How to be perfect

“Read and reread great books” – Ron Padgett

So it’s not enough just to read great books? We should read them again and again, become familiar with them, grow and mature together. Ron Padgett is referring to books, not texts. But as much as textual content determines a book, the physical  appearance of the book can also shape the reading experience. So, if it is the case that we read great texts over and over again – on different occasions, for different reasons, in different settings, at different stages of life – then perhaps this does indeed call for different editions of the same text?

Ron Padgett’s »How to Be Perfect« was first published by Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, in 2007, as part of a collection of poems. In 2016, it appeared as an independent publication featuring illustrations by Jason Novak and, in 2020, as a bilingual edition published for the German market by Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz: This time, without pictorial content but supplemented by contributions from contemporary (German) poets and including a knowledgeable afterword by Jan Volker Röhnert.  

To which need, occasion, place or age does this limited edition cater? Handset and handprinted in letterpress by students at the Folkwang University of the Arts, this edition was printed on Italian fine paper, shot through with original graphic illustrations. In terms of design and production, it was undoubtedly a highly ambitious project: Not only was extensive experimentation required to find a suitable black printing ink for this very special, soft paper, but each colour also required a seperate form and an additional press run.