Ron King

Anansi Company

The portfolio book Anansi Company features 13 handmade wire card rod-puppets animated in color and verse by Ronald King and Roy Fisher. The designs, silk-screening, hand stenciling and letterpress were done by Circle Press on 300gsm Arches rag-made paper. The piece is held in a card wrap-around and inserted into a heavily blocked solander box covered in three different colored pieces of cloth. Thirteen of the sections are French-folded and pocketed inside to hold the puppets and the letterpressed poems set in Monotype Walbaum type. The puppets are made from hand-bent brass wire and card and are designed to be manipulated by the person reading the stories aloud.

Press: Circle Press
Date: 1992
Number and Edition: 62 of 120
Size: 17.7” x 13.385”

Tabernacle

Ron King, founder and director of Circle Press, created this seven-drawer black wooden cabinet structure to celebrate the seven generations of printers in his family. Each generation is remembered in a different drawer. Case I houses a 44-page signed book. Case II includes a two-sided folding print in 16 sections. Cases III and IV are full of red and black sets of magnetized letters. Case V houses a set of rubber stamp letters for printing. Case VI is a folding box with a metal base, designed for use with the magnetized letters. Case VII is a signed and numbered box made from surplus materials.

Press: Circle Press
Date: 2001
Number and Edition: 28 of 50
Size: 13” x 9”

Turn Over Darling

This series of six double-sided blind-embossed images of a reclining woman reminiscent of an Edgar Degas drawing was printed in wire. When folded and juxtaposed in sequence, the pages make 11 reclining images that change position, as the images are the exact reverse of each other. Dampened sheets of Khadi pure rag paper were used to create each two-page spread. The book is bound into tan handmade paper covers and inserted into a gray card slip-case.

Circle Press was formed by Ron King in 1967, and has continued for over 30 years, having a profound effect on other artists working with books. Originally established in Guildford, the press moved to London in 1988. The artists involved with the press have managed all aspects of its activities, from production to sales and distribution.

Press: Circle Press
Date: 1990
Number and Edition: 2329 of an Open Edition
Size: 7.875” x 5.9”