2019 First Limited 11th of 30 Copies - Days Are a Dream by Charles van Sandwyk
An exceptionally scarce and beautifully produced Charles van Sandwyk artist’s book, issued in approximately thirty copies and containing a signed original copperplate etching.
Author: Charles van Sandwyk.
Title: Days Are a Dream.
Publisher: North Vancouver, CVS Fine Arts, 2019.
Edition: First Edition. One of approximately 30 copies produced. This copy contains an original copperplate etching signed in pencil by Charles van Sandwyk and inscribed “Artist’s Proof 11.”
Language: English.
Pages: Unpaginated, [12] pages including covers.
Size: 9" x 6.5".
Binding: Fine original cream card wrappers, hand-sewn, with a colour-printed palm-tree vignette and smaller nest device incorporating Charles van Sandwyk’s “CvS” monogram to the front cover. The folding construction opens to reveal further illustrated panels, including phases of the moon. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Fine. Clean, bright, and beautifully preserved throughout, with Van Sandwyk’s text reproduced in his characteristic calligraphic hand.
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout with delicate colour-printed vignettes and decorations, several framed within fine red rules. Contains a tipped-in original copperplate etching, signed by Charles van Sandwyk in pencil and additionally inscribed “Artist’s Proof 11.”
Estimate: USD 350–400.
The book:
Days Are a Dream is an intimate artist’s book drawn from Charles van Sandwyk’s 2012 journal recording his time on the tiny Polynesian island of Tavewa in Fiji. The text evokes the quiet rhythm of island life, dawn, moonlight, the sea, tropical vegetation, and the dreamlike passage of time, all rendered in Van Sandwyk’s unmistakable calligraphic style.
Produced by CVS Fine Arts in 2019 in an edition of only about thirty copies, the work combines printed manuscript, hand-sewn construction, colour vignettes, unfolding pages, and an original signed copperplate etching. The result is very much in the tradition of the private press artist’s book, where text, image, paper, and structure form a single carefully considered object. Copies are notably scarce, and the presence of the signed “Artist’s Proof 11” etching makes this example particularly desirable.
The author and artist:
Charles van Sandwyk is a Canadian artist, illustrator, author, and book designer celebrated for his exquisitely detailed drawings, calligraphy, etchings, and small-format books. His work frequently combines natural history, fantasy, animals, fairies, literature, and gentle philosophical reflection, drawing inspiration from the traditions of Arthur Rackham, Beatrix Potter, and the great illustrators of the Golden Age while remaining immediately recognizable as his own.
Van Sandwyk has produced numerous finely printed and privately issued books, many in very small editions, and his works have become increasingly sought after by collectors of contemporary illustrated books and fine press publications. Days Are a Dream, with its Fijian setting, original etching, and unusually small limitation, is an especially personal and collectible example of his work.