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Lugubrious Distance
From the Prologue: "I only recently left North Carolina, having lived in both Carolinas my entire life. It seems ludicrous now, but I somehow thought I was a city girl, that I cared nothing about quiet, warmth, trees, and the absence of crowds — all of the things a city lacks. North Carolina kept its arms around me for so long I began to hate its comfort. I struggled against it and like a good parent it let me go, knowing all along I would miss it. It bided its time, doing what it does and let the longing build in me. The realization of what I’d lost crept up on me, caught me off guard like steam after a cool rain. These are the details, the myths and the handwriting on the wall — the how and why it wriggled its way into my heart. (The text above was written in 1998. It is all still true, except that we left North Carolina fourteen years ago.)"
The type is handset in Palatino 10pt, 18pt and 42pt and Harold Berliner's Lutetia Italic. The color illustrations began as colored pencil drawings and later became magnesium plates which were four-color process printed on the letterpress. The line drawings are from the Webster’s Dictionary circa 1950. The entire book was letterpress printed on a Vandercook Universal I. Each book is built with 75 passes through the press. The book block is composed of Rives BFK (beefcake) and my handmade Philippine Gampi. The binding is a stab binding cased into a hard cover/soft spine structure, and enclosed in a handmade slip case.
Edition of 50 books.
$450.00
2010
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Wild Girls Redux: An Operator's Manual
Wild Girls Redux: An Operator's Manual is the revisit of a book created almost 12 years ago. The original book, How to Become One of the Original Wild Girls, was designed and printed in 1997. That book is a playful list of imaginary "rules" that "should" be followed to achieve Wild Girl status. The rules are light-hearted, but they have the sting of recognition that most women realize to be sexist in nature. Wild Girls Redux reexamines these issues, using motorcycle road and driving rules as text along with images of pin-up girls and industrial schematic illustrations. The tactile materials of the book include pink heart paper doilies, white doily placemats, flocked paper covers, and green office ledger papers. The intent of the "Operator's Manual" is tongue-in-cheek and provides the ordinary, mechanical, and absurd rules of how to operate women.
All parts of the book are designed and letterpress printed from photo-polymer plates by Ellen Knudson, Crooked Letter Press. 2009. Text adapted from the Missouri Department of Revenue Motorcycle Operator Manual. Typefaces are Blue Highway, French Cursive, and Cooper Black. Paper is Indian Sunn Hemp Contemporary. Cover is flocked paper in maroon. Binding is an accordion portfolio cover with two pamphlet structures sewn in. Lining paper is Hahnemühle Bugra in Fawn. Each book comes with with a set of stickers, kept inside a yellow office mailing envelope decorated with a wrap-around belly band.
Edition of 100. Signed by the artist.
$250.00
Wild Girls Redux: An Operator's Manual is the winner of the 2009 Florida Artist's Book Prize
for The Bienes Museum of the Modern Book
and The Florida Center for the Book.
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A Strawberry in the Snow
This book is a collection of poems written by Leah Eisenbeis. She wrote the poems in 2001 as part of her final project for her degree in English from The University of Minnesota. Leah and I met and became friends as we were students in the University of Alabama Book Arts Program. I wanted to print the poems because they are so unaffected, honest, and beautiful. Just like my friend Leah. The illustrations throughout the book are done in reaction to her poems. The collages of animals, plants, and birds are letterpress printed from linoleum cuts that I produced. In addition to the poems, I decided to include the text of a few emails that Leah and I exchanged.
Written by Leah Linter Eisenbeis. Designed and illustrated by Ellen Knudson. Typeset in Bembo and Incognito types letterpress printed from photopolymer plates on Hahnemuhle Biblio paper. The two large fold-outs in each book are printed on Kitakata. The binding is french-sewn and bound in a full-cloth, built-in groove, flat-back case. Each copy of the book is contained in a handmade clamshell box. The cloth for both the book and box is decorated with stitching done on my Janome sewing machine. 4.75” x 6.5”, 60 pages with map-style foldouts.
Edition of 75, Signed by the author and illustrator. $325.
2007
Shown left: (Top) Title page, large fold-out, and book in the clamshell box.
(Middle): Center spread, large fold-out, exterior of
clamshell box.
(Bottom): Detail of title page, cover of book, and large fold-out.
Below: A poem from the book, written by
Leah Eisenbeis
The Animal I Almost Am
At first glance.
Maybe, I hope,
A Blue Heron.
Long everything.
I raise my head
Slow. We both show
Gray can be a color too.
But even when I get to
Graceful, know
That I am really,
inescapably,
A human being.
For this moment of grace,
I labored for many years.
Naked, in front of a mirror,
Naked, in front of a man.
I am even self-conscious
When I sleep.
