Page 184

per year for three years. Vouchers give parents the financial where-withal to opt out of designated public schools and put their kids in private schools of their choosing.4

Rare book collecting is also a passion. Caxton—the name of his firm—was taken from William Caxton, the first printer in England. In fact, at the end of our interview, Kovner proudly showed me a new Bible that has been illustrated by Barry Moser—a designer, printmaker, illustrator, and engraver. Released in October 1999, it is the only Bible illustrated by a single artist in the twentieth century. It has 250 illustrations and took Moser four years to complete. The Pennyroyal Caxton Press edition of the Holy Bible is a two-volume rendering of the King James Version of the Bible. There are only 400 copies of the limited letterpress edition printed, and each costs $10,000. (There is also a Viking Studio trade edition priced at $65.) True to form, Kovner said, "I put the structure together for it." He underwrote the $2 million cost of producing the Bible.5