I Saw It, 2023

Artwork and Design by Harriet Bart
English Translation by Maxim D. Shrayer
Typography and Printing by Philip Gallo at The Hermetic Press
Printed on Rives BFK 180 gsm
Binding by Sherelyn Ogden
Edition of thirty-five

I Saw It presents the poem of that same title written by the famous Jewish-Russian poet Ilya Selvinsky (1899-1968), translated into English by the award-winning bilingual author, Boston College professor, Maxim D. Shrayer. Selvinsky was the first Jewish-Russian poet to depict the Holocaust (Shoah) in the occupied Soviet territories. In January 1942, while serving as a military journalist, Selvinsky witnessed the immediate aftermath of the massacre of thousands of Jews outside the Crimean city of Kerch, and thereafter composed and published this poem about it. Partnering with noted typographer and fine-press printer Philip Gallo, Bart designed the book, clamshell box, and created the artwork. This project was of special interest to Bart, as her maternal grandmother was from Ukraine. In the book, she has written a remembrance of her grandmother.