Heller, Helen West:

$7,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

MIGRATORY URGE. A rare and attractive book of American poetry printed entirely by woodcuts, written and cut by artist and poet Helen West Heller; this is copy number 60 of 109, signed and numbered on the limitation page. An Illinois native, Heller worked primarily in Chicago and New York City, spearheaded the formation of the Chicago No-Jury Society, produced work for the WPA, and was active in anti-Fascist groups in the 1930s. Much of her work is now located at the Met.Though she contributed poems and illustrations to a number of other works, Migratory Urge is one of only two separate publications authored primarily by Heller. The subjects of the poems and illustrations vary from the personal to the historical, with illustrations including images of bison, the prairies, and the Rockies, in addition to human and animal figures. Each of the thirty-seven blocks of text and sixteen illustrations, along with the titlepage, copyright, and limitation statements, is printed entirely from a single dark-background woodcut. This copy is accompanied by the original four-page letterpress prospectus, which also includes examples of two woodcuts from the book.With only 109 copies printed and nearly a quarter of those now in institutions, Migratory Urge represents a scarce and original work of American printing arts and poetry by a too-often overlooked early 20th-century artist.

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