(Albert Camus/Fulcrum Press) Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus

Translated from the French by Justin O’Brien. Imagery by Patricia Holburd Heidenheimer. Privately printed. The Fulcrum Press. MMVII. (2007.) Accordion fold. 13.5” x 6”. Patricia Heidenheimer created and hand-printed the images in color from collagraph plates. Text letterpress printed in Gill Sans Bold onto Rives Heavyweight Buff. Black cloth boards with illustration on front; gray paper spine and endpapers. The accordion fold pages are removable from the back flap inside the back cover of the slipcase. Black cloth slipcase with spine title in gray. An edition of 20 numbered copies plus 5 artist’s proofs. Signed by Patricia Holburd Heidenheimer. New.

“The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays was originally published by Gallimard in Paris in 1942, when Camus was a fighter in the French Resistance. ... The hand icons derive from prehistoric European cave paintings at El Castillo and Santián.” - Colophon.

“In the Greek myth, Sisyphus challenges the gods and is thus condemned by them to forever roll a rock to the top of a mountain, only to watch it rush down again and so be forced forever to commence his punishment anew. In Camus’ essay, the rock is employed as a metaphor for human morality. Only by consciously accepting their mortality, Camus suggests, will humans ever achieve the freedom they need to construct their own humanity-oriented lives. The artist’s imagery of the rock and the hand serve as visual motifs to link both the narrative and the multiple levels of Camus’ existential interpretation of the myth.” - Heidenheimer.

$900