BOOK
CulturePrince Edward Island
Date1983
Dimensions27.5 x 27.5 x 1.5 cm (10 13/16 x 10 13/16 x 9/16 in.)
Object numberHF.2022.10.7a-b
DescriptionA hard-cover book (.a) titled “The Cow Book” with a paper dust jacket (.b). Front of the dust jacket features a large image of a black and white cow framed on all four sides with black. Title is at the bottom center. The spine has the author’s name at the top, title at center, and publisher’s’ logo and name at bottom. Bottom of the dust jacket’s spine is torn. Back cover features an image of two cows framed in black. Interior fold of the dust jacket’s front has a long synopsis of the book with a paper label in the top right corner – in the top center is “R.H.C”, below in large print is “$23.95”, at the bottom is “Price in Canada”. The back interior fold of the dust jacket has a black and white image of the author at top center with a description below. Underneath in italics is “Illustrated with 25 paintings in full colour / Front-of-jacket painting by James Marsh; / back-of-jacket painting by Ivan Generalic / Jacket design by Marc Gallant”. At the bottom is the publisher’s logo and name.
The image on the back cover shows a large red bull facing the viewer with the left eye closed more than the right. The right horn is downturned while the left stands upright. To the right of the bull is a white cow whose head is bent towards the ground, tail raised. In the right and left background are trees of various heights. In right and left foreground are 4 single stemmed plants with arrow shaped leaves.
Narrative
Written by Island photographer and graphic designer, Marc Gallant, “The Cow Book” is a look at human history from a cows’ point of view. Marc Gallant (1945-1994) grew up in North Rustico, PEI, and is remembered as the graphic designer for Cow’s Ice Cream merchandise in the early 1980s. Catherine Hennessy, founder of the PEIMHF, notes that a live cow made a surprise visit to the “The Cow Book” launch, much to the surprise of the Confederation Centre of the Arts where the event took place.
