JD'A – 12: THE CRUSADER — 1980

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THE | CRUSADER | by | Mary Jane Hammett | D’Ambrosio | Sherman Oaks, Ca. | 91423

2-3/8 x 2-7/8 inches, [i]: cross on shield, [ii–iv]: blank, [v]: text, [vi]: blank, [vii]: title, [viii]: blank, [ix]: image, [x]: blank, [xi]: image, [xii]: blank, 1: text, 2–3: woodblock of mountain, text, 4–5: text, [6]: blank, [7]: image, [8]: blank, 9–11: text, [12]: blank, [13]: image, [14]: blank, 15–16: text, [17]: image, [18]: blank, 19–21: text, [22]: blank, [23]: image, [24]: blank, [25]: colophon, [26]: blank, [27]: [compulsive printer logo], [28–31]: blank, [32]: [cross on shield].

Colophon:

This edition of THE 

CRUSADER has been 

set in 10 point Basker-

ville and printed on a 

No. 3 Vandercook proof 

press by the Compulsive 

Printer on Mohawk Sup-

erfine paper. Dec., 1980

This is copy No.[number in pencil] of 85 

copies and 5 artist proofs.

D' Ambroiso

[signature of D’Ambrosio in pencil]

Mundell, printer

[signature of Mundell in pencil]

Binding: White linen with clear acetate window showing cross on shield, spine: THE CRUSADER.

Black paper over boards slipcase.

From 19 Years and Counting:

THE CRUSADER 

by Mary Jane Hammett

A Miniature Book

[image of book]

Edition: 85 numbered copies, 

and 5 artist proofs

Size: 2-3/8 x 2-7/8 inches

Type: 10 pt. Baskerville

Leaves: 20 - Mohawk Superfine paper

Binding: White linen and clear acetate;

black paper over boards slipcase

1980

One of the many projects Mr. Mundell was urging me to produce was this eerie character profile of an upstanding citizen who in his private life is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Mundell attributed the story to Dashiell Hammett writing under a pseudonym. Once again, Mr. Mundell printed the text in Indiana; printed the graphics and bound the book in California.

The written structure of this story begins quietly and then becomes terribly alarming as the citizen's private life is bared. So, I chose to literally "attack" the wood blocks that 

I cut for the prints to reflect that terror. The manner is similar to a Nolde woodcut as opposed to the disciplined work of Bewick. The binding is a visual metaphor of white for purity, and clear acetate exposing a crusader's shield printed on the endpapers.

Frankly, this story frightened me, but I produced it for (l assume) the same reason Dashiell Hammett wrote it: Revelation of evil in man, masked by a mantle of piousness.

From A Memoir of Book Design: 

One of the many projects Mr. Mundell was urging me to produce was yet another miniature book. And particularly this one, an eerie character profile of an upstanding citizen, who, in his private life, is secretly a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Mundell attributed the story to Dashiell Hammett writing under the pseudonym of "Mary Jane Hammett." Once again, Mr. Mundell printed the text in Indiana. I printed the graphics and bound the book in California. He had rallied from his bout with cancer only to die a short time later from pneumonia. In fact, when he thought he was going to die, he sold much of his vast book collection, including those books that I gave him as payment for his services. He always complained that there weren't enough good books to buy. He was extremely opinionated when it came to writing in general and typography in particular. When he rallied he tried to buy them back but was not too successful.

Here, too, the binding tries to capture the attention of the reader and carry it uninterrupted into the text. The entire piece is done in white for purity, and black (the slipcase) for evil. The cover boards are covered with white linen. A section is cut away on both the front and back. The openings are composed of clear acetate to reveal a Crusader's shield (complete with a Christian cross) printed in black on white endpapers. As an historical suggestion, the roughly carved wood for the print creates the effect of illustrations used in books of the early fifteenth century. The clear acetate sandwiched between the linen fabric and the endpapers posed a problem as I had no glue at that time that would attach acetate permanently. I used a nonpermanent glue to hold the acetate in place until I could wrap the fabric around the outer edges and thus hold it in place by creating a sealed pocket. The glue would later disintegrate leaving the acetate floating in place.

The narrative of this short story begins quietly with the revealing of the character's public life, and then becomes terribly alarming as the good citizen's private life is laid bare. So, I chose to literally "attack" the wood blocks that I cut for the prints so as to reflect that terror. That meant that the gash marks from my cutting should remain within the image. This created a print which exposes the wood from which the plate was cut. Later, l used this method for all my woodblocks.

I like to show the origin of a medium because I feel that it is more honest than making one thing look like something it isn't. I won't try to guess where that stems from within my brain, but it seems to go along with the tone of my body of early work, which centers on hypocrisy. There are times, however, when I will make something appear to be other than what it is purely to surprise the reader later when its true form is revealed. This could be mistaken as obfuscation, but it really is designed to delight the reader even if it is sometimes ghastly.

The first print shows a crossed sword and sewing needle. Thread is wound through the eye of the needle and around the objects. The opposite end of the thread becomes the stem of a rose complete with a flower on a peripheral part of the image. The tip of the sword drips blood. The print alerts the reader to prepare for quaint goodness (the needle and thread) coexisting with evil (the sword). This is immediately followed by a print of a screaming male with terrified eyes. This tells the reader what I, the conductor, have previously alerted you to, and l am now stressing the point: the entire emotion should be one of discomfort and disconsolation. That is what I felt when I first read this story, and | am trying to covey emotion to he reader.

The next print of a head with a pointed white hood peers out to the reader between two pages of expository text in which the gentle civic façade of the main character is related. (The text and the hooded figure are clearly at odds with one another.) What I am trying to do through the medium of book design is what Shirley Jackson did using words in The Lottery: to panic the reader into refusing to believe his or her own instinct, and rejecting the evil inferences that are inevitable given the nuances presented, even though the surface appears serene.

As the true nature of the main character is revealed, a print of a simple wooden cross, the energy waves rotating from its four terminals making it into a heraldic symbol, evokes a Crusader and his search for the Holy Grail while battling the Saracens. The inference is to slowly adjust the reader to the ensuing revelation.

When the main character's true nature is revealed and the reader knows for certain he is not the mild mannered good citizen he has allowed himself to be portrayed as, a woodblock print of a Klansman riding a rearing horse is presented; energy waves swell up from the central mounted figure into a tidal wave rushing from behind and impelling the figures forward. The words "KILL" is in front of the horse, and "DEO" behind the Klansman. This suggests justification by the main character's prearrangement with the Almighty. Another print follows in two colors, black and burgundy red, with large letters "KKK" behind a burning white cross.

The final print, which is presented after the story ends, is a composite of good and evil. It displays the character's awkwardly standing baby child beneath the words "Peekaboo" and "Papa play." The burning "KKK" is seen through the outline of the child and a pair of sad eyes views the scene from behind. The words "LOVE, HATE" are on one side of the image, and "DEVOTION" on the other. If hypocrisy is what I have been trying to expose through my work, this is an apex. The sadness of humans inhumanity to each other is justified but not condoned in the knowledge that the father believes he is doing the correct thing in protecting his family from the incursion of unwanted life-styles. And he is doing it under the banner of Christian fellowship, which allows him to see a hero when he looks into a mirror.

©Book Club of California