Jen Tong, 3 accordions: 1) Plant Life, 2) Structure, 3) Magic, no dates.

Below are three really lively and inventively constructed mini-accordions by this illustrator, print maker, comics and zine maker who lives in Brooklyn, check her out at: welcome

Plant Life, screenprint, 8 pages double-sided, 2.75" (h) x 2" (w), when opened 16" wide, nd.

Structure, screenprint, 16 double-sided pages, 3" (h) x 2.5" (w), open 20", nd [edition: 25]. This accordion is comprised of two same length prints stapled together at the middle, thus allowing the book to expand out in four different directions.

Magic, screenprint, 16 double-sided pages, 3" (h) x 2.5" (w), opened up 27.5", nd. This book also has another similar length print that runs alongside of the cover sheet but stapled together at a different point than the one above. The book expands out into 3 directions when opened up.

Michael Wynne, My Man Paul, London: Kiss & Tell Press, 2017

A fun and brightly colored little accordion that is taken up with all the emotional vicissitudes of loving and relating to one's partner. I'll let Wynne take up the story in his own description of the book: 

A little concertina book for obsessives, those who wait anxiously for him to call. Images, text and illustrations by Michael Wynne.

I love my man.

He is so tall

and he likes me

because I'm small.  

When we're together

he has to crawl

or I ride his back

and never fall.  

...From work, at lunch,

he'll always call,

or text me kisses,

sign off, "Love, Paul."

(extract from My Man Paul) 

This book was produced as part of a fascinating year-long bookmaking project as described here by Wynne: 

"On the 1st of October 2016, I set out to make a photobook a month until the same time in 2017. For a year and a bit, I made a photobook a month, more or less. Some months I made two books, other books took more than a month to complete. For each month I photographed a different man, and out of that photoshoot I created a book. The book evolved out of a conversation between the model and I, or something they did, or something I’d seen them do online. Some books incorporated text I‘d written previously, for others I was inspired to write something new. With each book, I tried to find the form that would echo the theme. These are the first photobooks I’ve made, evidence of a journey’s beginnning."

On this site I have reviewed another of Wynne's books in this project and it can be seen here: accordion publications: Michael Wynne. For an introduction and listing of all the recent books published by Michael Wynne see: Michael Wynne

This book: 26 pages, double-sided, 3" (h) x 2" (w) and fully open at 4ft 4"

Alexandra Beguez, Narwhal, 2014 [2nd edtion 36]

A fun little book by this illustrator, designer and cartoonist about a school of Narwhals and how they exact their revenge on two fishermen hunting them.

6 pages, 6" (h) x 6" (w), fully open at 3ft.

Front cover without the rubber-stamped "Narwhal" book band.

Marion Barraud, Cache Cache (Hide and Seek), Nantes, France, 2016

This is just a wonderfully whimsical Risograph book with a really light and humorous touch by this young illustrator from the southwest of France.  

16 pages, one-sided, each page 3" (h) and 4.75" (w), fully open 6ft 4".

Ed and Deanna Templeton, Contemporary Suburbium, Nazraeli Press: Paso Robles, CA, 2017 [edition 2000]

An interesting collaboration between this professional skateborder and his wife, in an accordion that is ultimately a meditation on their lives in Hungtington Beach, California. Each partner contributed images to one side of the book and I particularly appreciate the play and placement of the photographs across the almost 12ft of this accordion.

Publicity for this book includes two quotes from the artists:

"We were born into this situation, and made the best of what we were dealt, thriving on the sidewalks and front yards and hidden from the influence of the city until the city poured over the castle walls out into the surrounding suburbium that grew barnacles along the edges." (Ed Templeton)

"We found ourselves in a tract of homes that felt familiar and safe. We wandered among the quiet dark tract housing, devoid of people, finally lying down together on a rectangle of grass wedged between the sidewalk and the street. We stared up at the stars talking until the sun came up." (Deanna Templeton)

26 pages, double-sided, individual pages 7.25" (h) x 5.5" (w), and fully open at 11ft 11" and a nice die cut plastic slipcase! 

R. Clarke-Davis, um livro devaneio: faltando, kiddy viddy press, 2012-13

I've been having a hard time getting a good translation of the Portuguese title for this book, but it comes out variously as "a book of dreams: missing," either way this book appears to be a personal and diarist record of a trip taken to Niteroi, which is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The photos mix the personal with the public and they are spread across the accordion in a free-flowing manner, reminiscent of a family album.  

R. Clarke-Davis is an associate professor of photography at the school of the art institute in Chicago and I have received a number of photo-books from him, but its rare that the format has been an accordion. The cover of this book has a handsome textured cover and I like the anonymity it presents to the viewer, but the viewer's work has only just begun as you thread your way through these assorted photographs that quietly reveal both public and private moments.

For another of his works on this site please see:

R. Clarke-Davis, A Grand Day Out, circa 2008

14 pages, single-sided, 6" (h) x 4.5" (w) and fully open at 5ft 3".

The above image was taken from Clarke-Davis' website: 
r. clarke-davis's home page

Otto, Camino de Santiago, Bath, UK, 2017 [ed. 100]

This is a really fascinating screenprinted book that utilizes both sides of the accordion in quite distinctive ways. The theme of the book is the author's experiences completing a 478 mile pilgrimage walk from the Pyrenees to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. The particular walk that he took is just one of the many he could have chosen from the network of old Christian routes that lead to the Shrine of Saint James the Great.

The book opens up with a page that directs the reader either to the left or the right. On the left side the artist lists the reasons for walking, and what to bring accompanied with sketches of the landscape he passed through. Opening the book to the right the artist has interspersed more landscape sketches with short snippets of conversations with fellow travelers as well as some accounts of his own experiences walking the trail. This book is a moving portrayal of the trials and tribulations involved in completing this most ancient of walks.

Otto is a graphic artist and illustrator living near Bath, UK.

46 pages, double-sided, individual page 4.75" (h) x 5" (w), total length when open 9ft 7" (115").