Recto Verso Publications
In 2004 I decided to set up my own publishing house and called it Recto Verso. Although it was meant to publish my own books first and foremost I have designed and published three books for other photographers than myself. Since 1918 the name has been changed into Recto Verso Publications. Until now (mid-2025) 15 books have been released.
SLITS | CUTS | RELICS will be published in 2025.
SLITS | CUTS | RELICS focuses on the impact the quarry process has on the landscape around Carrara, Massa and Pietrasanta (It.). In 2011 I published Paradise City, a book that also focused on the same region, but that book is much broader in what it focusses on. At the time, I was impressed by the beauty of the work itself, the incredibly beautiful light in the quarries and much more considered them works of art.
In this book however, 14 years later, even more influenced by the awareness that the planet is under immense pressure, I decided to go through my negatives again, added some new work and made my selection such that the book can be read as a metaphor for the degradation of the planet.
That does not mean I do not understand the beauty of these quarries. After all, it is an old phenomenon that has given sculpture of timeless beauty to the world. I have always been treated with openness and friendliness and thank those whom I met. But nevertheless, my own position has shifted a bit. The text in this book, eloquently written by Frits Gierstberg, refers to the following:
‘… opposite every sculpture, façade or colonnade carved in marble is a void in the mountains of Carrara, an at least equally large volume taken from nature by man. It is this negative form of architecture in the form of caves, craters and scraped bare slopes that, when overlooking the landscape from a mountaintop, grabs you most strongly by the throat: the breathtaking feeling that unimaginably large stone volumes are gone. People speak of ‘architecture of abstraction’: the creation of architectural forms, not by building something, but by taking something away.’
It is this part of the text that helps me now to look at the quarries from a new, slightly shifted perspective. It is also this reason that I start the book with an image made in 1987 that shows a human form, chipped from the rock, in essence a negative form, due to total coincidence. At the same time, the book closes with a photograph made in 1985 to which I applied a negative rectangular form using digital techniques. It is also this approach that I intend to research more extensively in the two years to come.
At the end of this gallery you can find 5 images that illustrate the way this longtime project is now developing.
Author: Frits Gierstberg
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 500 copies (English | Dutch, 100p, duotone)
Limited Edition: 20 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered photo-etching
ISBN 978-90-833308-2-2
AVAILABLE PER 1 AUGUST 2025
Skin will be published in 2025.
Skin is inspired by the many years I spent in the world of quarries, stone and sculptors. I visited the marble quarries around Carrara for years, concentrating mainly on the quarries and the landscape. But of course, being in surroundings that is known for its remarkably subtle and beautiful stone, one meets other artists that spent their lives working with hammer and chisel, bringing out the forms they have in mind or see hidden in the piece of stone they have chosen to work with.
As a photographer I have used my cameras, film, paper and chemistry to do something equal. I asked my muse (my wife at the time) to sit and lie on the stone so that I could photograph her body in combination with the marble surfaces.
In certain cases, I chose to double-expose my negative so that the body would be depicted ín the stone rather than ón the stone; in later variations I used photoshop to achieve similar effects. In the quarries I also found many examples of the skin of the mountain being almost human in touch, sometimes bruised and damaged by the work that took place in the process of excavation. It made clear to me why marble is used by many sculptors as the stone of choice to shape the human body.
Author: Pim Hoff
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 500 copies (English | Dutch, 64p, duotone)
Limited Edition: 20 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered photo-etching
ISBN 978-90-833308-1-5
AVAILABLE PER 1 AUGUST 2025
Antwerpen 1993-2023, De Afgelegde Weg, was published in 2023 as a co-production between Recto Verso Publications and Salto Ulbeek.
This publication (a box – see flyer) coincided with an extensive exhibition at the FelixArchief in Antwerp (B). All photographs were made by me and my colleague Georges Charlier. All texts were written by Pieter Uyttenhove, architect and urbanist.
The first part of this series of photographs shows how the 19th century belt around Antwerp looked like in 1993; we photographed the very same area a second time in 2022-2023. Part of the photographs were made again as a re-photographic project; so, we have used the exact same standpoints, perspective, height as in the 1993 photographs – so that the viewer can see how the city has transformed. But we also added a whole new 2023 series of photographs to show how the city looks at that moment in time.
