Blue-Bearded Lover

[10 ff.] Sewn printed wrappers. One of an edition of 100 copies handbound by John Kristensen, 74 of which were numbered and sewn into paper wrappers (the version offered here), and 26 of which were lettered A-Z, hand-illuminated, and bound in boards. All 100 copies were hand-numbered and signed by Joyce Carol Oates and R.P. Hale on the limitation page. "Joyce Carol Oates’ new angle on Charles Perrault’s well-known “Bluebeard.” This tale of a homicidal husband has been the source of operas and other musical compositions, ballets, and films. Oates’ version is called “Blue-Bearded Lover,” and is a first-person narrative by the latest of Bluebeard’s wives. Oates writes “In my variant of this fairy tale, the young, beautiful, naïve bride is really not naïve, she is calculating and canny.”" - Selected Shorts