand painted papers and include a limited edition pigment print signed by the artist. Catalogue $20. Limited Edition version $150. |
|
|
 TAKING OFF EMILY DICKINSON'S CLOTHES, 2002 (For more information, please click title.) |
|
This book is built around Billy Collins' extraordinary poem and has been produced as a limited edition of thirty copies. It employs buttons, ribbons, feathers and lace and a pastel monotype by Charles Hobson with a feather sewn to it. Accordion binding. 8 1/2 x 7 x 1 inches (closed). Seven pages with hidden definitions and fold out stanza from an Emily Dickinson poem. Out of Print.
|
|
|
ANOTACIONES, 2001 |
|
ANOTACIONES is a one-paragraph fiction with sixteen footnotes by Barry Lopez. The footnotes have been printed on laser cut puzzle pieces, all contained in a cigar box with chemise. Assembling the puzzle organizes the footnotes in order to be read. Ink jet monotype, Color Xerox and offset litho. 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 x 2-1/2 inches (size varies from box to box.) Seven pages and a fold out version of assembled puzzle. Edition of 30. Out of Print. |
SEEING STARS, 2001 |
|
SEEING STARS uses die cut cards, a flashlight and a small story book to introduce children and adults to several prominent constellations. Greek stargazers in the 4th century BC gave the names of characters in the Andromeda myth to six constellations clustered together near the North Star. As a parent reads the myth a child can use the flashlight to shine the shape of each character's constellation on the ceiling, wall or table. Later, looking at a night sky, the constellations can be found by following instructions given in the book, conveying an understanding of how the stars have fascinated human beings and how accessible are their patterns. For ages 6 and up. Out of print from Chronicle Books. Available here at $25.
|
DANCING WITH AMELIA, 2000 |
| Six short fictions and twelve IRIS prints taken from six mixed media drawings of dancing couples by Charles Hobson. The cover is constructed of laser cut boards printed with cut-out images of contrasting clouds, and the book is protected by a cloth covered chemise. Edition of 38. Size: 6-1/4 x 8-1/2 inches closed (7 feet long when extended). 36 pages. Out of Print. |
WRITING ON THE BODY, 1999 |
|
Writings by Edgar Degas about how to draw the human figure accompanied by eight handcolored photogravure etchings by Charles Hobson. Limited edition modified accordion book in slipcase with typography by Jack Stauffacher. Edition of 45. Size:11-1/2 x 7-3/4 x 3/4 inches. 18 pages. Out of print.
|
|
ANDROMEDA IMAGINED, 1998 |
| Limited edition concertina book by Charles Hobson with six monoprints over star atlas drawings from 1690, six IRIS prints from mixed media drawings, and six hand-punched constellations. Edition of 30. Size: 11 x 10-1/2 x 1-1/4 inches. 32 pages. Out of Print. |
FRESNEL'S TOWER, 1997 |
| Limited edition sculptural book by Charles Hobson with photogravure, stacking cylinders with hand-colored diagrams and laser prints. Fabric covered box. Edition of 38. Size: 5-1/4 x 5-1/2 x 6 inches. Out of Print. |
SHIPWRECK STORIES, 1996 |
| Limited edition accordion book by Charles Hobson with seven photogravures, hand-colored charts, and mylar drawings. Edition of 28. Size: 10-1/4 x 8-3/4 x 1 inches. Out of Print. |
PARISIAN ENCOUNTERS, 1994 |
| French door format book by Charles Hobson with monotype/pastel portraits of eight famous couples who met in Paris, includes maps and eccentric biographies. Chronicle Books trade edition. Size: 6 x 11 inches. Out of print, but available from the artist at $25. Signed copies available. Publication Price: $25 |
IMPROMPTU, 1994 |
|
A collaborative poem by Tom Centolella and Kathy Evans with six images each by Kay Bradner and Charles Hobson. Photo-offset. 7-1/2 x 5-3/4 inches. Out of Print.
|
LEONARDO KNOWS BASEBALL, 1990 |
| An accordion book juxtaposing excerpts from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks on how to draw the human figure with five soft ground colored etchings of baseball figures by Charles Hobson. Limited edition of 20. Size: 10 x 8 x 1/2 inches. Trade Edition published by Chronicle Books, 1991. ok edition in 1991. Though out-of-print, it is available at $95 a copy through the Artist. Order here. |
