Artifex

Throughout his career, Baskin explored the grotesque through images of monsters, gargoyles, mythological beasts, and other fiends. Although the subject usually conjures up notions of nightmarish horror, Baskin often approached the grotesque in a more carnivalesque spirit. He created images of bizarre creatures for both Gehenna Press and popular press editions, especially of children’s books. Indeed, Baskin won a Caldecott honor for his illustrations of Hosie’s Alphabet, written by his wife, Lisa, and sons Tobias and Hosea, and published by Viking Press in 1972.

A Book of Demons

After the publication of A Primer of Birds in 1981, Gehenna Press editions appeared in smaller, more rarefied editions, and were increasingly focused on Baskin's artwork. Baskin had virtually completed his designs and etchings for A Book of Demons when he died in June, 2000; Gehenna Press published the book posthumously the following year in an edition of 26, and Lisa Baskin signed the colophon.

Masks

Richard Michelson, also a Northampton author and book arts enthusiast, collaborated with Baskin on a number of children’s books. Their books, which had such titles as Can You Say Ghosts? and Animals that Ought to Be, were printed by trade publishers, including Simon & Schuster. Masks, their first joint fine press project, is a collection of Michelson’s non-juvenile poems. Baskin’s grotesque imagery inspired the ironic poems.