Campbell, Ken, 1939-2022, Martyrs , 1989
- Title(s):
- Martyrs / Ken Campbell.
- Published/Created:
- [Oxford, England] : Ken Campbell, 1989.
- Physical Description:
- [79] p. : chiefly col. ill. ; 32 cm.
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsN7433.4 C35 M38 1989+ OversizeYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/3583213
- Classification:
- Books
- Notes:
- Presents the Gaelic text of a hymn as sung in the Isle of Lewis (text: Psalm 79, v. 3-4; melody: "Martyrs"), with pitch indications on a staff and transliteration in Ogham script. Cf. Ken Campbell, an artist's books.
"I was in Edinburgh and happened to pass the School of Scottish Studies. I had remembered this absolutely wonderful music that I had heard some twenty years ago, and I questioned this extremely patient lady as to what I was after, and she said that it was on a record of polyphonic singing called 'Gaelic Psalms from Lewis.' It's stunning music that gets right to your soul; it's very upsetting ... I played this for a while, and I got a friend of mine, Stuart Elliot Rae, to transcribe the music for me and translate the Gaelic and match the text to the music that was being sung [from Psalm 79]. Then I did a very simple thing: I put the note being sung at the top of a hypothetical stave of rules, then I put the syllable that was being sung in Gaelic, then underneath that the script equivalent, which looked faintly martial and certainly not Roman. I thought I would show Gaelic as a thing of beauty ... The colour in the book was celebratory, it goes from cool to hot, with royal purple and gold and silver ... Copy number one of this edition now rests with the Stornoway Congregation, on the Isle of Lewis, whose recorded singing inspired the making of this book. The book is dedicated to those Scots who, when they were but three percent of the population, supplied at one point thirty-eight percent of the English infantry."--Ken Campbell, from The word returned.
Edition of 40. Printed letterpress from wood type, using colored and metallic inks with brass and lead rule work.
Original archival material related to this work is available in the collections of the Yale Center for British Art, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts (Ken Campbell Collection, MSS 25).
English text (Authorized): p. [78-79].
Campbell, K. Ken Campbell, an artist's books, 9
Word returned: artist books by Ken Campbell, 11
BAC: British Art Center is no. [24] of an edition of 40, signed by the artist. Bound in publisher's quarter black cloth and black patterned papers boards. Issued in slipcase. - Subject Terms:
- Artists' books -- Great Britain.Bible. O.T. Psalms LXXIX, 3–4. Gaelic. 1989.Campbell, Ken, 1939– -- Publisher.Hymns, Scottish Gaelic -- Scotland -- Lewis with Harris Island.Oxford (England) -- Imprints -- Specimens -- 1989.Psalms (Music) -- 79th Psalm.
- Form/Genre:
- Artists' books -- Great Britain.
- Export:
- XML