The idea is that this entire work will be executed a third time in 2063, so that an even more extensive document of the city of Antwerp will be created.
Author: Hans Bol, Georges Charlier, Pieter Uyttenhove
Printed by Impressed, Rotterdam (NL)
Edition: 130 copies (30 English | 100 Dutch), 140 plates + text + maps
ISBN 978-90-798980-9-1
Price €235 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Grammar was published in 2023.
In 2023 I was invited by Roseanne Lynch to design a book dedicated to the work she made at the Bauhaus in Dessau (GER). Roseanne spent about a year there, immersing herself in the teachings of the Bauhaus. She comes from Ireland, where she is a teacher of photography.
She visited the Bauhaus to learn from their principles. She met various people there that help her find her way not only in the building itself but also in the collection of original objects. She also studied the principles of Johannes Itten.
As she writes herself: ‘I submitted my practice to the principles of the Bauhaus Vorkurs and went into the darkroom with the basic geometric forms of a circle, a square and a triangle, along with light sensitive paper, light, time and chemistry. Grammar is the result of that encounter.’
Authors: Roseanne Lynch, Torsten Blume
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 400 copies (English), 64p, duotone)
Limited Edition: 15 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered silver gelatin print
ISBN 978-90-833308-0-8
For sales, please contact roseanne.lynch.art@gmail.com
On My Doorstep was published in 2022.
Formally the corona pandemic took place between January 2020 and May 2022. Since we were not allowed to move and go places, I decided to bend this restriction to my advantage. The quietness that came upon all of us I considered a blessing, not a limitation.
The Ooijpolder in the Netherlands is characterized by lush vegetation and lots of animals, birds in particular. I have lived there for over 30 years now. This unexpected period of quietness and reflection was the perfect moment to slow down and explore an area of about 5 kilometers around my house more intensely, by foot and by bicycle. Although practically all images were made by using a digital camera, they were all seen in black and white – as I have done my entire life. I like the level of abstraction and intensity that black and white photography brings with it; for me, most of the time the preferred way to go.
The great egret came in unusual numbers; they too must have noticed the quietness. I observed them and was impressed. Every year the tern comes too. I observed this wonderful grey-black agile bird while it was hunting between ten and eleven in the evening. Its speed is impressive. Other than that, I took the time to observe plants, trees, fish and flowers. All in all, it took me about a year to get it done.
Also, I invited Tijs Goldschmidt, a well-known Dutch evolution-biologist to join me while going around. I asked him to write down hís observations. In On My Doorstep, you can read his ‘Notes’ which clearly add another layer to this book.
On My Doorstep was chosen as one of the 33 Best Dutch Book Designs of 2022.
Gallery Caroline O’Breen showed the corresponding silver gelatin, toyobo (photo-etchings) and platinum-palladium prints.
Author: Tijs Goldschmidt
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 700 copies (English | Dutch, 118p., duotone)
Limited Edition: 35 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered silver gelatin print
ISBN 978-90-808767-8-1
Price €58 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
On The Beauty of Imperfection and Coincidence was published in 2022.
While printing God’s Allies revisited I happened to take a look at the backside of the printing press. Much to my surprise I saw many of my testsheets, that had passed through the press more than once, sometimes 3-4 times even, all in order to fine-tune the press. This is standard procedure at the printer I work with, done in order to save paper. I was struck by the beauty of these sheets, randomly covered with my images, sometimes in 2-4 layers even.
I decided to see if I could make books out of these random sheets, being a big believer in coincidence; serendipity has always fascinated me. I kept all sheets and carefully looked through all of them. I choose a size and cut sheet after sheet in such a way that I ended up with enough interesting pages to put together 33 small books, each a unique copy. All 33 books are signed and numbered, and come in a handmade box; each box comes with two correspondingly signed and numbered inkjet prints on washi paper.
This random books is made made of leftovers and testsheets while printing God’s Allies revisited at Robstolk (Amsterdam, NL).
Author: Hans Bol
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 33 unique copies | boxes (English | Dutch, 118p, duotone), each box comes with two signed | numbered inkjetprints on washi paper
ISBN none
Price €195 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
White Crow was published in 2020.
