Publisher is seeking examples of the best in international contemporary letterpress printing, to be considered for publication in a forthcoming book with the working title of For the Love of Letterpress. Organizers are Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis. Entries must consist of tiffs or jpegs and must be received by May 15, 2012, despite what it says on the instruction page. Details….
Bob Fleck passes this along: “13 March 2012 was sad day in the world of private presses with the death of Nick Parry. Frances McDowall pays this tribute:
“‘How abruptly can a phone message change a day. We had been at an event on the Welsh-English border celebrating the work of a sculptor and printmaker and came home to find a message on our answerphone – always a hatefully impersonal way to leave any message – to hear Mary Parry’s voice telling us that Nick had died, peacefully, on 13 March. We knew that he was seriously ill when we all met at the Oxford Fine Press Fair in November but now the end had come. We thought of all the occasions we had met at Fairs – where conversations between printers are always cut short by the imperative to talk with those who might buy the books we have to show. Many times we realised that not only was Nick a passionate believer in communicating our literary heritage in the most beautiful way he could envisage it but that he had talents which were not confined to the printed and illustrated page. He was a painter, and many of his books are also original paintings. He was a musician who loved early music and was an accomplished performer on the lute as well as a lively banjo player in a jazz band.
“‘Together with his wife Mary they created the Tern Press named after the nearby river in their border town home in Market Drayton. Having met at art college they both pursued artistic careers which led them to buy their first press and embark on creating books – designing, printing, binding and publishing themselves. They explored all forms of imagery whether in wood, lino, stone lithography, etching . . . and then type design became important too so that their press has books which demonstrate a complete approach to all the component parts of the making of a book. The titles on their list read like an essential guide to English, and indeed world, literature spanning many centuries and are a testament to Nick and Mary’s love of words and images spun together. There is a hope that Mary, supported by her two daughters and their grandchildren may find a way to keep that spirit alive so that there will continue to be a Tern Press evolving into the future. What we shall all miss is Nick’s ironic humour and smile at book fairs as he displayed the wealth of remarkable books which he had created.
“‘The Tern Press is one of those exquisitely photographed by Ski Harrison for Whittington’s Portraits of Presses and Nick has written there of the development of the press – but, of course, it is the books themselves that need to be seen, studied and owned.’”
–Bob McCamant
My copy of Parenthesis 22 from @fpba has just arrived – as usual beautifully produced & excellent value!
— Ian Knight (@prntmonkeypress) April 5, 2012
Good news! FPBA member Ian Knight from Printmonkey Press in Bristol is tweeting that Parenthesis 22 has landed in his mailbox. All UK members should have their copies soon and North American members’ copies will arrive in May.
— Paul Razzell
Two days ago, I playfully suggested posting Jan van Krimpen’s birthday notice on Facebook using his lush Cancelleresca Bastarda type. My (lame) joke hinged on the belief that CB existed only in metal but I was surprised (and pleased) to learn today that type designers Pablo Impallari, Brenda Gallo, and Rodrigo Fuenzalida are working on a digital incarnation of Cancelleresca Bastarda. Pablo describes CB as “possibly one of the finest typefaces in the world” — a claim as debatable as the need for a digital version of this rare, elegant type. (Purists would be loath to see it trivially used, such as on Kleenex boxes and packaging on tins of tuna, etc. Others would be glad of the opportunity to see more of this rare and striking face in action.)
Whatever camp you belong to, this project is worth checking out for a number of reasons: Paolo is inviting the public to “join the project” by downloading beta versions of the font for review and feedback: you can even edit glyphs and post the edits to his website. You can also follow the team’s progress by studying successive specimens of the digital face and comparing them with a high-rez scan of the original.
If you’re not familiar with Jan van Krimpen’s Cancelleresca Bastarda, you’re not alone. It was issued by Enschede in 1934 and I can’t imagine any but the most discerning presses wanting to invest in such an exotic chancery italic. It would be interesting to know how many founts were produced but there can’t have been many, and today founts of CB are as rare as hens’ teeth. Do yourself a favour and check out the high-rez scan of the original (supplied to Paolo by a Benedictine Monk) and some of the digital samples Paolo has produced. Is this one of the finest typefaces in the world?
