Kickstarter

NOTE TO BACKERS:

This is a re-launch of the Raphael Boguslav calligraphy book project that was here on Kickstarter last month. We had originally intended to publish 50 copies of this book, but did not meet the funding goals needed to complete such a large edition and fulfill the rewards it would have required to fund it. We did, however, raise enough money in our first attempt to make 20 books, which is enough to meet our rewards obligations for this lower goal, take some books to the CODEX fair. With this lowered goal and edition size we can still accomplish the main substance of our original project's aim to get Mr. Boguslav's work published and exhibited at this great rare books fair. 

BIOGRAPHIES OF PUBLISHER AND ARTIST:

My name is Christopher Benson and I'm the owner of The Fisher Press, a small fine art publishing company in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Two years ago I wrote, designed and made the first prototypes for a limited edition book about a friend and former teacher of mine—a fantastic graphic designer and calligrapher from Rhode Island named Raphael Boguslav.

Sadly, Raphael died in 2010 as the result of injuries from a motorcycle accident near his home in Newport, leaving behind a large archive of his calligraphic drawings. Several of us who knew him went through that work after he died and had the idea to make this book as a way of preserving his legacy for posterity. This was a pet project of ours at the Press and the design and production work was paid for by friends and family of the artist who bought the first ten copies in the edition.

You can see a more substantial biographical sketch of Raphael in a short film slide-show—narrated by the artist—that was posted on YouTube by one of his colleagues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Tyh2RYH9U

There is also a website dedicated to his graphic design and calligraphy that has been maintained since his death by another friend: http://www.boguslav.com

Raphael was a prolific designer of corporate logotypes and trademarks in the 1970s and 80s and many of his marks have become familiar, even iconic symbols in the trade. But his deeper, more artistic passion was for hand written calligraphic script, and it is that work which is the subject of our book.

PROJECT GOALS:

Our mission here on Kickstarter is to publish 20 copies of the book I have already prototyped, which contains reproductions of 22 calligraphic drawings by Mr Boguslav, and take some of them to the CODEX book fair in Berkeley, California in February of 2013. We have already applied to and been accepted as exhibitors at the fair. Any profits we make from selling this book there will be shared equally with Raphael's estate and also used to initiate a larger trade edition of the book to be marketed to art schools as a practice manual for calligraphy and design students.

REWARDS:

We are offering rewards of the six pages of lettering from the book that are seen on this web page, reproduced in numbered editions of archival prints on fine art papers. These images come from the same high-resolution scans made directly from the artist's original drawings that we used to make the plates in the book. Because our medium is ink printing on matte paper, these prints resemble the actual works to an extraordinary degree, making them almost indistinguishable from the originals. In some cases we have even restored the files from originals which were drawn in a hurry on inexpensive paper and became rumpled or coffee-stained or water-damaged in Raphael's studio. We have cleaned them up substantially and are printing them now on heavy rag papers which show them off to their best advantage.

We are also offering a small number of copies of the book. Some of these are the just the book by itself. A small handful, offered at a higher price, are deluxe copies that will come in a clamshell outer case and will include an original lettered sheet by the artist.

WHY WE DO IT:

We enjoy all the work we do at the Press, but this is an especially rewarding project. Raphael was an exceptional craftsman and a great teacher whose instruction had a life-long impact on many who worked and studied with him. This is an important project for us and one that also offers an opportunity for our funders to be part of a unique, worthy endeavor on behalf of a fine artisan whose life's work well deserves to be remembered. Thanks so much for taking a look at it!

Sincerely, Christopher Benson—Owner/Director of The Fisher Press