haiku na feirme

Poetry by John FitzGerald. Visual interventions, design, typography and letterpress printing by Jamie Murphy. Irish handmade paper by Griffen Mill. Binding by Tom Duffy. Videography by Ruairi Conaty. Poems read by John FitzGerald.

Ireland’s rural landscape is both subject and setting in this new sequence of twenty haikus by John FitzGerald (Darklight, 2018). The traditional Japanese haiku’s observance of nature is adapted to a new Hibernian hybrid which fuses perception with experience to create distinct occasions of meaning and sound. Taking his inspiration from the land and its plant, animal and human inhabitants, these poems are offered as verbal exclamations, short instances of lived and felt experience which follow the seasons and celebrate the richness and diversity of life on the land. Jamie Murphy has produced six abstract woodblock prints which act as pauses in the text. These visual interventions are inspired by the poet's immediate landscape and printed from 300 year old Irish oak which fell there some years ago.

Designed, typeset and letterpress printed by Jamie Murphy at his newly finished home studio. John FitzGerald penned the haikus from spring 2019 through to summer 2021. The type is Frutiger’s Méridien Italic (1966), printed onto damp 65-130 gsm Griffen Mill, the last remaining sheets of Irish hand-made paper, purchased from the mill on their retirement in early 2020. The visual interventions have been printed directly from prepared oak blocks onto 39 gsm Japanese Hosokawa. 

We're aiming for 100 copies. The bindings will be executed by Tom Duffy and family, my long time binding collaborators based in Dublin. 70 numbered copies will be quarter bound in painted Griffen Mill paper over boards, held in a slipcase. Marked i–iv, four similar copies will be reserved for collaborators. 26 lettered copies will be bound in altered goat, presented in a cloth covered solander box.

Originally intended for release in 2020, I now hope to launch the book in December, 2021. The book will launch at €1250 (deluxe) and €550 (standard). A small number of both standard and deluxe copies are available now at a pre-publication discount of 20% (€1000 / €440). Please enquire.