Hand-colored print that is bound into a copy of the Super Deluxe version of Age of Innocence. 8.5 x 11 on heavy textured paper. For more background, see below.
In the mid-1990s, Jeffrey worked with Tim Underwood to develop a book, edited by Arnie Fenner and Cathy Burnett (later Fenner), entitled Age of Innocence. An absolutely beautiful volume filled with 48 incredible paintings of women. The book was released in four versions: softcover, hardcover, signed & numbered limited hardcover in a slipcase, and a super deluxe signed & numbered limited hardcover.
Of the last, here is the description provided by Underwood of the materials and process: This book was hand made entirely with acid free binding materials. The leather is natural undied bark-tanned calfskin from Scotland. The cover material is a hand-made paper from Nepal called Lokta and Three Silks in which silk threads were dyed prior to being combined with natural cotton pulp in the papermaking process. The lettering on the book's spine is 24k gold. The slipcases are covered with a German linen sailcloth. This book is unique in a number of ways. Due to natural variations in the leather and the hand made rag paper, no two are alike. For this special edition, the artist Jeff Jones reproduced 52 copies of a pencil sketch and then hand colored each one individually in water colors. He signed and numbered each of these paintings before it was bound inside the front of each book.
One important note is that while the planned edition was for 52 copies of the book (A-ZZ) Underwood only produced the first 26, or single-lettered copies. The remaining prints and signature pages that had been created for the double-lettered copies were archived by Underwood and were subsequently sold when Underwood ceased operations. See elsewhere in this gallery for an example. Also note that while very similar to the limited edition of 50 hand-colored Ivy prints that Jones created in the late-80s, these prints, while using the same image, are smaller to fit in the book and used the double-letter limitation of 52.
