Books
All Books Are written, printed, illustrated, sewn, and bound By Ke Francis ( unless noted*)
New for 2026
The Artist's Fable
Walter Pendergast wakes up from a dream to find himself in a fouth dimensional time warp located in a hanging garden. He finds urns of ashes, a substrate for a floor and patterned flooring tiles. The process of completing the floor is Walter's true destiny.
Softbound edition 100
Hardbound edition of 50,
comes with extra story and images
$350
Isis and Osiris Reqiuem
Osiris is currently living in Egypt, MS and has a soybean farm that is going broke from reduced sales, the result of current tariff policies. His blues band plays regular gigs at the local strip club but he continues to fall further in debt. Isis returns to earth to meet her brother at the Bass Pro Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee and the two of them plan a trip on a flaming pyre to their place in the fourth dimension hereafter. Softbound edition of 50
$ 375
coming soon
Books Made 2020-2025
The Devil and The Mudcat
The devil and a bi-lingual catfish team up to produce a podcast that encourages right- wing fundamentalist warriors to plant devices around the capital to disrupt the presidential election confirmation. The plot is challenged when a engineer falls through a rotten doorway and overhears the instructions delivered in the podcast. The book is also part of a two volume set that includes Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Walter Anderson. Handprinted cover papers and end sheets, digital printed illustrations, and story hand sewn and bound.
Hardbound edition of 50 copies
printed box set, $3760.
single book, $2750.
Isis in a crisis
Small pamphlet style booklet narrative poem by Ke about the mythological goddess. Digitally printed, with images made in 2025.
$35.
True North
A series of poems and short narrative pieces and images by Ke.
Digital and letterpress printed elements Hand sewn and hand bound into a hard cover edition of 150,
deluxe version of 50 with hand watercolored images ,2024
$375
The priority
of content
A short essay on the content of the artist / author's work in literature, sculpture, painting, printmaking and book arts. It discusses the artist's subject matter and how his vision and stories have developed.
6 digital images and four letterpress pages.
26 pages, letterpress paper cover,
size 6 1/2 x 9 in.
edition of 200 made in 2023
$150.
Cyclops and the willow
This is the story of a recent book arts graduate with no equipment or studio who is forced to take a job in sales at an office supply store to pay the bills. She meets a tunnel-visioned, drug dealing predator with minor musical talent at a art gallery opening. Through a twisting series of events she finds her problems solved. 3 full-page color images from scanned engravings by the artist / author, printed on acid free paper with cloth -over-board binding. 32 pages
edition of 50 books
made in 2023
$1200.
viewing
contemporary
landscape
This book is a short essay that relates the artist / author's work produced during the covid-19 pandemic to his previous series of work and to the work of significant American landscape artists in history. The current paintings, prints, photographs and books address climate change and the inter-dependancy of all the elements in our natural environment.
Letterpress printed with digital prints and photographs.
made in 2021
$250.
Leonardo syndrome
A sculptor roams the Arkansas mountains to the Mystic Crystal Cave in search of an old friend, a self-trained potter and a part-time preacher. A spelunker falls in the Mystic Cave and suffers a life changing injury.
48 pages with 3 full page images, 2 - 2 page images and a fold out unique alphabet based on the story. Smyth-sewn binding with a cloth over-board cover
made in 2022
edition of 50
$2400.
Plaguetime cosmetology
A short story that follows the timeline of the Covid-19 pandemic ( timeline to the left of the page and story line to the right). Social media celebrity magazines, and the Greek mythology surrounding the concept of beauty lead a cosmetologist on a quest for spiritual and physical unity with her patriotic boyfriend. Inspired by the president's suggestion, this speedy lube mechanic takes frequent and measured doses of Hydroxy- chloroquine to fight the virus. Their relationship takes a strange trajectory as the pandemic death toll tops one and a half million people.
The folio contains a hardbound cloth-over-board book, an audio CD of the artist-read story, and a portfolio of 12 individually signed prints on the Covid-19 theme.
Edition of 10
Made in 2021
$7000.
Three friends
A short story about an old river turtle, the magic moon, and an albino catfish. An illuminating conversation between these three friends occurs, and the catfish faces problems with predators, endangers his catfish peers and struggles to find an understanding mate.
digitally printed images and story hand sewn and bound on acid free paper with a hardbound cover.
made in 2021
$750.
italy america
A portfolio of 10 digital photographs taken by Ke during the period of 1992-2014 begining with his time at the Belligio Foundation and completed in America The images are scanned from large format negatives. The boxed set contains the book Red Boot written by Ke.
made in 2023
$1500.
Books 1992-2020
Jugline
This is the book that started it all!
Ke wrote this story, printed its pages, made etchings, completed the images, and had it bound by his friend and bookbinder, Larry Cooper of Gardyloo Press back in 1992.
Limited edition
$1200
Jugline complete
Original Jugline story plus additional materials containing images of portfolios, installations, and essays that have followed the original publication.
made in 2019
edition of 250
$2700.
The short story of a visionary packer who sends heartfelt packages to family and friends.
