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Scolar Press is pleased to announce the publication of a fine
limited edition of Three Stories of the Raj, by Ved Mehta,
author of Vedi, The
Ledge Between the Streams, Sound-Shadows
of the New World, and other books. It is illustrated by
Zahid Sardar and designed and printed by Adrian Wilson.
Ved Mehta and Adrian Wilson, both MacArthur Prize Fellows, met
for the first time at a gathering of recipients of the award.
Their conversation turned inevitably to their work—to Ved
Mehta' s writing and to Adrian Wilson's book designing and printing.
The concept of publishing a Mehta work in a special edition arose
naturally; and the author chose three stories with different characters
and events, each revealing an aspect of boyhood in India under
the British raj.
Working in Wilson's studio at the time was Zahid Sardar, a graphic
artist from Bombay, and he was eager to illustrate the book. Sardar,
who was already planning to visit his native land, took along
his sketchbook and copies of the stories, and returned with a
group of delicate and perceptive images recreating a vanished
way of life.
Ved Mehta was born in India, but since 1949 has lived in England
and the United States. He was educated at the Arkansas School
for the Blind, Pomona College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard.
His stories and articles have appeared in Indian, British, and
American publications, most frequently in The New Yorker. He has
been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and two Ford Foundation
grants.
Adrian Wilson is renowned internationally as a designer of prize-winning
books for museums, university presses, The Limited Editions Club,
and trade publishers, and also for fine limited editions printed
at his own press. He is an authority on the history of the book
and has written and lectured extensively on the book arts.
The title of the first story, "Four Hundred and Twenty,"
refers to an infamous law of British India under which Indian
subjects were tried for various sorts of antisocial behavior.
The story reveals with gentle humor the mixture of petty bureaucracy
and profound spiritual feeling during the period, and the deep
division between Hindus and Muslims that in time led to the partitioning
of the country.
"The Music Master," the story of a boy's lessons with
a lazy, devious, but appealing guru, shows how the crosscurrents
of ancient superstition and modern Westernized thinking have buffeted
the Indian subcontinent.
The third story, "Sunset," presents with great sensitivity
and simplicity a picture of a village family, its traditions,
and its strengths, in a time of tragedy
The book consists of sixty-four pages and is printed by letterpress
at Wilson's Press in Tuscany Alley, San Francisco. The format
is horizontal and the book is printed on Mohawk Superfine paper,
in two inks, black and curry. The book is set in Centaur and Arrighi
types. Of a total of 1,000 copies, 300 constitute a deluxe edition,
with the pen illustrations hand-colored by the artist. These copies
are bound with sides of Oriental bark paper and a spine of oasis
morocco leather stamped in gold. The endpapers are moldmade Nideggen.
Each copy of the deluxe edition is signed by the author, the artist,
and the printer, and comes in a slipcase covered in bark paper.
The price is $350, which includes shipping.
For the regular edition of 700 copies, the printing, type, and
paper are identical with those of the deluxe edition, but the
books are bound in curry-colored imported Dutch linen; on the
spine is a deep-red label stamped in gold. The price is $65, including
shipping.
Buy
this book
Ved Mehta takes
no responsibility for and makes no claim of accuracy for any information
on this Web site that is not directly written by him. |
