Washington DC: Abstract Orange Press, 2016. Hardcover. Number 14 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Lauren Emeritz is a book artist, letterpress printer and graphic artist who founded and runs the Abstract Orange Press. She creates prints and books by hand using a Vandercook press and wood type, including type she designs and carves herself. Lauren holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Delaware. She is the President and Creative Director of Abstract Orange, a graphic design firm in Washington, DC, and a letterpress associate at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Maryland. This beautifully designed book is in the special collections at the Library of Congress. It is one of a series of books that Lauren has done using her handmade type to explore letters, numbers, and shapes. In this accordion style book she has printed her hand carved letters of the alphabet in a bold orange. There is one letter to a page. They have been carved our of linoblock, pine, basswood, and plywood. Printed on Lettra 220 paper and bound in orange Mulberry paper with debossed titles in gilded orange on front cover and spine. In fine condition. Measures 5.25 x 7 inches. ARTISTSB/082018. Fine. More

Upland CA: Blackbird Press, 2007 [Distributed in 2010]. Hardcover. Number 40 of 100 copies. Signed by the poet, the book artist, and the illustrator. Writes Gillingwators, "When I first read B. H. Fairchild’s poetry collection The Art of the Lathe, I knew I wanted to publish the opening poem “Beauty” as a letterpress limited edition book. The poem has book characteristics–narrative structure and four, chapter-like divisions–and its visceral, lyrical appeal motivated me." Fairchild's poetry has been widely published and he has been the recipient of numerous awards. The Art of the Lathe was described in the LA Times as "a contemporary classic...finely crafted and perfectly pitched." The book artist continues: "I knew from the initial reading that my book edition would have metal covers, reminiscent of the corrugated-metal buildings that often house machine shops [where the poem takes place]. The making of the book took three years as the book artist and illlustrator learned how to make the tiny metal hinges for the book and how to age the thin aluminum used for the book covers. Each step required research, test trials, and practice. Printed with Centaur and Arrighi monotype on Zerkall Book paper, with linocuts by Alquitela. Housed in a grey clamshell box with title and author in red to spine. In fine condition. 7 x 11". Unpaginated. [11 pages] PRI/031715. Fine. More

Easthampton MA: Cheloniidae Press, 2014. Hardcover. Number 15 of 150 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist Alan James Robinson. This wildflower alphabet book is the first book issued by Alan’s highly regarded Cheloniidae Press in several years, and the first produced using the Giclee printing process, which he calls a “new direction” in our ever changing world. It is intended to be the first in a series of Natural History Abecedary Editions. There is also a Fine Art edition of Wildflowers with twenty-eight original watercolors. The illustrations for this Giclee edition are printed from the artwork created for the Fine Art watercolor edition. The illustrations in this edition show the lovely renditions of a flower, often accompanied by a butterfly or other insect, for each letter of the alphabet. Each page is headed by a calligraphic letter in red, designed originally by Master Calligrapher Suzanne Moore for the press’s A Fowl Alphabet in 1986. This accordion style book is bound in pale yellow cloth with the title in gilt to the front cover. It is housed in a green cloth slipcase with the title in gilt to the spine. In fine condition. 8.5 x 5 inches. Unpaginated. PRI/071817. Fine. More

Maureen Cummins, 2018. Number 17 of 35 copies signed and numbered by the book artist, Maureen Cummins. Secretary deconstructs the life and death-by-suicide of the artist's mother, Dolores Cummins, a brilliant woman, aspiring artist, and housewife for twenty-five years. It is this story that inspired Cummins's later book Crazy Quilt, as well as all the subsequent work that she created around marginalized populations. This book is the first of several around this common theme that Maureen has become well-known for. Secretary is made even more powerful by the structure and composition. It was letterpress printed on sheets of Asian lined paper resembling a steno pad, with titling redacted by hand in graphite. The type used appears to have been typed on an old typewriter. Each section of the book is preceded by a ghostly photographic image of Cummins's mother from that period of her life, reprinted from originals in the artist's possession. The text pages are bound in the style of a stenographer's notepad. It is housed in a stiff grey paper folder. Maureen Cummins is a noted creator of artists' books. Her work is held in over one hundred permanent public collections internationally and has been included in exhibitions at the American Craft Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Rotunda Gallery (amongst others). She has received over a dozen grants and awards and has been an artist-in-residence at numerous venues, including the American Antiquarian Society and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. In fine condition. Measures 8.75 x 14.5 inches. ARTB/100119. More

