Libros San Cristobal

Catherine E. Docter, William George Lovell, and Christopher Lutz, The Village Churches of Santiago de Guatemala, 1524-1773 / Fachadas de las Iglesias de los Pueblos de Santiago de Guatemala, 1524-1773 (Santiago Zamora Sacatépequez, Guatemala: Libros San Cristóbal, 2010. Copy 7 of 200. Graphic Arts 2011- in process.

This fine press edition documents the remaining sixteenth-century village churches in and around Santiago de Guatemala. Pen and ink drawings of twenty-two buildings were transferred to metal relief plates, printed and hand-colored by Grove Oholendt. The accompanying two letterpress books—one in English and one in Spanish—include twenty-two tipped-in photographs by Mitchell Denburg. Each volume is covered in traditional Maya hand-woven petate paper weaving and the woodcut endpapers are printed by the Guatemalan artist Guillermo Maldonado.

“Libros San Cristobal is a fine book press and atelier located in Antigua, Guatemala. Our hand-publishing studio produces limited edition fine books and portfolios on Central American subject matter. …Between Mexico and Colombia, we are the only fine press making [letterpress] books about the region, in the region. …All publications are made under one roof, by a team of three Americans and four Guatemalans, all Kaqchikel Maya. We do [letterpress] printing with type [cast] in San Francisco and metal plate impressions made in Guatemala City; we hand craft our boxes, case work, and fine bindery; we illuminate, paint, hand stamp on imported as well as our own fine amate fig park paper … .”

“For the past 23 years, all books have been designed, crafted, and printed by bookmaker Christopher Beisel…. The press team for all books is: Sergio Bucu Miché, bookmaker and binder; Felipe Bucu Miché, printer and binder; Carlos Bucu Miché, painter and printmaker; Roquel Lopez, papermaker, printer, and master painter/designer, Grove Oholendt.”

See also:
Italo Morales, U cayibal atziak: imágenes en los tejidos guatemaltecos = images in Guatemalan weavings (1992). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) F1465.3.T4 M67 1992q
Ana Livingston Paddock, Onamuh y la luna: un mito de la creacion = Namuh and the moon: a creation myth (1994) Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA) 2005-0096Q
Barbara G. Nottebohm, Ancient ceremonial hachas of Southern Mesoamerica (1996). Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA) F1434.2.S38 N67q
Caly Domitila Kanek, Hueso de la tierra (1996). Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA): PM3576.Z95 S5 1996
Christopher Beisel, Guatemalen designs from woven paper (2005). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2009-2354N