the fhip did fail (artists book)

letterpress with handset type on handmade rag paper and on Neenah classic linen paper, lasercuts, handmade bookcloth, original text

5.25” x 4.5” x .5” (closed)

edition of 18

2025

“the fhip did fail” is a retelling of an 18th century poem called “The happy ship carpenter, or the heroick Damsel.” I found this poem on an American broadside in the Harris Collection of Poetry and Plays at the John Hay Library. The poem tells about a ship carpenter in Bristol who runs off to sea when his lover’s father refuses to let them marry. Little does he know, he is followed onto his ship by that very lover in disguise. My retelling references the couplet structure of the original but replaces its rhyme scheme with free-verse ponderings on searching for the self and seeing that person reflected in the acceptance of others. (And of course, it is a transgender version of this crossdressing sailor’s story.) 

While typesetting, I replaced many instances of the letter “s” with an italic “f” to imitate the experience of reading the original broadside, where you encounter a “long s” or “medial s” and (if you’re like me) might read “sail” as “fail.”

The physical book has two page sizes, one nestled in the other and folded twice like secret notes passed between lovers. I handmade these smaller sheets from fabric scraps I’ve been collecting in my studio during my sewing and quilting projects. Every sheet has a deckled edge (from my papermaking) or a false deckled edge (which I hand-tore individually) to reference the text, where our protagonist is searching (to no avail) for clear edges. The pale blue pages are Nennah classic linen papers, whose color imitates rag paper from the referenced era, which was sometimes dyed blue to hide the off-white color resulting from lower quality rags.

Select pages, as well as the front cover, I lasercut with silhouettes of medical drawings based on ones in two 18th century books. In silhouette, they may be read as islands or bodies of water.

If you are purchasing this book as representative for a library or other special collection, please reach out to let me know!