This powerful sequence of 14 poems is the result of a unique collaboration between writer George Szirtes and artist Ronald King.

Its genesis was King’s long fascination with Elias Canetti’s 'Auto da Fe', the famously grotesque yet marvelous novel set in pre-war Vienna which contributed to Canetti winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981. To accompany his illustrations, King commissioned Szirtes to write a text inspired by and related to Canetti’s great work.

In 2008 the book was published in a limited edition of 35 copies letter-pressed in Walbaum onto 240 lb Barcham Green mouldmade paper with 15 etchings, one double-spread, thirteen full-page and one half-page; a total of 18 unstitched sections 350 x 260 mm, enclosed in a uniquely collaged card wrap-around and placed in a cloth-bound solander box.

A second reproduced duotone hardback version 220 x 160 mm was published in 2009 (£16) in collaboration with Full Circle Editions, in an edition of 1000 copies to give the book further exposure and distribution; the first 100 (£39) are signed and numbered by the author and artist and presented in a specially designed slipcase.