Washington DC: Abstract Orange Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 11 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Lauren Emeritz is a book artist, letterpress printer and graphic artist 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 boldly designed book is one of a series of books that Lauren has done using her handmade wooden type to explore letters, numbers, and shapes. In this accordion style book she has printed her hand carved wood numbers from 1 to 0 in various bright colors either on a single page or on a fold-out page. Bound in dark blue cloth with title in orange on front cover and spine. In fine condition. Measures 5.25 x 7 inches. In a protective stiff plastic case. ARTISTSB/082018. Fine. More

Mission, BC: Barbarian Press, 2019. Hardcover. An edition of 130, of which this is one of 50 copies in the regular edition. According to the printer: "Our fascination with [Wagener's] work is a response to the meticulous attention to detail which imbues all his engravings, combined with a ‘democracy of aesthetic’ which allows both realism and abstraction equal weight. In a Parenthesis review of Wagener’s early book with Peter Koch, Zebra Noise with a Flatted Seventh, Simon Brett said ‘No one else I know of is making such avant-garde grand opera in wood-engraved prints.’" Richard Wagener (1944 - ) is a Californian wood engraver known best for his depictions of nature and animals, often juxtaposed against abstract imagery. A specially commissioned frontispiece, new press device, and patterned papers have been created for this edition. Folio. Bound black and red checkered patterned paper with black cloth spine and red and white title label pasted down to spine. Includes over 100 engravings printed from the original wood plates on Zerkall White Smooth paper. Unpaginated. PRI/122719. Fine. More

Riverside, CA: Bo Press Miniature Books, 2020. Hardcover. Number 15 of 24 copies. Signed and numbered by Pat Sweet. She writes: “The English Toy Theatre” is the first book devoted to this charming souvenir of the Victorian stage since George Speaight’s “A History of the English Toy Theatre” in 1946. With texts by artist and toy theatre enthusiast Tom Knechtel and illustrations drawn from Knechtel’s extensive collection of toy theatre sheets, it is a beautifully detailed portrait of the 19th century English stage as seen through the lens of a children’s pastime.The book is, in itself, a theatrical performance, as it moves from surprise to surprise, from tableau to spectacle. It is the most ambitious book in Bo Press’s history of creating books that entertain us while challenging our preconceptions of what the book is. The three-volume set is in a limited edition of 24, with the first volume (the one with the history) produced as an unlimited edition The book consists of three volumes in a black moire silk-covered slipcase, each volume bound in the Union Jack with black moire silk spines. The first volume consists of a history of the toy theatre and its publishers, a short memoir by Knechtel of how he fell in love with the theatre, and a fragment from a toy theatre play. There are numerous black and white illustrations with colored endpapers drawn from the theatre. The second volume is an elaborate set of black and white pop-up scenes from toy theatre plays, which culminates in an anarchic recreation of one of the surreal pantomimes that are such a feature of toy theatre plays. The third volume is a portfolio which, when opened, reveals a complete toy theatre in glorious color. The theatre includes a curtain which can be raised and a trick in the pantomime taking place on stage. (The proscenium was painted by Knechtel and includes an orchestra of cats.) Below the stage is a small pocket containing a tiny book , “The Toy Theatre in Performance,” which describes how the theatre actually worked." The books are 2 7/8 x 2 1/8 inches. The slipcase is 3 3/8 x 2 5/8 x 2 1/8." In fine condition. PRI/060121. Fine. More

