Whilst in his final year at University Charles Booth-Clibborn published The Scottish Bestiaryunder his imprint The Paragon Press. Booth-Clibborn had invited the Orkney born writer George Mackay Brown to produce texts, in the form of poetry and prose, to accompany 20 prints by Scottish artists depicting 19 animals – real and mythological. Initially the artist made three coloured screenprints as his contribution to the Bestiary but abandoned these in favour of black and white. Spider relates to the tale of Robert the Bruce, hiding in a cave, watching a spider spinning her web.

Further reading:
Contemporary Art in Print, Scottish National Gallery of Modern and The Paragon Press, 1995, texts by Jeremy Lewison, Duncan Macmillan and Patrick Elliott