BRITTEN'S ALDEBURGH Craig, John Fine Press Books

large 4to. half cloth, paper-covered boards, slipcase. (68) pages. Limited to 440 copies, of which this is one of 325 numbered copies signed by the author and bound in half-buckram. A fine copy in fine slipcase. Eighty-one engravings (several tipped in), and three two-color linocuts (tipped in), by the engraver, author, and amateur cellist John Craig. Signed by author on colophon. The composer Benjamin Britten lived for some years in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast and took walks on regular routes, during which he did a lot of his composition. Mr. Craig has followed Britten's routes in and around Aldeburgh and presents in engravings what Britten might have seen. After an introduction which includes a brief discussion of the ground bass, a continuous text connects the engravings. These seem to have three general themes, often juxtaposed: organic nature up close or in landscape, the beach with sea and sky, and emblems of humanity's relationship to or struggle with nature (houses huddled behind the beach, fishing boats hauled out on the shingle, etc.). Through these frequently runs the motif of the path. Engravings are often very detailed and carefully shaded, but with an underlying tendency to stark contrasts. The three tipped in linocuts (about 6"x 16") show the meeting of sea and shore. A few of the engravings are of places not in Aldeburgh but relevant to Britten in much the same way, and there is one rather ominous one of the military aircraft whose noise eventually drove Britten from Aldeburgh. Some musical quotations from Britten's works, illustrating the ground bass, accompany the text. half cloth, paper-covered boards, slipcase