Blog post by Russell Johnson, Curator/Librarian History & Special Collections for the Sciences

Book artist/printer Bob Wakefield's 2009 work, An Alphabet of Extinct Mammals, is on exhibit at the UCLA Louise M. Biomedical Library (1st floor lobby and 4th floor public reading room) through 11 April 2014. Each printed leaf includes a color etching of a mammal, its name (sometimes fancifully described in order to match the desired letter of the alphabet), and a letterpress paragraph of commentary by the artist. This is one of only 55 copies, issued by Chevington Press and signed by Wakefield. It is the only copy which was not bound but instead is "in sheets," which we are displaying individually. Because of how images are printed on folded sheets of paper, all of them may not be viewed simultaneously. We will exhibit half of the alphabet through March 31st, then the remainder through April 11th. Read about Wakefield and his Chevington Press imprint at: http://chevingtonpress.co.uk/ The "Audubon Bighorn Sheep" illustration, above, is one of a couple of "Extinct Mammal" etchings which are shown on the publisher's website. This mini-exhibit is part of an occasional series, "This Just In: Recently Acquired Gifts and Purchases."