Santa Cruz: Foolscap Press, 2010. Hardcover. Number 19 of 200 copies of which 140 were offered for sale. Signed by each author. "As a journalist Ernest Hemingway was trained to cut to the story's essentials, leaving out those words that stand between the writer and his intent. And so we have a Hemingway principle of good writing—the well-hewn sentence. It is said that Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write the shortest of short stories: the ultimate example of brevity in storytelling. Though perhaps apocryphal—no one can tell us who challenged him or on what occasion—this was the result: “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” Writers have attempted to equal this six-word short story with six of their own, but no one has clearly beaten the master. Those six words are just too good. Foolscap Press commissioned six writers each to write a six-page story where only the title was supplied. The writers were free to do whatever they chose within those parameters. We invited three women and three men in order to balance personal experiences and writing styles. The response is these six extraordinary stories stocked with a captivating cast of characters. And, yes, there is a distinction between the men and women writers. And what happens when it comes to dealing with an unmitigated loss (as the title might suggest)? You can read for yourself these six creations spun from six very different imaginative worlds, all in response to those six tantalizing words" (Foolscap Press). A large book bound in light blue Japanese cloth with paper title label on front cover. The book is sewn in an modified accordion structure designed so that each story is presented individually. Each story has its own title page which has been signed by the author. Each title page features a different collaged print of a pair of shoes by Peggy Gotthold on Kitakata paper. Letterpress printed on Frankfurt Cream text paper using hand-set Garamond type. Unpaginated. [60 pages.] PRI/031011. Fine. More

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2014. Hardcover. Number 9 of 100 copies. Signed by the author. This book was inspired by a call for entries by the Guild of Book Workers with the theme of "vessel." Karen describes the text of her response as 60% memory and 40% casually researched, mostly on Wikipedia. Karen's book focuses on the iconic containers and conveyances of her childhood and adolescence between roughly 1962-1979. She juxtapositions her text with photographs of such "vessels" as the Chevy Nova, Crock-Pot, Electric Frying Pan, Mood Ring, Frye Boots, the 747, and more. Her words are often amusing, but they also offer astute observations on her family and our society during the period covered. This is the deluxe edition with marbled paper covers by Pamela Smith. Digitally printed and housed in a purple paper covered slip case. Digitally printed. In fine condition. 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [26 pages] PRI/121415. Fine. More

Baltimore: Hill Press, 2014. Number 32 of 60 copies. This handsome book combines Heaver's interest in two subjects and their confluence: Dutch-Inspired type faces and English prayer books. He states in his preface that this fascination had its foundation in years of typographic contemplation and that his HIll Press, founded in 1987, was an early manifestation. In this book, Heaver and his contributors explore the early Dutch types and typographers and how the use of their types spread to other countries. The Book of Common Prayer was chosen for detailed examination because of its beauty and the need to narrow the scope of the analysis. Bound in red cloth with white titling on spine and cover labels. Printed on Twinrocker paper with Fry Baskerville type. With many illustrations and tipped in items throughout. Title page illustration by Chris Manson. In fine condition. Measures 7.25 x10 inches. 65 pages. PRI/021221. More

Rochester NY: Leopard, Sue Huggins, 2005. Leopard, Sue Huggins. Hardcover. 8vo. 3 of 10 copies. SIGNED BY ARTIST. Lovely work by this noted printmaker and book artist. Fine in beige cloth boards with title label on front and long beige ribbon ties. Six accordion style fold out pages reproduce stunning color prints by Huggins, each with a water theme. Unpaginated. PRI/051107. Fine. More

New York: Purgatory Pie Press, 1997. Paperback. Number 127 of 250 copies. Signed by the designer (Esther K Smith), printer (Dikko Faust), and paper marbler (Lauren Rowland). According to the designer, this project was inspired by 'those folded religious pamphlets.' Each of the five artists has created and signed his or her card or the box. Each card has a different theme ranging from sexual experience to a subway mosaic. All are housed in a marbled paper covered card stock box with silver title to front panel. PRI/010213. Fine. More

