Descriptions of Literature by Gertrude Stein: Handwritten by Erica Van Horn (2019)

Descriptions of Literature by Gertrude Stein: Handwritten by Erica Van Horn (2019)
Erica Van Horn
Limited edition (unknown quantity). H157 x W146 mm. [144] pages. Acquired from Books about Art, 2 July 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Appropriation has its reasons. Gertrude Stein’s description of literature with which Erica Van Horn begins her scribal appropriation of sixty-six of Stein’s exacting and elusive apothegms is particularly appropriate. In the brief afterword, Van Horn explains that she has always been proud of her handwriting and loves writing by hand. So, this book “shows that the next and best is to be found out when there is pleasure in the reason” as its next folio shows: Van Horn’s pleasure in the reason is her pleasure in the reason.

Another reason for this particular method of appropriation is the artist’s concern with her “hand’s” deterioration with age. The exercise in appropriation preserves the state of her craft while there is still pleasure in the reason.

Another reason is the pleasure in the moment of finding an absolute favorite description, and another in the next moment, and another … (perhaps the abbreviation for et cetera should be changed to gs.).

Another reason is the pleasure of greater understanding of each description. And still another is the pleasure of the concentration required by each transcription. And still another is the pleasure of the artist’s artist’s book’s self reflection, gs., gs., gs.

The life of St. Anthony of Padua: Patron Saint of Lost Things (2013)

The life of St. Anthony of Padua: Patron Saint of Lost Things (2013)
Erica Van Horn
Cased clothbound hardback, burnt orange doublures. H151 x W160 mm. [36] pages. Edition of 200, of which this is #105. Acquired from Books about Art, 2 July 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Alteration is another form of appropriation. The cheeky elimination of parts in thirteen postcard illustrations of the life of St. Anthony of Padua (patron saint of lost things) has numerous peaks of wry humor, including the inclusion of two empty blue backgrounds to represent the two postcards lost from the pack purchased on vacation.

Perhaps Fernando, the future St. Anthony, is contemplating his lost desk and other missing surroundings.

The hand at the door calls as much attention to the missing face of the witness to St. Anthony’s transfiguration as St. Anthony’s gesture calls to the missing object of his adoration.

Forty funghi: forty poems (2008)

Forty funghi: forty poems (2008)
Harry Gilonis and Erica Van Horn
Cased softcover, black doublures. H174 x W133 mm. 156 pages. Edition of 300. Acquired from Books about Art, 2 July 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Coracle Press, Van Horn’s joint venture with her partner Simon Cutts, has published several other artists and authors — Tony Cragg, Peter Downsbrough, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Hamish Fulton, and Richard Long — and on occasion, Van Horn performs a duet like this one with Harry Gilonis. Originally issued in 1994, this slightly larger edition refreshes access to Van Horn’s distinctive prints and Gilonis’ richly alliterative and observant poems.

Folded Napkins (2006)

Folded Napkins (2006)
Erica Van Horn
Booklet, sewn. H153 x W109 mm. [16] pages. Edition of 300, of which this is #133. Acquired from Books about Art, 2 July 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Whether at home or abroad, Van Horn’s art and writing are very much of the table, local color, and landscape. Earlier works such as 8 Irish Apples and the series Living Locally exemplify this. Folded Napkins highlights the home and hearth — something like but different from Danish hygge, French confort, German gemütlichkeit — that she often brings to her work then leavens with a sophisticated humor wise to artistic and literary tradition.

Further Reading

“Erica Van Horn (I)“. 29 December 2020. Books On Books Collection.

Kirwan, Martha. “In Rural Tipperary, A Printing Press Led by Curiosity, Not Cost“, University Times Magazine, 16 September 2019.

Kuhl, Nancy. The Book Remembers Everything: The Work of Erica Van Horn (Clonmel: Coracle Press, 2010). Until the acquisition of Seven Lady Saintes (1985), this book was the only means in the collection by which to gain a sense of Van Horn’s more painterly bookworks such as La Ville aux dames (“second state”) (1983), which appeared in the 1986 Chicago exhibition “The Book Made Art”, annotated here.