But when I dream, yes, then,
I am a Blue Heron.
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Self-Dual
(How to Walk a 30,000 Mile Tightrope)
For two years I traveled the road between Starkville, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama while I attended graduate school. This book is a collection of visual and textual vignettes in reflection of that trip; little pieces of the scenery and of my thoughts during that drive.
The paper is 100% cotton rag, handmade from my family's clothes. The six large illustrations are linoleum reduction prints, the other illustrations are line art drawings printed from photopolymer plates. The type is handset in multiple sizes of Lutetia metal types, cast by Harold Berliner. The book is bound in a built-in groove case in a dos-a-dos style binding. 4" x 6", 56 pages with two illustrated fold-outs.
The six linoleum prints are also available as a set of prints in a handmade portfolio. The prints are only available as a set with the book. Edition of 15 sets of prints.
Edition of 50 books, signed.
$250.00 (book only)
$385.00 (book and portfolio set)
2005/2006
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How Swimming Saved My Life
When I swim, thoughts come and go, flowing like the water. How Swimming Saved My Life is a book about my experience of swimming as exercise and as a release from the stresses of life. “My fury makes me a bad person and the one thing that saves me from being a monster is swimming. Water is one of the few places where I am graceful.”
Designed, written, and illustrated by Ellen Knudson. Handset in Goudy Old Style #394 and Melior types. Printed letterpress on Somerset Book heavyweight paper. The binding is pamphlet-sewn with covers of handmade Indian Khadi paper. Each copy of the book contains an original gelatin plate monoprint and two multiple-color reductions printed from linoleum blocks. 6.625” x 9.5”, 12 pages with foldouts.
Edition of 45, signed.
$135.00
2005
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How to Love Someone Forever
The book How to Love Someone Forever is a collection of poems written by Kevin Knudson (my husband) and myself for one another and for our son.We are always working on how to love each other, Kevin, Gus, and I, so this is a hint of the grand gooey mess that is us. The weed illustrations further reflect the tangle of our relationships, lovely and difficult as they are. The illustrations are line drawings of weeds printed from photopolymer plates. The book is about the every day of relationships and finding beauty in them when they can be taken for granted and so easily go unnoticed, much like weeds. Handset and printed in Goudy Old Style 394 and Caslon metal types. Letterpress printed on dampened Hahnemuhle Bugra papers in mint and marble gray. The book is double-pamphlet sewn and set in a built-in groove case binding. The paste paper covers are handmade on mint Bugra. Printed by Ellen Knudson / Crooked Letter Press in Starkville, Mississippi on the badass Vandercook Universal 1 proofing press. September—October 2004.
The poem Valentine Sestina (the large fold-out in the book) is available as a separate broadside. The broadside poem is a sestina written by Kevin Knudson with illustrations by Ellen Knudson. Sizes: book: 6” x 8”, 34 pages with fold-out; Broadside: 8” x 17¾”.
Edition of 50 books and 50 broadsides.
$170.00 (book and broadside)
$125.00 (book only)
2004
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Crooked Trajectory
This book is a visual and verbal stream-of-consciousness about my life since having my son. It is not meant to be read to get from the beginning to the end. It is meant to be read like the mind before falling asleep — very loose, without a start or finish. The illustrations are calligraphic drawings done as linoleum reduction prints. The drawings are not meant to be read as words or to make normal “sense”. The letters are to function as forms and not as words. The text is handset in 18 pt. Spartan and 24 pt. Melior Bold metal types. The illustrations are calligraphic drawings transferred to linoleum and letterpress printed in three colors by reduction. The paper is Rives lightweight in natural white. The binding is a single section built-in groove case binding with handmade paste paper covers.
Edition of 35.
$65.00
2004
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Triumvirate
This book is about me and my two sisters and the figurative houses we live in: the Brick House, the Haunted House, and the Restored House. The title Triumvirate refers to the ruling powers of three people. The choice of type, illustration, and colors (gold, red, black) are a reference to the royal figures on a deck — or house — of cards. The text is handset in 16, 12, and 10 pt. Bembo and 36 pt. Homewood metal types. The illustrations are line drawings printed from photopolymer plates. The binding is a french-fold pamphlet. The papers are Hahnemuhle Bugra in Chamois and Brick.
Edition of 35
$30.00
2003
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Wild Girls (Betty Book)
This book is inspired by the images of Betty Page. The text is a list of instructions on How to Become One of the Original Wild Girls. These are my ideas of things one can do to become a strong woman and also get what you want. It’s the truth and lies at the same time. I don’t know if they work, but they sound great. The text is set in Goudy, Futura, and wood display types. The paper is Rives in natural white.
Edition of 12. $100.00
Out of Print
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