"The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock", illustrated by David Small

FULL DESCRIPTION: Prufrock David Small

T. S. Eliot. David Small, illustrator. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, 2025.
(24.7 x 16 cm). [42] pp. Limited to 20 signed and numbered copies, the deluxe letterpress edition is handset in Centaur, printed with a Vandercook Universal III on Flurry Cotton paper, bound in cloth backed, paper covered boards, and housed in a matching clamshell box with a signed original watercolor by the illustrator.

The illustrations are awash in dreamy tones that perfectly suit the contemplative mood of Eliot’s poem, arranged across double-page spreads, in Small’s characteristic full use of the entire page.

From the colophon: regarding making the illustrations for this book, the artist David Small writes:

It was during the pandemic. Work was scarce, the future uncertain and, finding myself in the vestibule of old age, I recalled Eliot’s famous lines: “I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear my trousers rolled.” Rereading the poem after several decades I found it relevant to me in fresh ways. It’s wry humor, for one thing, was revelatory. (I hadn’t sensed it so acutely before, when I was young and unfamiliar as yet with the circumstances.) Dark humor is perhaps the best way to cope with the diminishment of midlife and what lies beyond. The poem is, in fact, so accurate an expression of the plights of certain men in middle age, it astounds me that Eliot was only 28 at its conception. Illustrating this, which I think is among his best and certainly most accessible poems, gave me great pleasure.

David Small is an award-winning writer and illustrator and among the most renowned children’s book illustrators in America. He was awarded the Caldecott Medal (So You Want to Be President?, 2001), two Caldecott Honors (The Gardener, 1998; One Cool Friend, 2012), National Book Award Finalist (Stitches, 2009 and The Underneath, 2008), and received numerous other prizes, accolades, and honors. Prior to illustrating Eliot’s poem, he wrote and or illustrated more than 50 titles, including seven books with his wife, the writer Sarah Stewart. Among his most admired illustrated works are Imogene Antlers (1985), Once Upon a Banana (2006), and Fenwick’s Suit (1996).

This book was produced by the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center in 2025 in two versions: a paperback edition with a perfect binding and a deluxe letterpress edition using handset Centaur type printed with a Vandercook Universal III press on Flurry Cotton paper. The image editing and page layout for each edition was completed by Chafe Hensley of Weirder Wonderland. LLC, and the pages were digitally printed by RiverRun Press. The deluxe edition was bound with paper handmade at the KBAC in a custom clamshell box.
There are 80 copies of the paperback edition and 20 copies of the deluxe edition of which this is number: --/20.

We are pleased to offer copies of the deluxe edition.