Above and middle: Jan van Krimpen’s Cancelleresca Bastarda specimen printed from metal. Below: A beta version of the digital revival.
— Paul Razzell
This afternoon I was looking at the many delicious ephemeral items that were included in the deluxe edition of Parenthesis 21 and thought I would share one with you: this is Richard Seibert’s ‘Sappho, 2′ broadside. (The broadsheet is too big for my scanner, so you don’t see the bottom half of the sheet, which shows a Sappho poem set in Matthew Carter’s Wilson (Greek types) en face with Seibert’s English translation set in Mark van Bronkhorst’s Verdigris type.) Such a handsome piece of work!
An apple a day is a fine thing — and so is a daily dose of Sappho. Here is Sappho by way of Richard Seibert:
Leave Crete and come to me in this
Holy cleft; find welcome
In this apple thicket, in this sacred
Hearth, in this mist of incense,
Where cool water trickles
Through apple boughs,
In this young place,
Shadowed by murmuring leaves,
Where trance reigns down,
In this stallion-feeding ground
Where spring flowers bloom
With gentle scent […
[ … ]
& wholly here, you] …. [Love,
Drink gently from golden cups,
And feed on what the Gods eat.
Huge thanks to Richard Seibert for this translation and for his generous contribution to the deluxe edition of Parenthesis 21. The image is copyright 2011 by Fritz Springmeyer. Printed by Richard Seibert in an edition of 115 for the fall 2011 issue of Parenthesis.
— Paul Razzell
FPBA member Jeremy Wilson (Castle Hill Press) offers this quote from T.E. Lawrence on reprinting the classics in fine press editions:
‘As for books to print beautifully [Lawrence writes] I should like to say “No classics”. Make your jewels a decoration to hang on the authors you like.’ — letter from T.E. Lawrence to Frere Reeves of Heinemann (24 June 1929).
‘BUT guess what T.E.L. was doing at the time: translating Homer’s Odyssey for a fine-press edition designed by Bruce Rogers. Not just any edition, as it turned out when it eventually appeared in 1932.
So it seems he distinguished between the things he thought worth doing and the things he was handsomely paid to do.
— Paul Razzell
You have until May 13 to catch a plane to Amsterdam to see the history of the book in three rooms. There’s everything from a 1471 Nicholas Jenson to a 1988 Irma Boom. Official site here. Above you see my lousy camera-phone picture of the Cranach Press Hamlet (1925), and below an El Lissitzky from 1925. 
But the lucky secret is you don’t have to fly to Amsterdam, and you can actually see the books better than you can in the exhibit by buying the catalog, which oddly has a different name, The Book of Books. This is another amazing exhibit to have all come from a single collection, in this case Special Collections at the University of Amsterdam. I have to admit that I was a bit peeved at first that the fine press work is all old; no contemporary ones. But when I got a copy of the book, and discovered that each period of books have been selected to illustrate a theme, it ceases to be a slight. The most recent period is labeled “Postmodernism,” and we don’t see a great deal of that in current fine press work.
I had a brief email exchange with the man who selected the exhibit, Matthieu Lommen, and he claimed that “I’m actually a fan of letterpress printing and I’m a member of the Dutch association of marginal printing. I’ve written extensively on Bram de Does, who is internationally–in my opinion–one of the best bibliophile printers of private press editions.” I love the use of the word “marginal.”
More pictures on the FPBA Facebook page.