Poetry by Victor Vroomkoning and Bert Schierbeek
In 2020 I decided to make another small book, similar in size to God’s Allies, also dedicated to the crow, this time as the messenger of eternity. My father died years earlier; when that process started to unfold, I asked him if he would allow me to photograph the process that was to come; he had no objections. He was a cancer patient. Prior to this period I had tried to talk to him many times about how he saw his last years. In the Netherlands it is possible to die with the help of a doctor – but only if all the rules and procedures are followed exactly the way they are formally arranged by law. My father was not willing to do this. As a result, it took him 6-7 weeks to die. I visited him as much as I could and observed how he slowly got weaker and weaker.
At a certain point, after my fathers’s death, I felt the wish to make a sort of tribute to him; I knew how his life had been filled with ups and downs – not been an easy life.
I included three poems in this publication, one by my good friend Victor Vroomkoning and two by Bert Schierbeek. Both are Dutch writers.
Authors: Bert Schierbeek, Victor Vroomkoning
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 500 copies (English | Dutch, 78p., duotone)
Limited Edition: 35 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus two handmade, signed | numbered Toyobo chine-collé prints
ISBN 978-90-808767-9-8
Price €58 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Limited Edition €195 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
God’s Allies revisited was published in 2019.
After making God’s Allies in 2018 the idea of the crow kept coming back to me. Also, I felt a renewed energy to work in the darkroom with the negatives that I had recently found and added to my archive for the first book a year earlier.
As a result, I started to experiment in the darkroom. I’ve been a free-lance professional printer for many years, working for the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam as their printer. They have about 6,5 million negatives, made by various photographers. Printing these various negatives made me ingenious in the darkroom because all these photographers used different styles and techniques to make their prints.
I decided to use every technique I could think of to make my crow pictures different from anything I had done before; I wanted to break the rules I had so diligently followed all these years rather than to make the perfect print. I cropped where I thought it would bring a more interesting image, used coffee and/or tea to change the colour of the print, mixed chemicals the wrong way, added gold to the surface sometimes, switched on the light during development to create solarization effects, etc. – all in all I used coincidence as a creative factor. By re-photographing the final prints, I introduced a bit of a shadow in the reproductions of the prints so the images in the book would have a little bit of shadow too, as if you could touch them.
It resulted in God’s Allies revisited; this time my own design, with some help from various people here and there, printed by Robstolk (Amsterdam, NL), in part bound by my wife by hand; she runs Brown Cartonnages (Arnhem, NL).
Author: Hans Bol
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 500 copies (English | Dutch, 78p., duotone)
Limited Edition: 35 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus two handmade, signed | numbered Toyobo chine-collé prints (SOLD OUT)
ISBN 978-90-808767-7-4
Price €28 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
God’s Allies was published in 2018.
In 2017 I started to think about photographing crows; I came to think of them as intriguing birds that have qualities that I like in people too. Here, in the Netherlands it is usually seen as a common bird, or, if anything, a cheeky and clever bird, a thief and sometimes a messenger of eternity. However, in other cultures they may be seen as bringers of luck and happiness for example. They have different connotations in different cultures. I did not make a distinction between crows, ravens, magpies, rooks and jays – I just wanted to photograph these black birds.
After extensively checking my archive and adding new negatives (in the Netherlands and in the US) to what I already had, I asked Willem van Zoetendaal, a gifted bookdesigner in the Netherlands, if he would be able to make a book out if what I had – which he did. He even came up with the title that the final book would have: God’s Allies.
I asked Dutch writer Kester Freriks, known for his extensive knowledge and essays on nature (and much more) if he would be willing to add text to the book – which he accepted. His text explained the role two ravens, Hugin and Munin, both belonging to the God Odin, played in ancient times. Hugin represented ‘memory’, Munin stood for ‘thought’. Both were sent to earth by Odin to keep an eye on us, people. In the book, van Zoetendaal edited the images in such a way that there was a movement from high to low and back again to high (in the trees).
To this day I have been thankful and happy with both design, text and printing. This small book has taught me all sorts of things with regards to bookdesign, writing and bookprinting that have influenced me in later years.
Printing was done by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL). Since God’s Allies I have printed with them ever since – always impressed with the quality they manage to make, an enrichment of the things I try to express in the book itself.
Author: Kester Freriks
Printed by Robstolk, Amsterdam (NL)
Edition: 500 copies (English | Dutch, 78p., duotone) (SOLD OUT)
Limited Edition: 35 copies are used to make a handmade Limited-Edition box containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered silver gelatin print (SOLD OUT)
ISBN 978-90-808767-4-3
CAVA was published in 2018.
