“A’tugwaqan: Three Mi’kmaq Indian Stories” by Jim Lee

2009
Reduction color woodcut and letterpress type
9” x 11” x 0.5”

A’tugwaqan: Three Mi’kmaq Indian Stories publishes a text by Ruth Holmes Whitehead of lore from the Mi’kmaq native people of Nova Scotia. It is designed, illustrated, and printed by Jim Lee. The imagery is printed using reduction color woodcut with text in handset letterpress type, and a binding by Sarah Creighton. The book has 23 printed surfaces, and 14 full-page woodcut images. It is issued in an edition of 100 copies. The book includes a creation story of how Kluskap got the world going, and a story about how Turtle got his leathery skin. The third is a tale about two young Mi’kmaq women who marry Star Husbands, are carried up to the World Above the Sky, and how they get down again. It contains many animal and landscape images, including the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy. It also contains exact woodcut transcriptions of Mi’kmaq petroglyphs and other design motifs. The horizontal codex is hardbound with printed paper over boards, measures 9×11” closed and opens to 22”.