The Blue Roofs Of Japan. A Score For Interpreting Voices. Bringhurst, Robert. Barbarian Press

Mission: Barbarian Press, 1986. First edition. 30pp, unpaginated. 4to. SIGNED BY BRINGHURST. Numbered edition, 7/100. Powder blue Richard de Bas hand-made covers, stabbed and side-laced. Tse Yim calligraphy blind stamped on front cover. Printed on Frankfurt paper, Japanese folded. Text handset by Crispin Elsted in Spectrum, printed in blue, black, and blind. Printed by Jan Elsted on 1850 Albion hand-press. ALSO INSCRIBED BY BRINGHURST ON DEDICATION PAGE. Very scarce. Beautifully preserved, as new. Barbarian Press states that Bringhurst's "conception was essentially an oral one: the poem was meant to be spoken - hence the word 'score' in the subtitle. The problem was to find some visual reflection of that which would convey the voices overlapping and counterpointing one another, while allowing the text to be visually readable and the poem's flow to be uninterrupted." The solution was the combination of blue, black, and blind type throughout the work. Calligraphy by Tse Yim is featured on the front cover and is repeated several times within. The Blue Roofs of Japan appeared in two editions - one published by Barbarian Press and one by the Vancouver bookseller William Hoffer. The Barbarian Press edition (of which this item is an example) is the more scarce of the two.