Sweet New England

Norwich, VT, 2014. Artist's book, one of 7 copies, all on white paper, each copy signed and numbered by the artist on the colophon. Page size: 7-1/4 x 4-3/4 inches; 18pp; including colophon. Bound by the artist: drum leaf style, brown cloth over boards with small onlay of stenciled image of Necco wafer on front panel. Text printed letterpress in 24pt. Futura Italicwith titlepage in Futura Medium 48 and 18pt. Images hand stenciled by the artist. Stephanie Wolff notes in the colophon that the commercial confections featured in SWEET NEW ENGLAND all originated in Massachusetts... Further, "the discovery of maple sugar candy happened so many years ago the date and details are unknown, but it has long been considered a New England sweet." The candies are named and pictured with the date of their first appearance: Junior Mints 1949, Sugar Daddy 1925, Charleston Chew 1922, Marshmallow Fluff 1917, Conversation Hearts 1866, Necco Wafers 1849, and Maple Sugar Candy. Each confection's image is reduced to a stylized essence - love the pastel ribbons of Necco Wafers which fill their pages ignoring the idea of margins and the organic shape of Marshmallow Fluff bordered with sky-blue outline. The vertical views of the Charleston Chew contrast nicely with the rectangular Sugar Daddy's, while the simple chocolate oval of the Junior Mint evokes the uncomplicated pleasures of all these confections. A most delightful book to be savored - elegantly simple with the immediate thrill of strong color images filling the reader / viewer with memories of childhood pleasures. Stephanie Wolff is an artist, bookbinder, printer and book conservator working in Vermont. She was the Fall 2015 Helen M. Salzberg Artist-in-Residence at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts after being awarded the Creative and Performing Artists and Writers Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society.