or 32 lbs. of Spartan
or How to Make Money with Worn-out Type
An improvisational story by Augustine Maxwell Jones
2002
16 pages, 7″ x 4.25″, commercial card stock (80 lb cover), cream colored, printed with black and gold ink, bound into an Arches Cover cover with a simple but effective 3-hole pamphlet stitch. Limited edition of 60 copies.
From the printed prospectus, September 2002:
Alchemy is the first concept book from The Heavy Duty Press. The idea presented itself moments before dumping a case of worn-out and dirty 14 point Spartan into the hell box. The text was completely improvised in the composing room, with the single goal of standing every last lead soldier in the case on his feet and printing a book with the entire army, before turning it all in to the scrap yard at the current rate of 19¢ per pound. Due to the finite number of each character in the case, substitutions were made when it became necessary, which makes for a rather challenging read! Useless engravings from the collection adorn each page. Aside from the Arches cover, the paper is cream-colored card stock, also otherwise useless for fine press books, but somehow acquired over the years. Ultimately, Alchemy is a book about making the most out of junk, and being a member of the Clean Plate Club. A kind professor once professed that, while bread can indeed be baked from shit, it may not taste very good. This book is that very shitty bread to he was referring.
…and it tastes okay!
Download the free pdf version
or purchase a signed and numbered copy
exclusively through the Etsy store.