(Rosemary Pardoe, editor of Ghosts & Scholars, on Rain Instruments)
Rain Instruments is a book of found poems created by Mark Valentine from an Edwardian weather survey (British Rainfall 1910), recalling a lost time of country house amateurs in whimsical pursuit of a typically British preoccupation: rain measurement. Here is a selection of poignant, stoical, strange and surprising phrases selected and arranged to form a new work that readers have found “poetic,“intriguing”,“fascinating” and even “exciting”.
Jo Valentine’s design for this palm-of-the-hand volume features a mosaic of images taken from the original rainfall book, and it is made using a traditional long stitch binding. Each copy, in a limited hand-made edition of 25, comes with a bookmark showing an individual rain gauge reading from the survey: it might be from Miss Usborne at The House, Writtle; from Mrs Story Maskelyne at Basset Down House; from the gauge of Captain Ching, R.N. of Launceston; or from another of the keen individuals and institutions that sent in their records.
Note - Rain Instruments has previously been published in a limited electronic edition only. This is the first book publication, slightly revised.
Update - all copies have now been taken. A new title will be announced when ready.
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