THE “RETURN” AS CENTRAL THEME

This is not a Journey to Iceland, but truly a Return. The work-as-book thus explores the paradox of the aftermath of travel: how does one convey an experience? How can it be preserved in memory, in words, in images? How does the shock of travel transform one’s gaze upon one’s homeland?​

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Extrait du poème (1ère strophe) : Sable noir et sable blanc / le rouge ses éruptions / se calcinant lentement / dans les ténèbres des laves / mais fleurissant sur les toits / de tôle ondulée aux pieds / ses pentes bleues de lupins

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Original Edition 2026, for the Centenary of the Birth of Michel Butor

The poem Return from Iceland was conceived in dialogue with the painted and engraved works of the artist Bernard Alligand. Envisioned as a crossing, Return from Iceland unfolds in the form of a seventeen-panel leporello, revealing an engraved and painted work approximately three metres in length. Produced on 270 gsm Moulin du Gué rag paper, this extended composition constitutes the matrix of the book itself—at once a surface for inscription, a territory, and a landscape.

Limited edition of 21 numbered copies + 1 HC, bearing the embossed stamp of the author’s signature and the artist’s handwritten signature.

Tirage limité à 21 exemplaires numérotés + 1 HC, signés par le tampon sec de la signature de l'auteur et par la signature de l'artiste

 

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION​

Closed leporello: 18 × 18 cm — Opened leporello: 15 panels + cover (2 panels and spine), approx. 3 metres in length
Text set in Bodoni type and printed on white 270 gsm Moulin du Gué rag paper.
Letterpress printing completed on the presses of the Montquartiers Art Workshop, Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Engraved and painted work across the entire book (each copy of the original edition is unique): blind embossing (carborundum engraving technique), projections of black Icelandic sand, black ink washes, mineral red paint (Falun red), white acrylic. Red cloth-covered case produced by the Reliure du Centre workshop, Limoges.

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The Case Includes

– Le livre d’artiste est signé au colophon par l'artiste et porte le cachet sec de la signature de l'auteur

certifié par ses 4 filles.

– Un tirage photographique en couleur de Michel Butor et Bernard Alligand en Islande, à Geysir, Islande 2014

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PUBLIC PRICE (incl. tax) 2026​

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Original copy: €1,450