The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook.

WALKER, George A; with Introduction by Norman Ravvin and Conclusion by Tom Smart [Leonard Cohen].

$1,500.00

Item Number: 145481

Toronto: Privately Printed, 2014.

Deluxe first edition of this biography of author, poet, and singer song-writer Leonard Cohen in wood engravings. Octavo, original black cloth with a wood-engraved cover label portrait of Cohen to the front panel, illustrated with eighty wood engravings on 250 gm Rising Stonehenge 100% rag archival paper chronologizing the life of Leonard Cohen by George Walker. One of eighty copies produced in commemoration of Cohen’s 80th birthday and signed by the engraver at the end of the preface, this is number 48. Additionally signed by the author of the introduction, ‘Image, Words, Music,’ and the author of the conclusion, ‘Taming the Wild Ox,’ at the end of their respective sections. In fine condition. Housed in a custom handcrafted clamshell case.

With the appearance of his first record album in 1967, Leonard Cohen - already well known in his native Canada as a poet and novelist - was introduced to audiences in the United States, where he quickly took his place among the preeminent singer/songwriters of the time. Over the years, and through the release of eight more albums, Cohen gained a reputation as a dazzlingly literate and consistently daring songwriter. His status as a cult artist grew and solidified, not only in North America but all across Europe; singers of enormously diverse styles recorded his songs; his influence could be charted in every new wave of recording artists that followed his emergence. In 1988 the release of his album I'm Your Man thrust him back into the mainstream spotlight; and his latest recording, The Future, has brought him renewed widespread acclaim as one of our most enduring poet/songwriters.