God Help Thee: A Manifesto

God Help Thee: A Manifesto is Joel Thomas Hynes's infamous performance piece, first presented at a fundraiser for the RCA Theatre Company, and later reprinted in Riddle Fence and Maisonneuve Magazine. In it, he takes on most of the cultural clichés and sacred cows of Newfoundland. It's the kind of carefully crafted, smart and incisive writing that readers have come to expect from Hynes, and a wonderful counter to those quaint Newfoundland tourist ads.

This revised version features original illustrations by Massachusetts-based wood engraver Abigail Rorer. The chapbook, which has been letterpress-printed on specially prepared papers, and handsewn, can be read as a book, or opened out into an extended tirade.

Watch the video of Hynes's performance of the manifesto at his Toronto launch in July 2011, or listen to his interview with Mack Furlong when the chapbook was first launched in June 2011. (Be aware: the video contains strong and explicit language.)

Novelist, playwright and actor Joel Thomas Hynes was born and raised in Calvert, Newfoundland. His novel Down to the Dirt won the Percy James First Novel Award, was short-listed for an Atlantic Book Award and the Winterset Award, and long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His latest novel is Right Away Monday. Straight Razor Days, a work of non-fiction, will be published in the fall of 2011.

Abigail Rorer lives and works in Petersham, Massachusetts, where she is the proprietor of Lone Oak Press. Her award-winning wood engravings have appeared in numerous books, and in exhibitions in the United States and Britain. In August of 2010, she was artist-in-residence at St. Michael's Printshop (St. John's).

The text was set by hand in Dante. It proved an amusing typesetting challenge – there being so many more "F"'s and "k"'s in the piece than in my typecase. Text paper for the manifesto was first printed using various wood types.

The text papers are Hahnemühle Natur Text; the cover papers are Hahnemühle Natur Cover and Fabriano Tiziano. The chapbook was assembled and sewn by hand at Running the Goat Press in an edition of 375. Press work and binding by Marnie Parsons with the kind help of Rachel Dragland and Christopher Howse.

6 x 5 1/16. The manifesto is 17 pages, and opens out in accordion fashion; the postscript is 6 pages, and is separately sewn.

God Help Thee: A Manifesto is back in print -- same saucy text, same disconcerting pine martens and same playful book structure, but with a slightly different cover, new text papers, and a new price.

For the this printing, the text papers are Neenah Classic Crest; the cover papers are Hahnemühle Natur Cover and Fabriano Tiziano. More than 400 more copies of the chapbook are available. Press work and binding undertaken at Running the Goat Press by Marnie Parsons with the kind help of Rachel Dragland.