Friends / Enemies

Tim O’Brien

Published September 15, 2001 by the synaesthesia press.

Chapbook. Dos-à-dos format. Approximately 6 × 7 inches. Letterpress printed and hand-sewn into handmade Olive Larroque paper wrappers. Illustrations by Fritz Scholder.

Edition of 125 copies (99 numbered; 26 lettered).

The publication brings together two short stories by Tim O’Brien in a dos-à-dos format, with one story beginning from each cover and meeting in the middle. Both stories originally appeared in The Things They Carried. This edition marked their first separate publication.

Illustrated by Fritz Scholder, Friends / Enemies brought together two major figures from very different artistic traditions: Tim O’Brien, the acclaimed author of The Things They Carried, and Fritz Scholder, one of the most influential painters associated with the contemporary American Southwest.

The regular edition was hand-sewn into handmade Olive Larroque paper imported from France. The lettered edition was bound in cloth and housed in custom slipcases fabricated from 12-gauge steel by a local blacksmith. Upon publication, both editions sold out and the title quickly became one of the most sought-after books issued by the press.

Friends / Enemies remains one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the synaesthesia press and one of its most enduring collaborations.

Design, typography, hand composition, letterpress printing, and publishing by Jim Camp.

Availability: Lettered edition out of print. One copy — the last — recently found in the synaesthesia press archives.