Hardtack is a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns. Biscuits were frequently carved to create souvenirs - a fate to which their unpalatable hardness well suited them.

 

I baked new hardtack biscuits and stamped them with a linocut, using original soldier messages.

Some of the biscuits were made into a small book. The pages are embossed with the linocut.