Du bis mîn, ich bin mîn. Mini Poetry Book (Edition of 12 numbered, signed and dated)

du bist min, ich bin din. mini poetry book

About the Book

Every step in the making of this book involved handmade materials and work by hand: It has hard leather covers, is decorated with my own paste paper, is filled with a handmade rag paper that was dyed, torn to shape, filled with writing, and bound by me (H. Kurzke). It closes with a braided band that is tugged under itself. With the tiny glass bead at the end for the finishing touch.

The book's covers measure 1cm x 1.5cm, and each book sits in its own folded box made of Lokta paper.

The text on the pages is an old German love poem from the 12th century:
Du bist min,
ich bin din,
des solt du gewis sin.
du bist beslozzen in meinem herzen,
verlorn is daz sluzzelin,
- du muost ouch immer darinne sin.

Which translates to:
You are mine,
and I am yours,
this you can be sure of.
You are locked inside my heart,
and lost is the key,
- you have to stay there forever now.

This book was made in June 2010

Used materials and techniques

The binding is a hardcover pamphlet binding, done with black goatskin for the cover, paste paper, and a glass bead as clusure. The pages are cotton rag paper pages, dyed with natural, light resistant vegetable dye. The writing is done by hand with a Sakura pen with archival ink.

Purchase information

Copies of this book are available in my webshop on this site.