BY TONI MORRISON, WITH WOODBLOCKS BY ELIZABETH CATLETT

At the pinnacle of world literature, in her lecture upon receiving the Nobel Prize, Toni Morrison used her platform to urge care with words.

"Language," she said, "is susceptible to death, erasure; certainly imperiled and salvageable only by an effort of the will."

Language is not fixed, but precious and delicate – like a bird in your hands. 

With its elegiac prose and interweaving of narrative and polemic, Morrison’s meditation is worth continual close reading. To celebrate its thirtieth anniversary, and with special permission from the Nobel Prize Committee, we have printed her lecture alongside the gripping woodblocks of Elizabeth Catlett.

2023 Holiday Deal: Until December 15th, No Reply is offering a holiday deal. Order three copies of Language and receive a fourth gratis. Moreover, all four will ship immediately, arriving in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving.

EDITION NOTES

• The edition is limited to 400 copies, numbered 1 through 400.

• The twenty-third imprint of No Reply Press, 2023.

• Typeset in 11-point Centuar.

• Measuring 6 by 9 inches.

• Printed by hand on Cotton Flurry using a Vandercook Universal I.

• Bound in Suminagashi-style wrappers.