About
913 is an experimental typeset artist book about Jonestown, Guyana, The famous cult incident from 1978 where preacher Jim Jones led his clergy to a mass suicide. After finding a letter from Senator Harvey Milk to President Jimmy Carter explaining how Jim Jones is viewed as an upstanding and respected member of the San Fransisco community, I decided to typeset the letter in a book that would showcase the bizzare manner in which Jim Jones convinced not only his cult but also respected politicians to believe in his ideas.
The Content
Form
The book has a series of smaller pages and gate folds in order to match certain pacing points in the tape and to draw attention to points of interest.
Halftones
As a reference to the church pamphlets and information booklets sent out by the People's Temple, the book uses halftoned type to show distorted and bizarre moments in Jones' speech.
Broken Type
As the book goes on the type gets more distorted in a way that mirrors the effect of the way someone going through cyanide posioning would feel.
Letter
The book ends with a fold out letter from an anonymous member of the cult that was found on the scene at Jonestown, discussing the purpose of the Jonestown movement and the disbelief of its tragic end.
Back
The back of the book is typeset black on black with the names of the People's Temple organized in groups by their family.
Binding
The book is bound in an accordian book binding that references back to the church pamphlets used by the cult.
