Robert Graham

Ode on a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes

Written in 1748 by English poet Thomas Gray (1716-1771), Ode on a Favourite Cat is a self-referential and mocking parody of his most famous work, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” The poem is a blend of classical formality, tragedy and wit. A full-page linocut by Ken Ferguson complements the whimsy of the poem. An excerpt from Ode on a Favourite Cat is below:

“Not all that tempts your wander eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all, that glistens, gold.”

Founded in 1990 in Oldham, England, Incline Press published its first book three years later. Since then, it has produced over 50 titles and moved from its original location to a building that once housed a small 19^th century cotton mill.

Press: Incline Press
Date: 2001
Number and Edition: 84 of 150
Size: 11.75” x 7.75"

Playing Gershwin

The short story Playing Gershwin features Peter Allen's whimsical hand-colored pochoir illustrations. Pochoir, a popular art form during the 1920s and 1930s, is created by applying color through a series of carefully cut out stencils. It was used extensively in fashion magazines of the period. Playing Gershwin was printed in Goudy typefaces on Zerkall paper and sewn into a stiff card cover with an illustrated paper wrapper.

Artist Robert Graham said: “It's not giving the story away to say it concerns a dreamer whose dream-life turns his home-life upside down, before he realizes he can use those dreams to create a new life for himself. Totally unbelievable, of course, but you'll be so charmed by this latter-day Walter Mitty that you'll forgive his beguiling fiction.”

Press: Incline Press
Date: 1997
Number and Edition: 53 of 200
Size: 10” x 5.25”