A combination of letterpress text with 10 color woodcut illustrations of his surrealistic packages in a faux Museum of the Container catalog. Letterpress printed with woodcut images by Ke and bound by Larry Cooper of Gardyloo Press.
53 pages
cloth-over-board cover
created in 1994
edition 250
$1200.
PENUMBRA
Bootknife
This book is composed of two short stories about knives. Both stories address the subject of male sensitivity. The first is about a young man who performs a sensitive act and then questions it when a poet on t.v. explains what he thinks are attributes of male sensitivity. The second story is about a man who was a knife and is saved by a heart scabbard.
36 pages, woodcut print cover
edition 100
made 1996
$850.
celestial hitchhikers
A poignant story of a young hitchhiker's experience on the road and a portable monument to Jack Kerouac. Letterpress text, lithographic and digital illustrations.
66 pages, Hardbound fabric-over-board with 94 inch fold out.
edition of 50
$2200.
Dixie compass
Dixie Compass is a group of short stories that examine the complexity of the southern spirit. The stories reveal a wide range of environments and emotional experiences that don't quite match the current assessment of southern places and the people who inhabit them.
Octagonal letterpress book with letterpress text and color woodcuts and digital illustrations. Hardbound paper over board cover.
edition of 50
made in 1994
$2700.
BOOGA BOTTOM
A fictional story about a veteran pilot who returns to his Mississippi delta home, finds work as a crop duster, makes friends with the local farming community and pulls a dangerous prank that leads to the naming of the town.
Letterpress book with paper binding and four color woodcut illustrations. There are multiple variations of this book. See collaborations below with Terry Choinard.
made in 1998
$200.
wyndell
A short story of the trials and tribulations of a sculptor and his patient wife.
Letterpress text with engravings,
Cloth-over-board cover, 15 pages
made in 2012
Hoopsnake Press edition of 35
$600.
Kill the messenger
A sequential, fan fold book (set of
two bindings) with enigmatic digital
photographs and a very short text block.
Hard bound, fabric-over-board cover
photography by the artist / author
made in 2016
$500.
Beulah
A folio of individual loose-leaf prints. Four narrative texts with relief prints and 4 hand water-coloured etchings based on the gospel song Beulah Land.
Cloth-over-board Folio
edition of 22
made in 2017
$4300.
molecular prom
A young filmmaker faces and solves pressing funding problems with reductive reasoning. Letterpress text with digital and relief printed illustrations.
cloth-over-board cover
made in 2018
$200.
Rock in a Hard place
This book contains two short stories by Ke with related photographs and prints. The stories explore the paths taken by each of the central characters as they struggle to resolve personal problems that have them caught between a rock and a hard place. The stories deal with southern myth and artistic passion. Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't.
Embossed aluminum Hoopsnake Press inset on cover
digital photo, digital prints and transparency, 3 page fold-out, 2-color relief print, letterpress text and hand engraving.
edition of 100
made in 2018
$750.
soulshark
A tent revivalist tells and interesting tale about a shark and the devil.
Letterpress text with one multi-color relief and three engravings. 14 pages hardbound
Edition of 30
Made in 2009
$750.
crescent review
A literary journal with collected short stories. The review was designed by Ke and includes one of his stories.
Offset printed publication with woodcut illustrations and twenty woodcut capital letters. Clam shell box includes twenty signed original prints plus the original Crescent Review publication, Spring 1993, Volume 11 number 1.
$2000.
Book collaborations
White Shadow
Artistic Version of Michael Hannon 's White Shadow combined with an image of Dark Star by Ke Francis, letterpress printed, poems sewn and bound by Ke at Hoopsnake Press, edition includes 100 soft bound and 50 hardbound editions
hunting the crested snipe
A bestiary
five etchings by Robert Rivers
poem and short story by Ke Francis
23 pages, hardbound fabric-over-board with 94 inch fold out
Made in 1996
$NFS
pilgram's
process
Poems by Micheal Hannon and etchings by William Wiley,
letterpress folios in 2 clam shell boxes. Designed by and printed by Ke Francis.
54 pages with 19 etchings
made in 1998
$7000.
idiot wind
A brooding and dark poem by Michael Hannon and apocalyptic engravings and landscape by Ke Francis . The works were completed independently in 2012 (images) and 2020 (poem). The artist and the poet shared the works in the winter of 2021 and decided to combine the completed images and publish this book in the spring-summer of 2021, the year of the covid-pandemic.
$350.
red boot
A selection of unique experiences that are the result of American encounters with European culture, linguistic misinterpretations, and a short, improbable, but almost pre-ordained male/female meeting.
36 pages with 2-3 page foldouts
cloth-over board cover
made in 2019
Collaborative print made with Lujan Perez.
$2700.
A collaborative project with music by Jeff Rupert and art by Ke Francis. There are musical compositions by Rupert ( with an included CD entitled Memphis to Mobile) and regional photographs and woodcuts by Ke Francis
Letterpress text in three folios. The text includes and essay on Rupert's music by the director of the Institute of Jazz studies at Rutger's University.
Made in 2008
60 pages, edition of 30 books
memphis to
mobile
$2400.