Oehoe: owls, ûlen en uilen

Monday Motivation Owl

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach you; and the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee. Job 12:7

For your Monday motivation we present the 1979 Janus Press edition of James Cortese’s award-winning book of fables, What the Owl Said, with relief prints by Claire Van Vliet. Limited to an edition of 90 copies, Van Vliet hand-set and printed the text in Trump Mediaeval, with the prologue and epilogue in Rudolf Koch’s Walldau, on Promatco Heavy Library Endleaf with Fabriano end papers. The edition was hand-bound in full, printed Belgian linen over boards by James Bicknell. Our copy bears a signed presentation inscription from Van Vliet to our friend and benefactor Jerry Buff.

James Cortese, who earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board for What the Owl Said. Even though the owl has a powerful visual presence in this book and is the subject of the title, it only makes a silent, distant appearance, and from this the entire set of stories begins and ends.

Saying everything without uttering a sound – Now THAT’S motivation!! Listen to what the owl said!

View more posts related to Claire Van Vliet and her Janus Press.

‘Owl on Branch’ (Japan, early 17th century).

Ink on paper by Soga Nichokuan (Japanese, active mid-17th century).

Couple of owls