A100. If it Were Up to Me

A100. Cheryl Wheeler. If It Were Up to Me. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2000.

47.5 x 76 mm (1 7/8” x 3”), scroll, 75 copies.

Binding: Scroll; case-bound in dark grey paper, handmade by Peter Thomas, over boards. Scroll wound onto two brass machine screws set in a black painted wood frame which is attached to the inside spine of the binding. Brass knobs threaded onto screws at right side assist in turning scroll. Title on label on cover. Inside cover paper light grey. Paper: Grey, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Titles are hand set News Gothic. Text is digitally set News Gothic. Illustration: Linocut of two guns in black. Four shapes in red.

“This book was a furtherer exploration of the scrolling book format. In it I developed a way to restrain the scroll so that it would turn in a perfectly controlled manner. The text is the lyrics of a song by Cheryl Wheeler and the climax line is ‘If it were up to me, I would take away the guns’. One of our major collectors was a gun collector and refused to buy our books after she saw this one.”