–Robert McCamant
This announcement just came in from the University of Texas at El Paso:
The University of Texas at El Paso has announced Robert Tauber as the winner of the 13th Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design. Tauber was recognized for his design work on Solche Sensationen/Such Sensations, written by Louisa Bertch Green and published by Logan Elm Press (Ohio State University) of Columbus, Ohio in 2010. Honorable Mention recognition went to Lisa Rappoport for The Short Goodbye, published by Littoral Press in 2011, and Andrew Miller-Brown for Aelfric’s Colloquy, published by Plowboy Press in 2010. The awards and the bi-annual Hertzog Lecture will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 25 in the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center at UTEP. “Such Sensations is a masterpiece,” said Hertzog Award judge Clay Smith, literary director of the Texas Book Festival and former senior editor at the Austin Chronicle. “Elegant but inviting, it conveys such affection and thoughtful care for its subjects and the chefs featured in the book that it serves as almost a journalistic lesson in honoring your subject.” “Such Sensations is a masterpiece of bookmaking in several respects,” said Bryce Milligan, also a judge as well as the publisher and editor for Wings Press in San Antonio. “The physical object is quite simply delicious — sumptuous paper, delicately colored initial capitals, innovative use of illustrations, the incorporation of copper etching plates (echoing copper cookware) into the binding. Overall, the physical book is a sensual reflection of its topic and of the creativity of the chef authors. It is not quite edible, but certainly a book to whet the appetite for fine fare.” Tauber’s design was one of 70 entries submitted. The competition is open to presses and publishers of all types and sizes. The winner and runners-up will receive national publicity and their works will be exhibited at the UTEP Library. As the winner, Tauber will receive a $1,000 cash prize, framed certificate, and a specially struck bronze medal designed by Hertzog’s long-time associate, the late Tom Lea. The Carl Hertzog Award, named for one of this country’s most accomplished book designers and printers, is designed to celebrate the importance of fine printing as an art, encourage work by new and established artisans, and to recognize outstanding accomplishments in the field. The national competition and lecture are part of Carl Hertzog Day sponsored by the Friends of the University Library. By creating and sponsoring the Hertzog Award, the Friends of the University Library endeavor to underscore the importance of fine printing as an art, to encourage work by new and established artisans, and biennially recognize outstanding accomplishments in the field.
The winning books and a collection of the other entries will be on display in the UTEP Library for several weeks. The winner and honorable mentions will be added to the Carl Hertzog Collection of UTEP Library’s C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department for examination and study. Many of the other entries will also be added to the library’s collection. Marcia Hatfield Daudistel will give the 15th Carl Hertzog Lecture, titled “The Writers at The Pass of The North.” Daudistel most recently was editor of Grace and Gumption: the Women of El Paso. She is also the editor of Literary El Paso, winner of the 2010 Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award. Both books were published by Texas Christian University Press in 2012 and 2009, respectively. She has presented at the 2009 Texas Book Festival and moderated at the 2011 festival. She is the 2012 Women’s History Month Conference keynote speaker and has presented at the Texas State Historical Association. Daudistel also serves as the West Texas/Trans Pecos Regional Editor of Texas Books in Review and is a member of the advisory committee for the Made in Texas: Cultivating Teachers to Engage Mexican American Literature in Middle and High School Classrooms project. As the former associate director of Texas Western Press at UTEP, she published books on the history and culture of the Southwest and established the bilingual imprint Frontera Books. She is currently at work on the book Authentic Texas: the People of the Big Bend with co-author and award-winning photographer, Bill Wright. Both the award and the lecture honor the life and work of J. Carl Hertzog (1902-1984), who was responsible for the design and production of some of the most important works of history, folklore, art, and literature in the American Southwest. Not only a printer and publisher, Hertzog was also a highly regarded creative artist whose reputation extended nationwide. More than 250 books and pamphlets appeared under his own name or that of other publishing houses such as Alfred A. Knopf of New York and Little, Brown & Co. of Boston. Information: University Library at 915-747-6720 or 915-747-5683 .
Media Contact: Chris Lechuga Public Affairs Specialist 915-747-5038 news@utep.edu
— Paul Razzell
Printers, students, librarians, collectors, and other lovers of fine press books and the book arts: the Oak Knoll Fest is one of the best places to exhibit, see, and buy the work of contemporary fine presses. Make sure you’re there! Special thanks to Oak Knoll Books for organizing the key event every two years.
— Paul Razzell
Julie Chen's <i>The Veil</i>
–Bob McCamant
