The Pen’s Excellencie book

The Pen’s Excellencie is an exhibition catalogue documenting a small fraction of the manuscript treasures in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Our initial idea was to write out the entire text by hand, but time constraints eliminated that option. Instead, we began by using a sliver of each image along the edge of the page. As the book is fanned, the impression is of a book full of manuscripts and no type. The cover repeats these images, using numerous slices to suggest the wide variety of examples in the show without favoring any one item. Their treatment, pressed together, emphasizes that they are all from one outstanding collection.