Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Fact-Simile Literary Trading Card Series

It is with great pleasure that we would like to announce the official launch of Fact-Simile's Literary Trading Card Series!

Every month during 2010 and beyond we will release a limited edition trading card featuring the work of a notable contemporary literary figure. Patterned after classic baseball card designs, each collectible trading card will be available for just 99 cents apiece on our website or FREE with the purchase of any Fact-Simile title/item.

That’s right: you can own a piece of literary history for the price of a song on iTunes! So go ahead...indulge. And remember to tell all your friends!

This month's featured writer is none other than the almighty Anne Waldman with a previously unpublished excerpt from her epic poem Iovis.

Many Thanks and Happy Reading,

Travis Macdonald & JenMarie Davis
The Editors @ Fact-Simile Editions
http://www.fact-simile.com

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sonnet 86

I was feeling a little stuck with this translation project I'm working on and was looking for some inspiration this evening in, of all places, my Dover Thrift Edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets, when I discovered the original photograph above (of Robert Creeley and Bobbie Louise Hawkins) marking sonnet 86. My best guess is, I picked the book up in Boulder at a second-hand bookshop where it had found its way from the collection of Bobbie Louise. In the spirit of serendipity, I would like to share with you the sonnet 86:

Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all-too-precious-you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
Making their tomb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verse astonished.
He nor that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence,
As victors, of my silence cannot boast;
I was not sick of any fear from thence.

But when your countenance fill'd up his line,
Then lack'd I matter; that enfeebled mine.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Announcing The Equinox Chapbook Series

Fact-Simile Editions is pleased to announce the official release of our first annual Equinox Chapbook Series. This project has been more than 8 months in the making so, without further delay or undue ceremony, I give you:

The winner of Fact-Simile's Equinox Chapbook contest, Point of Intersection is a 4.5" x 6.5" portfolio style chapbook consisting of 12 new poems from Buffalo poet Joseph Cooper. Each unique book is hand-bound in scarred and branded leather. Point of Intersection was printed in an edition of 100 with additional vegan copies available while supplies last.


Brooklyn poet Matt Reeck's midwinter, runner-up in Fact-Simile's 2009 Equinox Chapbook contest, is a 6 foot long accordion folded text with accompanying magnifying glass. midwinter bound in hand stamped bookboard and printed in a limited edition of 45.


Some Colors Will Touch Regardless is an elegant Japanese-bound collection of cascading hand-colored pages from Colorado poet Travis Cebula. Runner-up in Fact-Simile's Equinox Chapbook contest, this limited edition of 30 books is bound by a single string of waxed thread in a heavy black folio.


Each title is available individually on our website for $15 plus s/h or $40 plus s/h for the complete set. Available while supplies last. Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly if you do not have a PayPal account or prefer to purchase a book via alternative means.

Happy Reading,

Travis & JenMarie (a.k.a. The Editors)
Fact-Simile Editions
www.fact-simile.com
travis@fact-simile.com
jenmarie@fact-simile.com

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fact-Simile 2.2 is Alive!

As most of you probably know by now: Fact-Simile 2.2 is live! This issue features a collaborative interview with Keith & Rosmarie Waldrop as well as a wide array of innovative work from new voices nationwide (and beyond):

Dale Smith
Duane Locke
Peter Davis
Ray Succre
Monica Peck
Billy Cancel
Mark DeCarteret
John Cross
Francesco Levato
Andrew McEwan
Michael Alfaro
Mark Terrill
Anne Gorrick
Adam Strauss
Felino Soriano
George Moore


Please take a moment to download a PDF at the address above or peruse the ISSUU online.

Also, it's not too late to order your 2010 Calendar featuring the textual artwork of
Andrew Topel. Supplies, as they say, are running low!

But don't worry. We've got lots of great things planned for 2010 including the release of last year's Equinox Chapbook winners and a trading card series that will launch next month with
work from Anne Waldman. More on those matters soon...

Until then,

The Editors
Fact-Simile Editions
www.fact-simile.com
travis@fact-simile.com
jenmarie@fact-simile.com