Introduction

This is the first anthology to bring together a broad framework of personal and scholarly perspectives on the handmade books of Ediciones Vigía in Matanzas, Cuba, and its project of producing beautiful books in the age of technology. Writers and scholars from Cuba and the United States come together to celebrate, analyze, and comprehend the major contributions that Ediciones Vigía has made, with limited resources but enormous creativity and inventiveness, to keep the book alive as a cultural and artistic form. In eleven chapters, the blend of voices and visions offers a variety of distinct perspectives—poetic, theoretical, critical, and historical—on the legacy of Ediciones Vigía and its place in Cuban literary and artistic culture from its origins in the mid-1980s to today, addressing the central role that book artist Rolando Estévez played in creating its unique visual poetics. In closing remarks, Behar reflects on Estévez’s decision to leave Ediciones Vigía and create his own independent imprint, El Fortín, also in Matanzas. The anthology includes a stunning collection of reproductions from the handmade books that will pique the interest of book lovers everywhere.