Written between December, 2010 and July, 2012, the poems in this new collection culminate with “Ellen’s Death” on the passing of the mother of the author’s son. The collection includes both short, abstract poems of the type presented in “4” and longer allusive poems similar to “A Thousand Years from Now,” one of the most frequently recommended poems from Harold’s first collection, Colorful Fortune.
Like the poems, the book’s format and production is unadorned and straightforward. The poems are hand-set in 18-point Perpetua italic, with 30-point Monument for tilting. The paper is Barcham Green Bodleian, a white, laid 80-gram sheet of which we had just enough to produce an edition of 26 copies. It was lightly dampened and printed with HM’s Washington handpress. The lightness of the Bodleian paper made a single signature of 7 sheets (28 pages) possible. It is sewn into a stiff printed wrap with a two-layered dust jacket: a sheet of hand-marbled paper is wrapped in semi-transparent Japanese tissue, upon on which the title has been printed. The book is presented in a slipcase covered in the same vintage marbled paper, with a spine label.
The 26 copies in the edition were press-lettered on the colophon (using the Monument type) and signed by Harold.
A broadside reprinting the poem “Autumn Song 1990” was printed to announce the publication of Angel. It was the first piece to be printed on HM's Pratt Albion handpess. A few dozen copies, all distributed hors de commerce.
