164 pp. artist's book with text in Spanish, English, French, and German, based on the motif of a pencil, illustrated throughout. Pencil-shaped, 17 x 3 inches. Original illustrated wrappers. Light handling wear, slight warping to front cover, minor edgewear, overall excellent. Madrid: Kliczowki Publisher/A Asppan, 1998.

A whimsical poetry and artist's book from Juan Fresan (b. 1937), a graphic designer and filmmaker from Patagonia in South America. The pages alternate between what Fresan calls "pseudo-postulates" and avant-garde illustrations which center around or incorporate the image of the pencil, often transformed into something else, such as part of a bicycle, the handle of a shovel, a scissor blade, the body of a butterfly, or part of a trumpet. The "pseudo-postulates" are brief, only a few lines each, and appear each time in all four languages.

In the beginning of the English translation of the "prologue" to the book, Fresan writes, "To begin honestly: "This" is not a prologue. Nor is it a pencil. And less still, a book. At most, it is a symbiosis. Between wood-pencil and paper-book. Almost an incestuous relationship which springs from a father-tree in danger of deforestation, modestly disguised with inks, texts and images. What it is: A product. And every product is a product for sale."

A scarce and unusual Latin American artist's book; as of April 2026, OCLC locates only a single holding of this book in a North American library.

Book ID: 53617

Price: $950.00