In 2020, the Caxton Club made an award to the Newberry Library for the purchase of a work by a Caxton Club grant winner not represented in the Newberry’s collection. We’re pleased to announce that Mardy Sears’ Gules has been acquired by the Newberry using the award. 

Mardy Sears: "Gules, meaning reddish, begins with a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, 'On a field sable, the letter 'A' gules.' I was motivated by the novel and by life events to create an artist book with the theme of adultery. The concept of this limited edition artist book marries text, taken from the answers to a questionnaire I drafted about thoughts regarding adultery, with photos of subjects wearing an embroidered scarlet letter. In order to capture precise expressions I used a photo transfer process to print the image onto linoleum blocks for carving. Both block-printed images and letterpress text are bound into separate books and hinged together in a dos-à-dos binding with oak covers."