Bessie Smith Moulton

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Thirteen Superstitions
It has been said that to practice magic is an attempt to control the supernatural world. Although I was raised in a strict Baptist tradition my paternal Grandmother's Scottish/Celtic beliefs infiltrated our lives through my Father's superstitions. Each day was laced with sayings, talismans and rituals which straddled both worlds. Rabbit's feet, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers charmed our lives, and there were times we were unable to reach our destination because a black cat crossed our path. This book illustrates 13 of those frequently heard superstitions.
Mat black, foil-stamped title on black linen. Pamphlet-style binding. A combination of handset type, polymer plates and blind embossing. Edition of 13 as part of the Bibelot box (previous page).

23 Sins was created in 2002 for a book competition in Lithuania. I chose to illustrate the given theme using the simplest graphic symbols which encourage the viewer to participate by deciphering the pictograms. The leading character on most pages is a red or black dot. Although the treatment is simple, it delivers a deeper message.
Arshile Gorky wrote, "Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes...to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind...an exploration into unknown areas."
Black linen hardcover, red foil stamped title, 52 pages, hand-stitched pamphlet style. Edition of 23, 13 to be included in the Bibelot box (previous page).

Sui Spiritus is a letterpress book of images and poems that could be considered incantations and talismans--from the Arabic word tilsamen, meaning 'to make marks like a magician.'
Author/artist Georgiana Peacher says, "Sui Spiritus is like a prayer book for a religion of her own making; experience distilled into a symbol, a poem. As a totem maker, Bessie imbues each image with power." Much is hidden in the symbols. For instance, a simple ink painting of an ant surrounded by dots and dashes spells out a message in Morse code (suggestive of the obscure language of ants) saying, "Our wisdom will not be lost."
A symbol representing the phases of the moon waxes or wanes throughout the pages like a flip book, further connecting it with the lunar mysteries. The ouroboros drawing entitled 'Thou Shalt' refers to Nietzsche's golden-scaled dragon where 'Thou Shalt' glitters on each scale as it confronts one of the Three Metamorphoses in Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Black and white images are letterpress printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. 20 pages, 4"x4", hand-stitched, pamphlet style into a black linen hard cover with a silver foil stamped title. An edition of 13 is part of the Bibelot box (previous page).