LET THE HAMILTON SKETCHBOOK TAKE YOU ON A
JOURNEY YOU WILL NEVER FORGET!
Up for auction today is a graphic art/travel
journal comic book entitled “Hamilton Sketchbook” by David Collier. It’s
soft-cover 2002. It’s published by Drawn & Quarterly.
Here’s the introduction found inside the
book:
I’ve
been drawn to Hamilton since I was a teenager, when I’d fell the more
antiseptic Toronto by GO bus, sketchbook in hand. I never would’ve dreamed, 20
years ago when I was drawing The Tivoli Theatre on James Street, or the air
quality-testing station on Barton Street, or some of the factories along the
water north of Burlington Street, that some day I’d actually be living in Hamilton. I might’ve looked
into it then, noticed that the rents were quite a bit cheaper than Toronto’s,
but in the end I was scared off by the realization that I wouldn’t have any
link to the arts unless I was an artist. In Toronto then, you could service artists—you
could be a messenger for a stathouse and pick up and deliver their work, or you
could get a job at concerts at least somewhat frequently and be satisfied in
yourself that you were part of the larger culture, you could work along side
people whose ideas were interesting to you.
But
Hamilton—fergetaboutit! I was pretty certain that the people that I’d be
working along side of in the kinds of jobs I could get in Hamilton wouldn’t be
discussing 20th century literature with me. So, as much as the idea
of moving to Hamilton 20 years ago appealed to me, I put aside in favor of
avoiding total isolation.
Those
early sketching tips implanted in me an idea that downtown Hamilton would be an
interesting place to live and I guess I’m not the only one struck by this
notion. Since the Second World War, both old (Italian, Portuguese) and new
(South-East Asian, Eastern European), groups of immigrants have moved here and
stayed, resisting the near universal North American flight to the suburbs.
I’ve
always liked old buildings. The details that catch your eye and give your mind
something to play with. The decay, the sense of time’s passage, even the worn
steps, giving sense of people who were there before.
I’m
fascinated and concerned by Hamilton’s architecture in the commercial core. Fascinated
by the number of beautiful and impressive structures from the early decades of
the last century that are still standing—this bit of providence thanks to the
fact that Hamilton almost entirely missed out on the glass and steel building
boom of the 1960s and 70s. Few downtowns in North America can boast of such an impressive
collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings. Yet these jewels are
disappearing at an alarming rate because the owners of the buildings are faced
with tax rates set by the Province of Ontario that are way beyond what the
owners can raise through revenues. So the buildings are allowed to become decrepit
and then the owners can say, look they’re not safe, and tear them down in favor
of a money-making parking lot. But I digress…
Most
readers of The Hamilton Sketchbook, coming here from the comic book world,
could give a rat’s ass about an old steel city whose existence is owed to a
good natural harbor and close proximity to the cheap, abundant hydro power of
Niagara Falls—this is a story you’ve heard before from Pittsburgh or St. Louis
or other places where the world has turned upside down in a generation—these readers
will be more interested in the semantics of sketchbooks, the way my blank books
evolved from gifts from my father (who, as you’ll see as you read on, continues
to give more than he should be expected to), to something tackled as a daily
exercise. “Keep it up as long as you can,” R. Crumb admonished me twenty years
ago, “Make it a discipline—draw from your head, draw from life…draw like mad!”
Here’s what others have said about the
book:
“Collier’s art commits itself to a
compassionate sympathy that’s sometimes hard to achieve in real life.”—San Antonio
Express News
The pictures you see above are as
follows: Front cover, Back cover, then various pictures found throughout the
book.
The book itself is in good condition. The
front of the cover shows very light staining. The upper right hand, lower right
hand, and upper left hand corners show light scuffing. There’s light scuffing
along the right side edge. There’s a small crease mark in the upper left hand
corner. The back of the cover shows light staining. There’s light scuffing to
the upper and lower left hand corners. There’s a light amount of scuffing along
the left side edge. There’s a small crease mark near the bottom edge (this
shows through to the inside of the back cover). The main pages are neat and
clean.
SHIPPING INFORMATION
As soon as I receive
your payment, I will process the item for shipment. I will ship your item the
same day I receive your payment and if I can’t do that, I guarantee I will ship
it the next day. (Keep in mind I can’t ship on Sunday or Holidays that the post
office recognizes.)
Your shipping cost will
include delivery confirmation / tracking number, so that you can keep track of
the package throughout the shipping process. It also includes the cost of
packaging materials that will keep your items safe during shipping. At times I
use clean, recycled packaging supplies. I DO NOT make money off shipping.
I accept returns only if
I have misrepresented the item in some way, or the item is damaged during
shipment. I try to be as thorough and as picky as possible in my descriptions
but I am only human. If you do have a problem with an item, please contact me
before leaving feedback and I will be happy to help you.
PAYMENT INFORMATION
I would appreciate
payment within 7 days. However, I am flexible. If for some reason you cannot
send payment within 7 days, please contact me. If I haven’t heard from you, and
more than 3 days have passed, I will send you a friendly reminder.
If no payment has been
received after 7 days, and I have not heard from you, I will turn the
transaction in to eBay as a non-payment.
I will be happy to
combine shipping for multiple auction wins. Please wait until all the items you
are bidding on have ended to pay, so that I can send a combined invoice.
Please check out my other
auctions as well for more unique items; you never know what treasures you may
find!