Welcome back everyone! I had a really nice time celebrating the holidays in Iowa. I posted a few pictures of the farm on the my flickr page here. Check out those earless goats. My mailbox was overflowing when I got back and hidden between all the thick glossy catalogs and other junk was a small beautiful envelope from Angela at Edizioni Almenodue. Inside was a pretty New Year’s card and also this lovely tiny accordian folded book tied together with red and white baker twine. You have to unfold the entire thing to read the text which is in Italian. A small card comes with the translated version. The story is of a man who owns an ebony bow that he is very fond of. He decides though that it is just too plain and goes to the best artist to have him engrave it. The artist engraves a big hunting scene on the bow and greatly pleases the man. But then as soon as the man tries to use the bow- it breaks! And that’s the end. The illustrations that accompany the tale are really beautiful despite their subject matter. A killed bear, fish, pig, deer, tiger, rabbit and bird drawn somewhat crudely in what looks like a black pencil or crayon each have one or more dark red arrows going into them. They lay across the bow which spans the whole length of the book. At the end an arrow goes through a red heart. This book is available at Angela’s new etsy shop right here. A very fancy hardcover edition of only sixty is also available here. Thanks Angela for this special treat! Tonight starts a new year which I can’t be more excited to begin considering the last was so great! Hope everyone has a great night!!

© Julia Rothman 2007