Jorge Luis Borges. Gabriela Aberastury (illustrator) Published by Editions Dos Amigos, Buenos Aires. 1997.

Dimensions: 13” x 10” x 2.5”.

Bound: 2021.

Eggplant-colored goatskin binding with onlays of goatskin, calfskin, painted aluminum and brass, and painted paper/mylar lamination; gold, blind and painted tooling; areas of sanded and painted leather. Painted paper edge-to-edge pastedowns and flyleaves. 

The wonderful illustrations within the book suggest a fantastical universe of surreal landscapes and graphic images that at once mystify yet explain everything. The binding pictorially creates a landscape upon which variously rendered plates and other objects are scattered, carrying on the theme from the text. The idea of seeming randomness, yet with a definite sense of purpose, is explored with this binding. The fragmented aleph (the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, said to symbolize God’s oneness and power) appears as if projected on three of the plates as well as other geometric forms.