In 2018 I was invited to take part in an exhibition in Serravezza (It.), set up by Fondazione Arkad (Cynthia Sah and Nicolas Bertoux) called CAVA. I know both of them very well; both are sculptors. I met Cynthia around 1985-1986 for the first time and have been in touch with her ever since. Photographing the quarries in the area around Pietrasanta, Massa and Carrara, has been my goal for many years, starting in 1985 for the first time. Cynthia and Nicolas run a wonderful sculpture studio in Serravezza and are internationally known for their exquisite works.
As I took part in the exhibition in their gallery at their home in Serravezza I decided to make a small, simple book to offer more perspective on the photographes I make in the quarries. The exhibition showed various disciplines, among them drawing, photography, sculpture (of course) and video-art.
The book offers a text in both English and Dutch, written by myself; CAVA has been printed in an edition of 100 copies + 15 copies for the Limited Edition (with print).
In 2011 I published Paradise City; in 2025 two new books on the same subject will be published: SKIN and SLITS | CUTS | RELICS. All published by Recto Verso Publications.
Author: Hans Bol
Printed by GLD print & media, Arnhem (NL)
Edition: 115 copies (English | Dutch, 54p.)
Limited Edition: 15 copies are used to make a handmade limited edition which comes in a sleeve containing a signed | numbered book plus a handmade, signed | numbered silver gelatin print
ISBN 978-90-808767-5-0
Price €25 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Limited Edition €125 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Moskou 1968 – 2016 was published in 2018.
As a photographer/printer I have been the free-lance darkroom printer of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam (NL) for more than 30 years. Due to that specialism, I have been in touch with the negatives of many Dutch photographers in their collection. Aart Klein, Frits J. Rotgans, Ata Kando, Ed van der Elsken and of course Cas Oorthuys, to mention just a few.
Knowing the work of Cas very well I wondered if his son Gerrit (Oorthuys) had been influenced by his father’s work. I have come to know Gerrit well; he was already a bit older when we started to talk about a (small) book about his photographs. When we started our discussions, he was 84 years old, being born in 1933. I discovered an extremely well-educated man, full of humour, with great knowledge of Russian architecture and the lives of Russia’s cultural and intellectual elite.
As a photographer I would call Gerrit a kind of ‘impulsive’ photographer; according to himself he did not want to lose time waiting for the best composition or the best light, always a bit in a hurry, mostly underway by foot – he wanted to see as much as possible, I think. I would rather call him an urbanist, deeply interested in (Russian) architecture, using photography as documentation. He worked his entire life as a lecturer in architectural history at the Delft University of Technology (NL), the Academy of Art and Industry (AKI) in Enschede (NL) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (NL).
We discussed his archive of personal slides and selected a coherent series focused on his many trips to Moskou, starting in 1968.
Author: Hans Bol, Gerrit Oorthuys
Printed by GLD print & media, Arnhem (NL)
Edition: 175 copies (English | Dutch, 92p.)
Limited Edition: 25 copies are used to make a limited edition which comes in a handmade box containing a signed | numbered book plus 5 signed | numbered inkjet prints
ISBN 978-90-808767-6-7
Price €30 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Limited Edition €200 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
I Shall Use My Time was published in 2016.
Ata Kando (1913-2017) was honored with an exhibition of her wonderful work by the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam (NL) – at the age of 103.
On that occasion I decided to make a small book of her work, with very limited funds, together with Koos Breukel, Rose Ieneke van Kalsbeek and my wife Liesbeth Visser, (Brown Cartonnages) who made the boxes for the Limited Edition.
Rose Ieneke van Kalsbeek interviewed Ata and wrote a text for the book. The idea was to honour this very special woman who has been a source of inspiration for many. She was Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken’s wife in the years he/they lived in Paris.
Author: Rose Ieneke van Kalsbeek
Printed by GLD print & media, Arnhem (NL)
Edition: 175 copies (English | Dutch, 88p.)
Limited Edition: 25 copies are used to make a limited edition which comes in a handmade box containing a signed | numbered book plus 1 signed | numbered inkjet print (hand of Ata Kando, made by Koos Breukel)
ISBN 978-90-808767-3-6
Price (SOLD OUT)
Limited Edition (SOLD OUT)
Paradise City was published in 2011.
