Fine Press Book Association

Susan at Green Chair Press brought this great two-part blog post to my attention. She writes,

Photographing artist’s books can be tricky and frustrating — getting the lighting right, staging the book to show off all its features… The 23 Sandy Gallery blog recently had a 2 part post on “What Makes a Good Photograph for Submission to a Juried Show or Gallery” (which also applies to photographing your work for selling online). Part I is here and Part 2 is here.

Thanks, Susan!

— Paul Razzell

Oak Knoll has now placed the full schedule for its fall Fest, to be held October 1 through 3 in New Castle, Delaware, on its web site.
Highlights include:
–Talks by Alexander Campos and Sarah Nicholls of The Center for Book Arts in New York, Martyn Ould of The Old School Press in Bath, England, and Russell Maret, printer from New York City.
–A reprise of the Friday Symposium (pre-registration required), this time on the topic of “Artists’ Books – Press Books: Siblings or Distant Cousins?” featuring panelists Alexander Campos, Duke Collier, Mark Samuels Lasner, Timothy Murray, Martyn Ould, and Jane Siegel. Many credit the previous symposium with increasing interest among special collections librarians and private collectors.
–A huge book fair with more than 40 exhibitors from around the US, the UK, Canada, and France.
Remember, FPBA’ers: the FPBA annual membership meeting will take place Sunday morning at 10:30 am, and will feature the talk by Russell Maret.
–Bob McCamant

Every time we publish an issue of Parenthesis, our 100 de luxe members receive a special limited edition of Parenthesis which is case-bound and presented in a slip case with a parcel of items specially printed by presses from around the world (see photo above). For example, past parcels have included wood engravings by Gaylord Shanilec, Frank Martin, and Simon King, printing from Henry Morris and Nicolas McDowall, pochoir by Peter Allen and Ian Beck, and a poster for the Pennyroyal Caxton Press edition of the Holy Bible.

This fall, the slipcases for the de luxe copies will be bound in a specially commissioned pattern paper made by Leigh McClellan of the Meadow Press in San Francisco. If you’d like to see a series of photos showing these papers being made, go to http://www.meadowpressbooks.com and click on the link at NEW! How to Make 125 Paste Papers in a One-Bedroom Apartment.

To become a de luxe member of the FPBA (and receive a handsome limited-edition copy of Parenthesis twice yearly) or to be come a highly valued Standard member (and receive 2 copies of the standard issue each year) go here.

— Paul Razzell

An update on our post about fine printing on the Kindle. Barbara Hauser writes, “A few days ago on the FPBA Facebook page, you asked if anyone knew of finely printed books available on mobile devices. [See original post here.] Well, I’m not sure if this comes under that heading, but recently the Bavarian State Library released a free iPhone app that allows users of the iPhone and iPad to view all pages of 52 rare books from their collection. I posted a photo on my Flickr page showing a closeup from their Gutenberg’s Bible (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunadabayletterpress/4795259562/). The app is supposed to work only on iPhone 3GS or later, but it works fine on my 3G. The app can be found at the App Store under ‘Famous Books.’”

Thanks for this, Barbara.

—Paul Razzell

Good friend Nigel Beale over at Nota bene Books recently interviewed Mark Samuels Lasner in St. Petersburg, Florida to discuss the history of The Bodley Head and how one might best go about collecting work produced by this publisher. Have a listen here.

— Paul Razzell

“While Western letterpress printing has made a recent revival, what was once considered one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China is no longer a sustainable practice in its country of origin.” An interesting article about the end of moveable metal type from idsgn: A Design Blog.

— Paul Razzell

A short while ago we announced two 100th birthday celebrations for book artist and Hollywood actress Gloria Stuart. I’ve just received full details of the celebration planned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar people). All the info you need is here.

“Everything new is old again.” So writes Michael Russem of Kat Ran Press who just announced that a book he designed and printed for Lone Oak Press is now available for the Kindle and in a hardcover trade edition.

The book is Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes and Ditches: Excerpts from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau. First published in a limited edition in 2005, the book featured the remarkable wood engravings of American artist Abigail Rorer in a standard edition (US$1600) and in a de luxe edition (US$3000). You can now download the digital facsimile from Amazon for a mere seventeen dollars. Free previews are available.

(Readers of the FPBA’s journal Parenthesis, should recall seeing one of Rorer’s engravings from this book reproduced on the cover of our fall 2005 issue. Rorer also contributed an illustrated article about her method of engraving the blocks for this book. A few copies of this issue are still available.)

Is this the first time a fine press book has been available for the Kindle or other mobile device? If there are others, please let me know. NAEditor [at] fpba [dot] com.

– Paul Razzell

The new edition of the American Printing History Association newsletter announces the program for the fall conference. The PDF is found here. Speakers include Steve Miller, Betty Bright, Terry Belanger, and more than 20 others including plenty of FPBA members. It’s to be held at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, on October 15 and 16.

–Bob McCamant