This Is a Book is an asemic text that blurs the line between text and image. Geometric shapes and textures can be read and a narrative slowly unfolds. The letterpress-printed shapes come from an analysis of the typography of Della Scienza Mecanica by Galileo Galilei (Ravenna, 1649). The shapes of the text are simplified, and throughout the book they are increasingly disrupted, repeated and varied until they no longer resemble the original text. The book begins with rigidity and restraint, and readers are invited to witness them slowly relax and become more playful and self-aware.

This one-of-a-kind artist’s book is a technical exploration combining relief and pressure printing. The relief blocks are cut from a sheet of PVC plastic, resulting in a unique texture that blends with the characteristic fuzziness of pressure prints.