In the course of looking for something else I found yet another thing that was pretty cool. It turns out that Barry Windsor-Smith still has uncut sheets of his vintage "Moon and Star" bookmarks for sale...and they're signed.

For those who are unfamiliar with these bookmarks--the existence of which I was unaware of until about 2000, and I've been a BWS fan since I was a preteen--they were first offered for sale by Barry's Gorblimey Press in 1975.

To go off on a quick tangent... I've seen or heard of a few other such "uncut sheets of bookmarks" put out by various artists and publishers. I've always wondered exactly who they thought might fork over the money for such things and then pull out a pair of scissors and actually cut them up. I might've done so as a ten-year-old, but I wouldn't have paid that kinda money for a bookmark at the time. I was too short on cash. I think I'm like a lot of other bibliophiles, in that I like the idea of a cool/artistic bookmark, but I prefer, if anything, something like the classy, integral string bookmark in my edition of The Twelve Children of Paris.

Anyway, Barry's bookmark sheets were published soon after he fired up his personal publishing house, Gorblimey Press. This was during what I call his "classic period", which extended roughly from 1973 to 1983. Whatever one might think of the actual practicality and utility of "uncut bookmark sheets", "Moon and Star" constitutes some top-notch artwork from BWS.

Apparently, Barry drew inspiration for the name from Mucha's "The Moon and the Stars" series of decorative prints--Mucha being one of BWS' artistic idols. The individual paintings in Mucha's series are quite "vertical" in composition, thus--perhaps--inspiring Barry Windsor-Smith to do his own series of such panels and then market them as "bookmarks". However, Mucha's paintings are separate compositions in and of themselves, with no strong connection to each other. Barry's "Moon and Star"--especially the "blue" sheet--is more of a Sterankoesque cinematic "tracking shot", with the artist's "camera" showing the same heroine/protagonist in various poses and moving through space.

The "blue sheet" depicts a woman, nude beneath her full cloak—embroidered with moons and stars—moving from one side of an arch to the other, whirling gracefully all the while. She sports a distinctive hairdo that I'll get back to. The "red sheet" shows a swordswoman in various poses wielding a spear, a bow and a curved, falchion-like sword--which has a crescent moon and stars engraved on its pommel. I have seen this sheet advertised as depicting "Red Sonja". I find that somewhat hard to believe.

To the best of my knowledge, Barry never depicted Sonja at any point after he left Conan the Barbarian. On the other hand, we know that he did one plate for sure of Valeria. It was in his classic "Robert E. Howard Memorial Portfolio", which was published by Gorblimey Press the same year--1975.

There is also the fairly recent BWS drawing which I've seen titled both "Crimson Spikes" and "The Horde". It seems to be a somewhat accurate rendition of the final battle scene in "Red Nails". In it, "Valeria" sports about the same hairdo as the woman depicted in the "blue sheet" from "Moon and Star". It must be noted that the hairdo of the “red sheet woman” is a closer match to Barry’s Red Sonja than it is to his Valeria in his “Red Nails” adaptation or his Valeria from the REH portfolio. Without Barry weighing in, I suppose the woman of the "red sheet" could be Valeria or Sonja or neither. With a gun to my head, I would probably go with Valeria…but it’s a very close call.

Who knows? Perhaps Barry envisioned Valeria living a bohemian lifestyle in some Hyborian city before taking up the sword. Nothing in "Red Nails" would directly contradict that. When all is said and done, the two bookmark sheets are superb artistic creations and cool artifacts from Windsor-Smith's classic period. As Barry says on his website:

"These vintage uncut bookmark sets are from the first printing from 1975... Each uncut panel of five bookmarks can be signed at the purchaser's request. There is no additional charge for the signature."

The price is thirty-five US dollars plus fifteen bucks for insured shipping. It's a reasonable cost to own a signed piece of art history--and it helps out Barry. If I had a bit more cash on hand, I'd spring for it myself.

The “Red Nails”-ish work of art known as “The Horde” OR “Crimson Spikes”.