ROADKILLS: A Collection of Prose and Poetry, with Etching and Wood Engravings by Alan James Robinson

Easthampton, Massachusetts: Cheloniidae Press, 1981. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. This is Suite Number XL of fifty deluxe copies signed by Alan James Robinson, John McPhee, Gillian Conoley, Gary Snyder, Madeline DeFrees, William Stafford, and Richard Eberhart and accompanied by an extra suite of the prints.

In the introduction, Robinson explains he originally planned a portfolio without text of some of those animals he had encountered during his many drives to and from college" "Meanwhile, friends began to call my attention to writers who had also been inspired by the casualties of the highways: John McPhee, in Travels in Georgia, and poets Madeline DeFrees, Gillian Connelly, Gary Snyder, William Stafford, and Richard Eberhart. Thus, I began to conceive of Roadkills as a book, with images and text interwoven."

Illustrated with 11 wood engravings (10 roadkills and one tire track/broken muffler as colophon) and one etching, the text was printed in red and black by Harold Patrick McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae in Bruce Rogers' Centaur and Frederick Warde's Arrighi which was hand set in 18 point by P. Chase Twichell. The text is printed on Sakomoto and the prints on Cha-u-ke. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter gray morocco with tire tracks blind tooled across spine and title in blind, matching black chemise with blind tooled tire tracks, all housed in a grey morocco over black cloth clamshell box. The leather spine of the clamshell box is darkened; else near fine.

The rare second book of the press; the deluxe edition with its extra suite and the signatures of all the authors has long been out of print.