Chicago: Sherwin Beach Press, 1992. Howard Coale. Hardcover. Number 55 of 200 copies. Originally published in The New Yorker in 1980. George Trow was a writer and critic for The New Yorker for more than thirty years. This essay may be his most acclaimed and influential single work. It is about television and its effects on American culture, but more than that, an indictment of the emptiness of modern discourse. It has been described as a work in which Trow foretold his own descent into madness. This is a handsomely designed book with elegant printing and four interpretive illustrations. Bound in black cloth with grey design with a hat on the cover and paper spine label. Printed in Centaur and Arrighi types on Johannot paper. Designed by Robert McCamant, handset and printed by Jennifer Hughes, and bound by Trisha Hammer. Signed by McCamant. In fine condition. 110 pages. PRI/071615. Fine. More

Bennington, VT: The Bird Press, 2016. Number 6 of 38 copies, signed and numbered by the artist and translator. A collaboration between the illustrator / book artist and translator. This is a new translation of the prologue and first part of Mayakovsky's first long poem, originally published in 1915. The Russian modernist poet and cultural icon Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893 - 1930) committed suicide in Moscow 15 years after publishing this piece. According to the translator: "Thorsten Dennerline's twisting artworks suspended against a blue-sky backdrop seemed fitting for the existential crisis in this poem. Mayakovsky writes in verbal cartwheels and associative flights of language, allowing wordplay, sonic riffs, and rhyme to drive his rhetoric and imagery. I sought to preserve both each line's intended meaning and Mayakovsky's rhythm and music. I also attempted to make the poem's diction smooth, accessible, and idiomatically modern to a 21st century American ear." Fascinated with the intensity of Mayakovsky's work and life as well as the historical happenings that influenced him, Thorsten decided to illustrate his work with "monsters." As the drawings developed with layers of ink and detail he "began seeing [them] as bodies, less as monsters and more as physical, mortal, vulnerable beings." Bound in yellow paper wrappers with black title to front cover and binding sewn with red thread along spine. Printed with lithography and letterpress at the Working Dog Press and Horton Tank Graphics. The plate lithographs were printed in sixteen layers of ink. Housed in a grey handmade paper wrapper featuring one of Thorsten's illustrations snaking around the front and rear panels along with another on the inside flap. Thorsten Dennerline creates paintings, drawings, and prints in addition to artists' books. He has exhibited work across the U.S. as well as in Chile and Denmark; and his work is represented in numerous collections including Yale University Library, the Library of Congress, UCLA, Stanford University, and the Kunstindustri Musset (Denmark). Size: 8.5 x 7 inches. ARTB/120120. Fine. More

England: The Whittington Press, 2004. Hardcover. The Whittington Press was founded in 1971 by John and Rosalind Randle to print and publish books by letterpress.  Since its beginnings, they have printed some 200 books, included the renowned Matrix, an annual review for printers and bibliophiles.  The Press has received numerous awards for its printing and publishing, most recently in 2009 from the American Printing History Association.  1 of 800 copies. This annual from the Whittington Press is perhaps the foremost publication covering the book arts and private presses of both past and present. The 2004 volume includes essays by such well known book people as Roderick Cave, Jerry Kelly, John Randle, and Ann Whipple. There are many illustrations and tipped-in examples of typography, samples of the work of various presses, and the like. In fine condition in pink dust jacket with title in green to cover along with contents titles. Bound in light brown stiff paper boards with a wood engraving on the front by Ethlebert White. 170 pages. BOB/111810. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. More

Washington DC: Librix Continuum; David Bruce Smith Publications, 2004. Hardcover. Limited to 750 copies, unnumbered as issued. Elephant Folio. This exquisite book was undertaken in celebration of the Shakespeare Theatre’s production of “Five by Tenn,” five one-act plays by Tennessee Williams and “Tennessee Williams Explored” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. The director of “Five by Tenn,” Michael Kahn, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, has written the preface, and there is an introduction by the creator of this publication, David Bruce Smith. Hand bound into three volumes all housed in a box. Includes six full-page illustrations of “Tennessee’s Women” by Clarice Smith. Each of the three volumes features a color frontispiece by Smith and the additional three illustrations are loose. The artist signed each of the loose illustrations, and they fit neatly into a compartment within the box with a snap closure. All volumes and the box are bound in carbon colored faux suede and feature the title labels on the front covers. Handset and letterpress printed in Italy in four colors by Paolo Barbieri. Book design and binding by John Paul Greenawalt and Stephen L. Vanilio. In fine condition. Fine. More