MUSIC MEETS ARTIST’S BOOK AND DESIGNER BOOKBINDING
BRYARS, Gavin [and Luigi CASTIGLIONI (binder)].
Jesus’ Blood never failed me yet.
Cornuda, Tipoteca Italiana, for Rimini, Edizioni Notæ, September 2021.
Folio (498 x 352 mm), pp. [80]; printed letterpress on Fabriano Tiepolo 290 gsm cotton paper, with vinyl LP record in envelope at end; bound by Luigi Castiglioni in full cream goatskin (turn-ins signed ‘L. Castiglioni’ and ‘I · 2023’ in gilt), boards divided into geometric panels by orange morocco onlays, the whole textured in gold, dark red and grey with a Krause arming press, with 7-line dark red morocco onlay lettering running continuously to spine, front, and rear boards, author and title onlay in black morocco to front board, doublures in dark red calf stained gold, with single strip onlay running across, cream suede flyleaves, section of original printing plate inlaid in the inside board; housed in a grey cloth and patterned paper clamshell box, lined with cream suede; signed and numbered by Gavin Bryars to colophon, with additional manuscript musical score and further signature by Bryars to title.
A limited edition of this musical artist’s book, numbered 6 of 140 copies, issued to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Gavin Bryars’s iconic composition ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’, one of only thirty copies with an additional musical quotation signed by the composer and an original plate used in the printing of the book; this copy further enhanced by a striking binding by Luigi Castiglioni (b. 1968), internationally acclaimed bookbinder, musicologist, and founder of Edizioni Notæ.
First recorded in 1971, the composition is based on a loop of a London homeless man singing a short verse from a religious song, on which various brass and string accompaniments are gradually overlaid, slowly gaining volume as it repeats. This crescendo, as well as the final fading, are represented visually in the book with increasingly dark tones of grey and black, and by the gradual filling of the blank page which, at the climax of the composition, is awash with verse and music.
The composition was performed at Tate Modern in London in April 2019, in a twelve-hour overnight performance by two groups of homeless people directed by Gavin Bryars (b. 1943), accompanied by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Southbank Sinfonia, and Bryars’s own ensemble. This is the first book issued by Edizioni Notæ, an innovative publishing house conceived by international designer bookbinder and musicologist Luigi Castiglioni (b. 1968), which aims to produce beautifully printed music scores, a meeting point between artist’s book and contemporary music.
This limited edition, letterpress-printed with a 1963 Nebiolo Atena printing machine, consists of only 140 copies, of which twenty numbered in Roman numerals reserved for the contributors and hors commerce, and 120 in Arabic numerals, each signed by Gavin Bryars and containing a 33 rpm vinyl record with the loop of the song recorded fifty times. Copies 1-30 include an additional manuscript musical quotation signed by Gavin Bryars, and one of the printing plates used in the production of the book.
