I moved into a basement apartment in Seattle near Woodland Park, and quickly discovered the large warren of rabbits that lived there. They were clearly abandoned domesticated rabbits, in all shapes and sizes, and there were hundreds of them. There were two in particular that used to come hang out in my yard - a large ginger rabbit and his friend, a little black and white spotted lop. They'd just hop around the yard, grazing on the grass (but never on my plants that I noticed). Now, there were all sorts of concerns being expressed by the city about those rabbits - and signs up everywhere asking people not to drop their bunnies off. The city said that the warren was vulnerable to disease and there was a big rabbit relocation group that was hotsell working on a plan... and about a year later they were trapped and relocated to a rabbit sanctuary. In any case, the warren is empty now.
Not too long after the great rabbit removal I noticed that a group of bagpipers were meeting in the park to practice, near the old warren. On summer evenings, you can hear them at least a couple of times a week, and it's not just one piper, it's 4, with 3 or 4 drummers in addition. They're really something to watch.
As far as the book goes, I felt it was important to let the reader make up their own context, and to leave the rabbits to the imagination. It's a book about the absence of rabbits, and about the wood that lives in memory and imagination.
Seattle, Washington: Notta Pixie Press, 2011. Edition of 14.
4.25" x 5.75"; 14 pages. Letterpress printed using handset Parsons type and original woodcuts. Sewn binding -- can be read as a regular book or pulled out for display. Slips into heavy paper case with tipped on illustrated title label. Laid in box with title label.
Photos by Morgan Donner.
Product code: The Rabbits hotsell