The Black Sparrow Press editions of Paul Bowles’s work piqued my early interest in book design. Decades later, being asked to design this UC Press biography felt like a meaningful opportunity.

Text is framed with generous margins and sized for comfortable reading. Part openings have a stripe of Moroccan-inspired pattern; each run-on chapter’s start is signaled by an inset, patterned box. With folios but no footers, pages are intentionally spare.

While on a trip to Morocco, I hand-delivered a copy of the published book to Mr. Bowles in Tangier. He was having trouble with his eyesight and was pleased that he could actually read the text. 

You Are Not I: A Portrait of Paul Bowles 6 x 9.75" casebound