Milton

When his daughter Rebekah told me he was in the hospital, and that I should write to him, I sent Milton postcards most days for the three months until his death. In the following year, I asked if I could borrow the cards back.  I wanted to revisit and make a record of what I wrote.  I intended to return the cards but they were never sent to me.

Then, twenty years later, they arrived.  At that point I’d been making books for many years.  When I read them, the postcards seemed such a complete story that making them into a book felt inevitable. 

Milton, the book, follows the chronology of the cards.  I did a minimum of editing.  I felt it would change the story to smooth out the awkwardness of my younger voice. I also kept the postmarks except for those that were distracting or disfiguring.

I printed the book on a beautiful light-weight paper called Johannat, which took the inkjet printed text so crisply that it looks like letterset.  The postcard images were printed on a satin finish photo paper and mounted into the book.

The book is 76 pages, which is more than an accordion book made of a lightweight paper can gracefully accommodate and so it is fragile and awkward to handle.  It is best not held but looked at while it sits safely in its book cradle.   

Milton is about art and about friendship.

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More of Milton an excerpt of the text.

Milton made in an edition of 3. 7 x 7 inches. Thirty-eight archival inkjet prints on semi-gloss paper mounted on Johannot paper with museum board ends and mylar cover. 2015.