Teachers of Literature are apt to think up such problems as “What is this author’s purpose?” or still worse “What is the guy trying to say?” Now, I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book and who, when asked to explain its origin and growth, has to rely on such ancient terms as Interreaction of Inspiration and Combination-which, I admit, sounds like a conjurer explaining one trick by performing another.

On a Book Entitled Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

I have read Lolita at least three times and have somehow always skipped the afterward. If you have not read this essay you really ought to, regardless of the novel.

A handwritten page reveals the spirit of its maker as fully as the small, expressive movements of the lips and eyes. A typescript page is, in comparison, always poker-faced. A page prepared on a computer can be either, but it is usually something else: a prefabricated visage, a self-portrait off the shelf, a store bought mask.

A Short History of the Printed Word, Chappell and Bringhurst

Shortly after I purchased my typewriter- a handsome Underwood 11, which I selected because of this article comparing the sound of the 11 to the sound of rain- and had it serviced, I began composing everything on it. Letters, manuscripts, grocery lists, even typing on flower petals and bits of lace, just everything, everything.

I recently reread A Short History of the Printed Word. The above passage made me realize that the monotone of the typewriter is a feature that thoroughly delights me but I had not consciously noted its appeal. I like allowing the recipient of a letter to read into my correspondence. I like forcing my future self into some play and guess work when editing a manuscript. I’m shy and a poker face feels good. I like to keep my emotions secret until I’m certain about a thing. I like to be cool, I like to be distant, I like to be metallic.

This summer I’ve been revisiting postcards and that has forced the hand so to speak, ho ho, and last month I initiated a project involving handwritten letters sent chain mail style (Psst, it’s called LOVE RETURNS. Check your postbox!). Tonight I sat down and composed a full letter in pen and ink for the first time in months. I feel anxious, it really does look so raw and open! My chunky, childish letters. My inability to write on a straight line. The hard way I bore into the paper. The emotion behind every stroke. My subtleties naked and on display.

I remember when I held the Doves Press Bible. I made a small gasp and a bolt lit my body, a feeling close to erotic attraction. It was single handedly responsible for demonstrating to me of the intrinsic power of a well made book.

Since my first encounter with the Doves Press I have cultivated a more personal taste in font. The Doves Roman, drawn by Emery Walker and cut by Edward Prince, is a font I find particularly handsome. It is, unfortunately, lost to history. The way Les told the story, as I remember it, goes something like this:

“Thomas Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker were the partners of the Doves Press. They agreed that whoever lived the longest would take over after the other died. It became apparent that Walker was going to outlive Cobden-Sanderson, and he could not abide the thought of Walker running the establishment. So Cobden-Sanderson began filling his pockets with type and tossing the handfuls into the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge on his walk home every evening.”

Image courtesy of History of Graphic Design 2008

My new book, Human Parts of Me Want to Eat the Flowers off of Trees, will be back from the printer in four to six weeks. I am offering the books for $10 a piece if you order before the end of July. That’s $2 off the cover price! WOW!!! NO WAY!!!

This book is comprised of four stories and one scene. It is the first collection of my writing since late 2006.

Please include $2.50 for postage, for a total of $12.50. Pay Pal payments should be sent to rabbitlight at gmail dot com. Checks and cash should be mailed to:

Jessalyn Wakefield
734 39th Ave
Seattle WA 98122

THANK YOU!