In memory of Enid Mark 1932-2008


Artist, editor, and publisher Enid Mark passed away this week. She will be missed.




The Bewildering Thread, poems selected by Ruth Mortimer and Sarah Black, lithographs by Enid Mark (Wallingford: Elm Press, 1986). Graphic Arts division GAX Oversize NE539.M37B48 1986Q.

The Elm Press, founded by Mark in 1986, is devoted to publishing fine press artists’ books. Most featured Mark’s delicate lithographs although she was an adventurous bookmaker who explored many printing techniques and technologies. She had a special affinity to the relationship between word and image, and knew how to complement a poem rather than just illustrate it.

Enid Mark, An Afternoon at Les Collettes (Wallingford: Elm Press, 1988) Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize NE539.M37 A77 1988q

She wrote, “I imagine the book as a continuous picture plane on which word, image, sequence and structure all reinforce each other. What interests me most is the relationship between word and image. I plan no hierarchy of them. An artist’s book is a unique form of visual disclosure. It must be slowly savored. It should be held in the hand and carefully considered. Only then are its contents fully revealed.”





Grace from Simple Stone, poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) and lithographs by Enid Mark (Wallingford: Elm Press, 1992). Graphic Arts division GAX Oversize NE539.M37M54 1992Q.

For more information, see: http://www.theelmpress.com/index.html