It is possible that I discovered my own originality through a series of self-imposed detours

Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953 by Robert Rauschenberg

1830s Publishers' Bindings

I can never get enough of old books. I collect plenty myself and then here I am combing online archives late at night finding more to look at. Can't help myself. Selected bindings from the Rare Books & Special Collections of the University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries

“The earliest cloth bindings are plain and unassuming, decorated with nothing more than their own color and a paper or leather label. To a public accustomed to the tradition of leather bound books and the elaborately embossed or silk bound annuals of the 1820s, these books were unattractive. In an effort to disguise the very cloth itself, it was impressed with textures imitating first, in 1830, leather with “morocco” graining and then, in 1831, watered silk with moiré graining. English publishers and binders alike worked to solve the problems of titling and decorating cloth in gold. They finally met success in 1832 with the introduction in England of the Imperial arming press, which applied pressure to an engraved brass die to emboss a cloth case. One of the most significant developments in the mechanization of bookbinding, the arming press made possible the economical decoration of cases by allowing one man to accomplish with one pull of a handle what would have taken a traditional finisher hours to achieve.”

Destin — ation Vac — ation

Hittin the road this weekend with family for a weeklong junket. Stopping short of St. Pete's Beach this round and planning to park it in Destin, FL. If you are out there and can hear me and have rec's on what to do there, I'm all ears. I'll be another year older come Monday.

Return To Maraqopa

Now that you're home you can finally lay down,
Little has changed with the weight of the rain,
It is too hot here, words are not needed
On and on.

Damien Jurado, Return to Maraqopa

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In pursuit of positivity —

28 Attraction Principles

01. Become incredibly selfish
02. Unhook yourself from the future
03. Over respond to every event
04. Build a super reserve in every area
05. Add value just for the joy of it
06. Affect others profoundly
07. Market your talents shamelessly
08. Become irresistibly attractive to yourself
09. Get a fulfilling life, not just an impressive lifestyle
10. Deliver twice what you promise
11. Create a vacuum that pulls you forward
12. Eliminate delay
13. Get your personal needs met for once and all
14. Thrive on the details
15. Tolerate nothing
16. Show others how to please you
17. Endorse your worst weaknesses
18. Sensitize yourself
19. Perfect your environment
20. Develop more character than you need
21. See how perfect the present reality is
22. Become an unconditionally constructive person
23. Orient yourself around your values
24. Simplify everything
25. Master your craft
26. Recognize and tell the truth
27. Have a vision
28. Be real, be human

The Zen of Attraction

01. Promise nothing Just do what you most enjoy

02. Sign nothing Just dow what doesn't require a signature of any kind

03. Offer nothing Just share what you have to those who express an interest

04. Expect nothing Just enjoy what you already have, it's plenty

05. Need nothing Just build up your reserves and your needs will disappear

06. Create nothing Just respond well to what comes to you

07. Seduce no one Just enjoy them

08. Adrenalize nothing Just add value and get excited about that

09. Hype nothing Just let quality sell by itself

10. Fix nothing Just heal yourself

11. Plan nothing Just take the path of least resistance

12. Learn nothing Just let your body absorb it all on your behalf

13. Become no one Just be more yourself

14. Change nothing Just tell the truth and things will change themselves

Thanks, Thomas J. Leonard, worth a shot. 

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found + noted

The Wolf and the Dog

* image via NYPL archive

A wolf was going over a high way in the evening. It was hungry. He met a dog. The dog was fat and appeared happy. The wolf made friendship with the dog.

“You are looking better. It appears you are happy and enjoying. Your skin is so nice. You have been fed properly with vitamins, proteins and minerals” said the wolf.

“Look my friend, my life is simple. I watch my master’s house. He feeds me daily four times. I have been given a small house where I sleep well. I don’t have any difficulties.”

“Then your life is good. I also wish the same. But you see my plight. I am always hungry. You see my bones. I am fed very little. I don’t have vitamins and proteins in my food.”

“Ok then. Come with me. Live with me. You will also be happy. Luxury maketh a person” said the dog.

The wolf agreed. Both of them reached the house where the dog lived. Both were happy. As the wolf entered the house accidentally he saw the top of the dog’s neck. He found no hairs there. If at all there were hairs they were too short.

“Why there are no hairs on your neck?” The wolf asked the dog.

“Oh! my dear friend. Why doyou ask it? My master puts a belt on my neck. The belt rubs the neck while the belt is tied to a chain tight. My master pulls it and pushes me into the kennel”  said the dog.

“What ? neck tie and chain” the wolf thus said and didn’t enter further. He was astonishedto hear what the dog said.

“Friend, let me go back. I am not jealous about you. You eat good food. But you are tied here. My bones are thin, true. But I am free in my world. I can go anywhere I like. Thank you. I shall go back.”

Thus said wolf went back to his forest.

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YOUMA 1890

book bound in a simple untreated dress fabric. From the 1890s on, it was common for the cloth itself to be a featured aspect of the cover design, even imitated in the interior. 

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Songs From Vagabondia

endpaper designs from Songs From Vagabondia by Bliss Carman & Richard Hovey; designed by Thomas Buford Meteyard who was an Impressionist landscape painter who studied with Monet

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Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt

Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt (b. 1932); German artist in the fields of Visual Poetry and Mail Art 

Pieces above from her typical typewriter graphics (Typewritings) developed as Mail Art in collaboration with her husband, Robert Rehfeldt. Cannot get enough of this series found via ChertLüdde.

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Meet Me Here At Dawn

The empty tank is us
Expired milk is us
This is a test of trust
Better meet me here at dawn
Hop the wooden fence
Run past the sleeping hens
If you had any sense
You'd meet me here at dawn
Find the memory
erase it from your mind
just give it up
Our friends and family
will all get left behind
we'll give them up

I'm gone as light is shot
whether you come or not
I think you know you ought
To meet me here at dawn
Find the memory
confront it like a crime
Beat it up
Your clothes and precious things
will all get left behind
Give them up
Forget the painful past
Let go of all you grasp
This is the last I'll ask
To meet me here at dawn

LISTEN: Meet Me Here At Dawn; Cass McCombs    //   images via pinterest     • • •

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a photo of Jon

JSB; FEB 10, 2017  Civil Life, St. Louis, MO - Polaroid 250 Land Camera; FP100c

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Archive: ice cream wrappers

Assemblage of vintage ice cream labels c.1930's - 1950's / compiled via Letterology and Pinterest

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Repayment by Albert Kelley, c. 1930

Gas Station study in pink

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you may be lost, you'll find

You May Be Lost, You'll Find, NOV 2016; cut paper on panel, 6" x 6" (unglued)

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found

I like to comb estate sales as often as possible and have never been known to leave empty handed, grabbing anything that allows you to see the hand.  Some of the pieces I've found lately you just can't make up. And you don't have to, you just have to look around.   

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Reflection —

Inside this house called me, I live

trying, trying, trying to learn to give

I've taken much that never was mine

But baby I do my best

And baby I will confess

I've committed love and other crimes
 

— Lee Hazlewood, Love And Other Crimes

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