In 1990, Jane Handel founded SpiderWoman Press. Inspired by Harry and Caresse Crosby's Black Sun Press, Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press and sharing Anaïs NIn's love of the letterpress process, Handel conceived her press to be a commingling of traditional fine press printing techniques, elegant design, sensual materials, and original art in a series of limited-edition books and broadsides. Each item in the SpiderWoman Press oeuvre contains handcrafted elements that convey the collaborative relationship between author, artist, designer, printer and binder. 

Public collections include: New York Public Library, Brown University, University of Indiana, University of Tulsa, Maryland Institute of Art College. University of California, Santa Barbara and the Robert E. Kennedy Library at California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University Special Collections Library.

Current prices are contingent on how many books remain in the edition. Please inquire as to price and availability.

CATALOGUE

BOOKS:

THE THIRD SPACE (2016) 

A collaborative bookwork with text by Jane Handel and photographs from The Black Sun Series by Jacqueline Woods (jawoods-studio.com). Letterpress printed by Norman Clayton of Classic Letterpress in Ojai, CA (classicletterpress.biz) on Stonehenge paper; each book contains two unique gelatin silver prints by Woods which serve as end sheets. A letterpress printed poem, Photoheliograph, by Harry Crosby, comprises a center panel behind the text which is removable so that the book can be displayed as a freestanding triptych. Fabricated with book cloth over boards, this book was designed by Jacqueline Woods, Jane Handel and Ted Nava. Each book is hand-bound by Nava. The edition size is 40 and each is signed by both author and artist. Price: $300.00 

SWIMMING ON DRY LAND  the Memories of an Ascetic Libertine (1990)

Text and design by Jane Handel, with illustrations by Eva Garcia; limited to 200 signed and numbered copies. Printed by offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine Text, with a foil-stamped cover in red on black Fabriano Murillo paper and a spider design hand-stamped in red sealing wax; the end papers are purple or red Moriki rice paper. Both artist and author signed each copy on the colophon page. Price: $75.00 

FRAGMENT (1993)

A collaborative bookwork with Nina Schneider’s JuxtaPRESSition. It is an accordion-style book with a removable spine; it consists of four poems by Handel and four gelatin-silver prints by Schneider. Limited to an edition of 50,  Fragment was designed and letterpress printed by Handel and Schneider on Fabriano paper; each book is signed and numbered. Price: $100.00 

Silver Dagger (1996)

Silver Dagger was letterpress printed by Classic Letterpress on Rives heavyweight buff paper with Canson black endsheets, and a Folio Grey cover; each book features unique gelatin silver prints by Barbara Shinn on the cover and in the centerfold; the text and design are by Jane Handel. The edition was limited to 50 copies, signed by both artist and author/designer. Price: $100.00 

self/cell (2003)

Self/Cell is collaboration between poet, Olivia E. Sears, and artist, Aline Lillie Mayer. With a foreward by Susan Griffin, the book examines the notion of the self in the era of biotechnology and genome mapping: are we no more than the sum of our genetic parts? It was printed by offset lithography in an edition of 1,000. Price: $25.00 

BROADSIDES:

EVE  (1993)