All black and white photographs in this book have been made in the impressive marble quarries around Carrara, Massa and Pietrasanta (It.)
When I published Paradise City, I had been actively photographing there since 1985, so, for about 26 years.
I decided to make this book because I was going to have an exhibition at Museum Beelden aan Zee, located in Scheveningen (NL), which is fully dedicated to sculpture. The exhibition was curated by Hans Rooseboom, curator of photography at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NL).
I invited Flip Bool to reflect in writing on my photography – which resulted in an essay. Els Kerremans took care of a wonderful design.
In later years I have published more books about my work in the fascinating marble quarries. In 2011 I published Paradise City; in 2018 I made a small book called CAVA. In 2025 two new books will be published: SKIN and SLITS | CUTS | RELICS – all published by Recto Verso Publications.
Author: Flip Bool, Els Kerremans
Printed by ANDO BV, Den Haag (NL)
Edition: 700 copies (English | Dutch, 140p.)
Limited Edition: 60 copies are used to make a limited edition which comes in a handmade box containing a signed | numbered book plus a signed | numbered handmade silver gelatin print
ISBN 978-90-808767-2-9
Price €35 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
The Studios of Pietrasanta was published in 2008.
The book gives an impression how remarkable, often ancient, sculpture studios look like. I photographed most of them in Pietrasanta (It.) – and some in Massa and Carrara (It.).
I have visited the region for many years, starting in 1985. I was mainly focusing on the marble quarries and the landscape, but every now and then I would visit a studio and ask for permission to photograph. For me it was clear I was observing an old but vanishing world.
Lodima Press invited me to take part in their series of portfolio books. They specialize in high-quality books; most of their books have been printed by Salto Ulbeek (B). Lodima Press has been founded by Michael A. Smith († 2018) and his wife Paula Chamlee, both established photographers.
In The Studios of Pietrasanta I say the following about my work in this region:
These photographs were made in the sculpture studios in and around Pietrasanta near the Western Apennines in Italy. They are part of my larger series of photographs of the marble quarries in that region, a series I call “Altissimo,” named for the mountain where the strangely fascinating and most impressive quarry is located. Although most of my photographs were made in the quarries, I was equally touched by the marble studios and the artisans who worked in them. — Hans Bol, page [1].
In later years I have published more books about my work in the fascinating marble quarries. In 2011 I published Paradise City; in 2018 CAVA, a small book, followed.
In 2025 two new books will be published: SKIN and SLITS | CUTS | RELICS – both published by Recto Verso Publications.
Author: Hans Bol
Printed by SALTO (B)
Edition: 1100 copies (English, 18p.)
Limited Edition: 60 copies are used to make a limited edition which comes in a handmade box containing a signed | numbered book plus a signed | numbered handmade silver gelatin print
ISBN 978-1888899450
Price €30 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Het Formaat van Waterland was published in 2004.
Het Formaat van Waterland combines a series of panoramic photographs by Hans Bol with the wonderful, suttle poetry by Victor Vroomkoning. It is celebrating the landscape of the so-called Ooijpolder and Over-Betuwe (NL) and is part of an assignment that the province of Gelderland (NL) had given to the photographer.
It has been printed in quadtone by Salto Ulbeek (black plus 3 variations of grey) which almost matches the beauty of the original analoque contactprints. This exceptional quality is made possible by Georges Charlier, owner of Salto Ulbeek and his knowledge of the offset printing process.
Text on the photography part: Hans Rooseboom, curator of photography of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (NL).
Wam de Moor (†2015), literary critic, reflects on Victor Vroomkoning’s poetry.
This book is the first publication by Recto Verso (Publications); I choose to go the way of the self-publisher to be independent of other publishers and designers and to be able to be truly independent.
Author: Hans Bol, Victor Vroomkoning, Wam de Moor, Hans Roosebooml
Printed by SALTO (B)
Edition: 1500 copies (Dutch, 60p.)
Limited Edition: 45 copies are used to make a limited edition which comes as a signed | numbered book with a signed | numbered silver gelatin contact print | choice of three images
ISBN 978-90-808767-1-2
Price €35 (incl. 9% VAT, excl. shipping)
Limited Edition €350,00 (book + 1 contact print – choice of 3)
