ON READING J. H. PRYNNE’S SUB SONGS

“In May 2010, Jeremy Prynne sent me a copy of
his Sub Songs and I determined to set aside nine consecutive days in which to read each of the nine poems and respond with a daily text. The result was
to make a serial poem in nine parts with the title
ON READING J. H. PRYNNE’S SUB SONGS.

When Bruce McLean and I met up, at the Tate in 2011, he suggested that we work on something together.
I promptly agreed. On sight of the work he proposed that we should make a book with his prints and my poems. It came into being in June 2016.”

John James

“Having known John for almost fifty years, it seemed
a good time to work on a project together. My dear friend Bridget Heal had just bought an Albion press. We decided to do a book with John James. I responded in the same way as John – 9 poems, 9 prints,
9 lines 1–9. So we made it. Fabulous. Thanks B and I.”

Bruce McLean

The hand-printed letterpress book was designed, typeset and printed by Bridget and Ivor Heal at QoD Press.

Each book, of the limited edition of twenty-six, is different containing nine lino cuts hand-coloured by the artist.
Twenty-one copies are numbered 1–21 and signed by the artists. Five are numbered I–V and are hors de commerce.

Format: 380 x 280mm / Paper: Somerset Velvet 300gsm / Extent: 24 pages / Binding: Grey board with cloth bound spine contained in a solander box by Ludlow Bookbinders.