Given the odd nature of our submissions call, we should explain what we hope to produce as a tangible art piece. The anthology will live in a few different forms. Each dependent on funding, see [kickstarter-TBD].
Ultimately, our vision will be confined, like many things, by finances. How that will shake out for this anthology will be quite apparent. Many literary anthologies and magazines print on low to mid grade materials; there are no judgements here, just observations. Given that we want to ink, stitch, press, paint and bleed as much humanness into the piece, we’re not aiming for low to mid grade materials. Each step in the process where we’re allowed to introduce another artist or craftsperson–adding their story to the construction of the piece–is another step where we need to pay them for their time and expertise; if you want quick and cheap, you can have AI shit out a bland soulless piece based on stolen work for free and in moments.
We also recognize we’re a new press, new editors. What we bring in vim & vigor can easily be out-shined by our naivety. We very much want to bring our vision to light, even if we must compromise on some of our more aspirational desires (eg hand-stitched binding, homemade paper).
So, with that in mind, we’re aiming for tiered or stacked versions of the anthology, from a version with the least provenance (aka cheapest) to most the provenance (aka very much not the cheapest option), based on the funds available. The following is in order of cheapest to most expensive, or put another way from least to most interesting:
- Base softcover run (“standard” literary anthology) with transcribed copies of mailed in originals.
- Base hardcover run, same as softcover, but hard.
- Typeset (aka old-school letterpress) run with transcribed copies.
- Typeset run with one original handwritten piece inserted and bound per copy.
- Typeset run redesigned with a layout that closely follows original handwritten stories’ eccentricities.
- Typeset run with above plus illustrations.
Additional goodies will be on offer for backers on kickstarter, you should go there for a complete and updated list, but the rough idea includes:
- bookmarks
- signed copies
- additional art:
- illustrations that didn’t make it into the final piece
- bracelets
- book sleeves
- fore-edge paintings
If you are an artist and you’re interested in contributing to this project, please reach out to admin [at] provenanceanthology [dot] com. The more of you we include in this piece the closer we get to the vision of art by and for humans.
