Palmetum (the author’s copy with proof set)

“Depicted by” Juli Haas, Ray Crooke, Jan Senbergs, Anneke Silver, Cheryl Wildon, Danny Moynihan, Margaret Wilson, Normana Wight, Jorg Schmeisser, David Paulson, Ron McBurnie, Tate Adams, Anne Lord. With text by Jenny Zimmer. Introduction by John L. Dowe, Palm Biologist, James Cook University. Townsville : Lyrebird Press, 2002. Folio (470 x 395 mm), screen printed papered boards, cloth spine, pp. [52], with original etchings, silk screens, dry points, linocuts and wood engravings by the artists, printed on BFK rag paper, housed in the publisher’s folding clamshell box with screenprint designs of palms. Printed in an edition of 40 copies of which copies 26 to 40 are reserved for the artists and collaborators. Signed by all thirteen artists. This is copy number 26, with a presentation inscription on the front free endpaper ‘For Jenny from Tate, Dec 2002’. Designed by Tate Adams, produced with Ron McBurnie at the workshop of the Lyre Bird Press at James Cook University, Townsville. Text printed from relief plates, typography by Charles Teuma. Bound in Brisbane by Friedhelm Pohlmann. The project was started in 1995 and finished and published in 2002.

An extraordinarily beautiful and lavish Australian artists book devoted to the palm tree, inspired by the Palmetum of Townsville, one of the three botanical gardens of the city and the most significant garden in the world dedicated to the palm tree, with numerous rare and endangered species.

‘Of all of the books we made at Lyre Bird Press in Townsville, Palmetum was the most ambitious and challenging. It was ambitious in that we brought acclaimed artists from different parts of the country to Townsville with the hope that they could share their unique vision of the Palmetum (a botanic garden specifically devoted to palms of the world) to print form. The book was costly because of its large size and the expense of editioning the plates.

In order to make the book we presold a number of copies. A meeting with the Townsville Mayor, Tony Mooney resulted in sales to Townsville City Council and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, giving us crucial funds to cover artists’ travel and fees. I also obtained funds through a University grant and further funds were sourced through the sale of earlier publications. In total over $20,000 was raised.

Palmetum was initially designed by Tate. As we worked on it, the design needed to be updated several times to suit its evolution. When Tate realised that there were more text pages than he expected, leaving several blank image pages, a number of extra linocuts were cut by him to fill the gaps. In spite of these challenges the book is a splendid work. The majority of images made by the invited artists are rich and varied in approach and technique and are integrated effortlessly with the polymer relief text plates. The diversity of images mirrors the great diversity of the palms in the Palmetum. The leaf like book cover and case designed by Tate fit so beautifully together and lead seamlessly into the palm tree shape of artists names that can be seen on the title page. This project took at least eight years and involved many artists, writers and printers. It is a major artists’ book publication that shows what can be done by a small publishing press with big vision and aspiration despite having very limited funds. – Ron McBurnie, Tales of the Lyre Bird, Mackay : Artspace Mackay, 2022, p. 12 – 13

Accompanied by the original mockup of the book by Tate Adams, with original cover designs painted by Tate Adams, hand scripted text by Tate Adams, and original linocuts by ten of the artists including Ray Crooke, Danny Moynihan, Margaret Wilson, Anne Lord, Ron McBurnie, Julie Haas, Normana Wight, Cheryl Wilson, David Parson, and Jorg Schmeisser. With a hand written letter from Tate Adams to Jenny Zimmer relating to the production of the book.

A stunning book, the author’s own copy, with the original proofs for the edition.

Very rare, we can find no record of any copies at auction or in the market.

 

Provenance:

Tate Adams (artist and publisher)

gifted to Professor Jenny Zimmer, art historian, author and publisher

acquired from the above

 

Collections :

State Library of Victoria

State Library of Queensland

University of Queensland

Mackay Regional Council Art Collection