Rainbow. 20 original hand coloured lino-cuts.

Melbourne : Gryphon Books, 1980. First edition. Folio (545 x 380 mm), quarter-morocco over silver-lettered buckram, title label to spine, 20 original hand coloured lino-cuts (each signed and numbered), additional lino-cut title page, three additional proof linocuts loosely enclose. Limited to 67 signed copies of which 60 were for sale, this is copy number 4.

The deluxe edition of Lithuanian born Australian artist Irena Sibley’s first book ‘Rainbow’, published by noted Australian private press publisher Richard Griffin, which launched her career as a gifted creator of artist’s books. Following a period of teaching and minor exhibitions, as well as raising a family with husband Andrew Sibley, Irena began the ambitious project of hand making an edition of her story ‘Rainbow’ each containing a suite of original prints. ‘The story had taken off, made itself up; words suggested other words; some of my linocut images developed a life of their own …’ (from her autobiography). ‘Rainbow’ was launched with an uncertain start, but quickly found a collecting market, and the books were all sold to private collections and libraries. A trade edition was also produced. On the basis of this success Sibley produced a small oeuvre of original illustrated books, published successively by Richard Griffin and under her own imprint. Rainbow remains one of her most significant works, and is a lavish and brightly coloured original story of a doll that comes to life, forged from European folk traditions.