Shaffer, Peter; Hicks-Jenkins, Clive (Artist)

Equus [Number I of X special edition]

Catchmays Court, Llandogo, Monmouthshire: The Old Stile Press, (2009). Hicks-Jenkins, Clive. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Number I of X special edition copies (total edition 210), folio size, 124 pp.; one original drawing; one linocut and one maquette, both signed by Clive Hicks-Jenkins; laid in signature of Sir Peter Shaffer, with Christmas greeting card. Fine. Item #CNJL1289

Like a Phoenix arising from ashes, the play Equus and, as a derivative, this work, arose out of a horrible crime committed by a 17-year old in England against six horses. As brutal as the original act was, we can garner flashes of insight and, hopefully, wisdom through understanding the motivation behind the act. From the website of The Old Stile Press: "Equus was first produced on stage in 1973 and in its first published form Peter Shaffer wrote of the dangers of ‘flatly setting down on paper what was far from flat on the stage, and listing inexpressively details of the work which, in accumulation, became deeply expressive’. John Dexter directed that first production ‘powerfully through suggestion’, ‘he charges the action of the play with electric life. He is a master of gesture and economy.’

More than thirty years later those words could be written about Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ imagery which now accompanies the text. He wanted to create his own universe for this new expression of Shaffer’s story. ‘Meditations and inventions, rather than recollections of past productions’ were his aim. This is a long, dramatic text of a dreadful event committed by a highly disturbed young man. The characters endeavor to explore the mental world in which such a deed could be comprehensible but the power of the play is in the extraordinary relationship of the young man and his psychiatrist. Understanding the overwhelming nature of Alan’s love of horses becomes the key and the imagery focuses on the struggle between horse and man and emergent sexuality."

___DESCRIPTION: Original gray paper covered boards, upper boards with an illustration from the text, lettering to backstrip in gilt, top-edge black, blue endpapers, title page in green and black, text in dark green throughout, monochrome illustrations on almost every page; collage printed from photopolymer plates, Bodoni type, Regency Klassica paper, folio size (12.75" by 9"), [124] pp., limited edition, this number I of I-X of the special edition (there were also 200 regular edition copies), signed by artist on the colophon page and by the playwright on a laid-in slip with an illustration. The book itself is housed in a three-fold portfolio fully illustrated by the artist on both the exterior and the interior, accompanied by a signed and numbered linocut and a maquette, both signed by Clive Hicks-Jenkins, also accompanied by an original drawing set against a rust background, this tipped onto a larger cardboard background covered with sand-coloured laid paper, also accompanied by two sheets printed with sixteen component parts for one of the "Equus" maquettes; all items are housed in a green cloth fall-down-back box with a gilt-stamped grey paper label inlaid to backstrip, lined in blue velvet with a removable divider to store the extra signed print, extra illustration and maquette (both housed individually in blue hand-made paper portfolios). With Christmas greeting card from the Old Stile Press, one sheet folded once, with two studies by Clive Hicks-Jenkins from "Equus", signed by Nicolas & Frances [McDowall] of the Press.

___CONDITION: A fine copy in all aspects, like new. The Christmas card is fine, clean and without wear.

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is a large and heavy book, and therefore additional postage will apply; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.

Price: $1,000.00