Collecting John Piper

Take a look at the beautiful cover of John Piper in the Watkinson: An Illustrated Checklist -- it is letterpress printed and features a stylized representation of the baptistry window of Coventry Cathedral, designed by Piper.

This slim catalogue was just published in an edition of five hundred to honor the gift of William J. McGill, who donated his collection of books and ephemera related to the British artist John Piper to the Watkinson Library at Trinity College. McGill's essay about Piper and the collection explains why he--"I am not an art collector, but a book collector"--should be so interested in a British artist. By way of example, he discusses Brighton Aquatints, a folio of twelve etchings and aquatints, as well as Piper's collaborations with poet John Betjeman. An annotated checklist of some two hundred items follows.

This production is an example of the continuing good work of Richard Ring, head curator and librarian of the Watkinson Library at Trinity College and author of The Bibliophile's Lair blog (also a former FB&C book review editor!). In his introduction, Ring says he hopes the publication rallies students, that McGill's collection and donation might be an "inspiring model."

The twenty-four-page paperbound book can be purchased directly from Oak Knoll.