In the spirit of mind-bending discovery, Arion Press is pleased to announce a new limited edition of Octavia Butler’s Kindred, with original linoleum block cuts by Alison Saar, a fellow Californian who, like Butler, creates works and worlds that explore Black female identity and the African American experience. As a neo-slave narrative and fantasy hybrid where paradox informs social critique, Kindred is also a testimony of endurance and acceptance.                      

For Arion’s edition, Saar has carved 14 linoleum blocks including a frontispiece, 8 full-page renderings of pivotal scenes, a double-page centerfold spread, multiple patterns for the endsheets and binding, and a cameo portrait of the protagonist, Dana Franklin. As reflections on Butler’s profoundly introspective text of enslavement, the imagery is unflinching in its subject matter, and its emotional impact is heightened by Saar’s robust, signature technique.

Arion’s edition of Kindred is available for pre-order before its public release. Please inquire about the availability of books in sheets.

Click here to read the full prospectus.

Deluxe edition copies are accompanied by an original relief print, The Escape. The image measures 10.25 x 13.75 inches printed on 17 x 20.5 inch blue-gray Dai Chiri kozo, 55 gsm. The edition is limited to 50 copies for sale, each signed by the artist: 40 accompany the Deluxe edition, and an additional 10 are offered for individual sale.

Production Details

• Limited to 250 copies for sale.

• Octavo, 9.5 x 6.375 inches, 344 pages with 20 unnumbered pages for the artwork distributed throughout.

• 14 linoleum block originals in total, including a frontispiece, double-page centerfold spread, cameo portrait, and patterns for endsheets and binding.

• Printed on 115 gsm all-cotton mouldmade Somerset Book.

• Printed by letterpress from metal type cast and hand-set onsite.

• Tipped-on frontispiece image printed on handmade Japanese Moriki kozo.

• All other images printed in red-black ink on Salago gampi

• Front and rear wallpaper endsheets imprinted in 2 colors

• Books are bound in 3-piece cases with paper sides imprinted with titling on both front and rear covers which have been overprinted with a blind deboss.

• All copies are rounded by hand, with spine hollows attached.

• Signed by the artist.

• Arion Press publication #128, 2024.

The Fine Press Edition

• Paper over boards with imprinted cloth spines.

• Presented in slipcases with cloth-wrapped edges and imprinted paper side panels of denim-textured paper.

• Smyth sewn.

• Custom hand-rolled cloth headbands.

• Limited to 210 copies for sale.

The Deluxe Edition

• Paper over boards with deerskin spines, blind stamped with titling.

• Presented in full-cloth, lined slipcases.

• Handsewn with linen thread over linen tapes, including a single red linen thread spliced into the centerfold image.

• Custom hand-rolled leather headbands.

• Hollows imprinted with a continuation of the endsheet wallpaper pattern

• Accompanied by limited-edition relief print on kozo, signed.

• Complimentary notecard gift set.

• Limited to 40 copies for sale.