Books Currently Available

Prices do not include postage. All these books were printed on my 1865 Albion handpress from hand-set foundry type and the blocks I have designed and engraved. Hardbound books and chapbooks were also bound by me.

Hardbound books:

Family Farm. (2018) A brief history of a Conestogo family and the farm on which they settled in the 1850s, with 15 wood engravings. <Libra>. Bound in natural linen with inlay on the cover.  $190.00.

Gifts from the Sea. (2012) 22 miniature wood engravings and beach debris with brief text by the artist in <Libra>. Cover in tie-dyed and block printed linen by the artist. $125.00.

Heritage in Stone. (1989) Biography of Canadian sculptor Yosef Drenters by Barbara Smiley with focus on his restoration of the Rock Wood Academy in Rockwood, Ontario in the 1850s as a boys' private school. <Libra>. 23 wood engravings. Cover of home-spun, dyed and linen woven by hand by the artist. Slipcase with chemise. $425.00.

A Pebble's Journey. (2010) Text by Marianne Brandis. <Libra>. The book follows the course of the Grand River from its source at Dundalk to the mouth at Port Maitland on Lake Erie, and includes geology, history of occupation by First Nations, and settlement of Europeans with substantial captions for each of the 40 wood engravings. Endpapers dyed individually. Covers in linen homespun, dyed and woven by the artist and decorated with pebbles from the river's bed. Clam-shell box. This is the magnum opus of the bookwright's career. $1100.00.

A Sylph's Progress. (2013) A fable about a spirit, by the artist, with 14 wood engravings.  <Libra>. Bound in quarter damask and blue paper. $95.00.

Under this Roof. (2016) A brief history of the McDonald-Creasy House in Stratford (built in 1866 and home of the artist) by Marianne Brandis. <Libra>. 18 wood engravings based on the way the house was at the time of printing. Bound in linen, some copies have lino-cut cover and title. $210.00 Other copies have lino-cut title and inlay of cedar from shingle put on the house for its 150th birthday. $285.00.

ANNOUNCING A NEW HANDMADE BOOK:

We are pleased to inform you about a new book that combines Marianne Brandis’ text with thirty-two of Gerard's wood engravings.

Pen and Trowel (2023) is about gardening and writing, a creative and evocative combination. We focus on quotations from seven authors – including Vita Sackville-West and Timothy Findley – who write vividly about their gardens and their gardening visions and practices. The result is a weaving together of close observation, lively articulation, and soil under the fingernails.

The Libra typeface and the black-and-white images were printed with the Albion Press onto rag paper. They are set off by colourful unique endpapers with a botanical theme and binding that combines wood veneer with fabric from curtains that belonged to one of our grandmothers in the Netherlands. Binding is in progress but is slow.

This book is issued in a numbered edition of thirty-five copies and is likely to be our last major collaboration to be published in a hardbound, handmade format. The price is $425.00 plus postage.

Chapbooks (Soft-bound):

A Brief Memoir of Larkwhistle. (2017) Based on artist's journal entries for several visits to renowned private Ontario garden, with 12 wood engravings. $55.00.

Edibles. (2012) Text is captions by the artist to 12 engravings of food. $40.00.

Making Light. (2000) Reflections on what reading means to author Marianne Brandis, with 8 wood engravings. $40.00

Mud. (2009) The artist’s observations on what happens when land meets water, with 6 wood engravings. $35.00.

My name is Ebby. (2011) A memoir dictated to the artist by his pet guinea pig.  $35.00.

When a daffadil I see. (2015) Title quoted from a poem by Robert Herrick for a collection of 8 wood engravings of members of the daffodil family. $55.00.

ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF A NEW CHAPBOOK

Gardening with a Spoon. (2022)

Increasing age and deteriorating health have reduced my output in the studio considerably, but I am pleased that this project has been completed to my satisfaction.

Apart from a small insert, the cover and two sheets (eight pages) are all paper which I made a few years ago. It is free of wood pulp and the cover contains fibre from iris plants that I grew in my garden plus a variety of other fibres. I have used nine of my end-grain wood engravings combined with my own text which I set by hand in <Libra> typeface, printed with my 1865 Albion press and bound by me. It measures 6 1/4 " by 9 1/2" and is being issued in an edition of forty signed copies.

The price is $75.00 plus postage where applicable. I no longer collect GST.

This publication was unfortunately completed too late to be included in the biography written and published by my sister, Marianne Brandis, Books By Hand: Gerard Brender à Brandis, Wood Engraver and Bookwright (see below).

Keepsakes (Soft-bound):

Flowers from Shakespeare. (2004) One good-sized engraving of the flowers mentioned in a soliloquy ("I know a bank . . .") spoken by Oberon in A Midsummer's Night's Dream. $65.00

The Four Seasons. (2005)  A quadruptych of roundels showing views through entrances in artist's former garden. $40.00.

Broadsides (single sheet, unbound) printed from hand-set type and artist's block:

Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. (Undated)  Text is translated by William G. Storey from St Francis of Assisi's Latin text with wood engraving of the saint surrounded by things in the text. $50.00.

I wandered lonely as a cloud. (2014) William Wordsworth's poem with a wood engraving of daffodils. $50.00.

Wood Fungus. (1990) Poem by Eric Ormsby with wood engraving of wood fungus on tree trunk. $40.00.

Books by Hand: Gerard Brender à Brandis, Wood Engraver and Bookwright

A newly revised and updated biography of Gerard's long career as a wood engraver has been published by the writer Marianne Brandis. It is illustrated with selected reproductions of his work from the beginning to the present as well as with photographs and includes a complete list of his published work. For further information and ordering, please see the author's website.

An interview with the author about the writing of Books by Hand, giving detailed insight into many facets of Gerard’s work including his collaboration with Marianne, can be found here.