Ogdensburg, New York: Caliban Press, 2020. Softcover. Number 10 of 100 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Mark writes of his new book: "As it thankfully draws to a close, 2020 has been a year of counting. Counting days, counting votes counting covid cases, counting hospital beds, counting death, counting lost jobs...so a book of numbers doesn't seem as strange as it did back in January or even back in 2009 when I first began it. Initially conceived as a way to document a growing collection of wood type which eventually filled some 53 cases with some 75 fonts. Then realizing that there was too much type...for a single volume showing alphabets, figures, punctuation marks, as well as whole words. I decided to devote the first volume to figures - what printers generally call numerals or numbers. Volume 2 is planned to be complete alphabets, with volume 3 for words, phrases, and declarations....Printed on found, left over, and scrap papers that have accumulated at the press over time. In some instances, a lot of time." Includes papers from many countries and everyone's favorite papermill, Papeterie St. Armand in Montreal. Printed with black, silver, and red inks. As always with Mark's books a lovely volvelle is incorporated. In a red spiral binding measuring 9 x 11 inches. The book is accompanied by an inserted guide to volume 1 that describes aspects of type in general as well as more specific descriptions of wood type faces such as gothics, antiques, romans, etc. A beautifully done whimsical yet serious work on type and life. In fine condition. PRI/011821. Fine. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2018. Hardcover. Number 20 of 42 copies signed by the printer, illustrator, and the author of the introduction. The illustrator writes: "This edition in your hand is one of three interations of The Hunting of the Snark published by Cheshire Cat Press, all of them very different in concept while sharing the same aesthetic, inflecting the narrative in different ways without in the least altering Lewis Carroll's original text." The Cheshire Press was formed by book designer and printer George Walker in 1991. The press began when he and two colleagues produced new editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. For this edition of Snark, Malcolm created new illustrations inspired by contemporary carte-de-visit photographs that were so popular in Victorian England. He has one for each character in the poem, adapting images from actual photographs. He chose images that to him bring to life the imagined crew men on the hunt for the snark. They are ideal depictions for this fantastical nonsense poem by Carroll, written when he was forty-four years old. Bound in dark blue cloth with title in gilt to spine and on cover label. With "The Snark Map" inserted in a sleeve on the front pastedown. Handprinted in New Caledonia type on Velin Rives paper. Housed in a slipcase in the same blue cloth with gilt title on cover. In fine condition. 6.5 x 10 inches. 71 pages. PRI/111519. Fine. More

Berkeley: Flying Fish Press, 2019. Hardcover. Number 23 of 50 copies, signed and numbered by the artist/author. This book was inspired by a series of conversations between Julie Chen and her daughter, Eleanor Chen-Ranstrom about pattern, texture, perception, and learning. Artist's statement: "Wayfinding examines the relationship between physical and mental learning through the context of navigation through time and space. The piece focuses the reader’s experience on the physicality of the book as object with the inclusion of three-dimensional cast paper panels and pages that rattle when turned, all housed in a series of shallow boxes that are hinged together in layers. The inclusion of a three-dimensional alphabet abstracted from diagrams of flag semaphore addresses the activities of signaling, translation and gesture, highlighting how information is taken in by all the senses and not just through the eyes" Letterpress printed using pressure printing and photopolymer plates on handmade papers from the Morgan Paper Conservatory and Hahnemuhle Bugra. Measures 9 x16 inches byx4 .5 inches when closed, opening to a full width of 41 inches In fine condition. ARTSB/042820. Fine. More

Montgomery Village, MD: Shireen Holman, 2013. Paperback. Number 15 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the artist. This complex and beautiful artist's book explores time from the viewpoints of religion, literature, science, and philosophy. The book artist, Shireen Modak Holman, has been a printmaker for more than thirty-five years and a book artist for more than twenty. She was born in India, and her work often involves the interaction of her Indian and American cultures. She states that she is fascinated by time and spent several years reading, sketching, and selecting texts to illustrate the imagery she was creating as she tried to visually express time. She has used texts from the writings of Shakespeare, Tagore, Einstein, Thoreau, Hawking, and others. As the design of the book came together, she created a full-sized colored pencil mock-up. The finished book consists of woodcuts printed onto pulp-painted handmade paper. The text was letterpress printed on gampi paper and then pasted onto the handmade sheets. The pages are folded in such a way that one can see a little of each of the subsequent pages from the current page. Thus from the beginning to the end of the book one can see a little of the future from the present. Each page has semicircular areas cut out so that the calendar at the bottom right of the colophon page is visible at all times. Housed in a cream paper clamshell box with the title "Time" in raised letters affixed vertically to the cover. Linen spine. In fine condition. Accompanied by a softcover book titled "The Making of the Artist Book 'Time.'" Unpaginated. [16 pages]. 13.75 x 19.25 inches. ARTISTS/041916. Fine. More

Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896-97. The Earthly Paradise was a collection of epic and romantic poems by William Morris (1834-1896) that first appeared in 1868-1870 when he was still in his thirties, and established Morris's reputation as an important poet. He planned to do an edition elaborately illustrated by his great friend, the artist Edward Burne-Jones but it was never realized. This Kelmscott Press edition had eight volumes that were issued between July 1896 and September 1897. There were 225 paper copies and 6 copies on vellum. These eight leaves are from volume five and contain pages 49-64 of The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon. They are collected as one signature. The beautiful text pages have two 6-line decorated initials and twenty 4-line initials. Printed on Apple paper in Golden type using red and black inks. This was the first book in which Apple paper was used. Pages measure 6.5 x 9.5 inches. Except for some light browning to page edges the leaves are in near fine condition. An excellent example of the typography and printing of the Kelmscott Press and a wonderful addition to a teaching collection. PRI/070320. Near Fine. More

New York: Russell Maret, 2021. Number 60 of 90 copies of which 87 were numbered and 3 were proofs. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This work comprises three volumes housed in a custom clamshell box. It is a powerful response by one of our most acclaimed contemporary book artists to the alarming state of the country and the fractured state of political discourse in America. Maret writes in his colophon: "This book was designed and printed between November 2020 and February 2021. During that time Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the presidential election by a margin of 74 electoral votes and more than 7 million popular votes. Rather than concede defeat, Trump has continued to promote the baseless claim that the election was rigged by the Democratic party and its "deep-state" operatives. At a rally on January 6, 2021, Trump incited a violent insurrection of the United States Capitol building, an action that is clearly described in the Constitution as treasonous (Article III, Section 3). Despite this, the mob that carried out Trump's failed coup attempt overwhelmingly identified as people willing to die or, more likely, kill to defend the Constitution.....Three Constitutions is my response to these events and the culture that bred them. It is well known that Trump does not read, but the glaring disconnect between basic constitutional principles and the actions of Trump's followers raises the question of whether these self-described patriots have read any part of the constitution besides the second amendment. Three Constitutions is my response to these events and the culture that bred them. The large volume contains the full text of the Constitution and its amendments. It is set in a typeface that, though difficult to read, is legible once one becomes accustomed to its forms. The texts of the two smaller volumes were arrived at via the two most prevalent modes of constitutional interpretation: algorithmic skewing and selective redaction. The text of the volume titled Constitution. United States. was arrived by feeding the text of the Constitution through Google Translate,going from English to Esperanto to Russian to Chinese and back to English. The other small volume was set in metal type and subsequently redacted by physically turning key words and phrases over and printing the underside of the type. The resulting text is not the hopeful re-write I would conceive; it is intended to reflect the cynical, ineffectual state of political discourse in the United States." All of the typefaces were designed by Russell Maret. Printed on Zerkall and Twinrocker Handmade papers. The large volume is 10 x 14.25 inches and held in a clear acrylic box. The two smaller volumes measure 7 x 10 inches and have black cloth covers with white titling to front cover. All three are housed in large clamshell box covered in gray cloth. It measures 16 x 11.25 x 2.75 inches. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. Fine. More

Middletown, CT: Robin Price, Publisher, 2007. Hardcover. Number 49 of 86 copies. Robin Price has designed, printed, and published books for over twenty-five years. Her works can be found in university and public library collections throughout North America and Europe. This book is particularly personal, as well as complex and mysterious. Ms. Price says that “Text excerpts from 86 books significant to me - mostly other artist’s books - were gathered using formulas based on the number 43, which was my age at the genesis of the project.” In her announcement for this book, she says that simple formulas, using modular arithmetic with the number 43, were applied to categories such as page number, paragraph, sentence, line of poetry, etc. The text is grouped by subject matter into sixteen page spreads. Titles of spreads include “Water,” “Counting,” and “Flora.” Paper maps from locations along the 43rd parallels are bound in an accordion that structurally supports the main text, which is printed on graph paper and also hinged together as an accordion. A Legend Card and supplemental Annotated Bibliography are included. The unusual double-layer accordion is housed in an olive green cloth covered clamshell box with a river section printed in blue, and a map-paper spine label. The book was co-designed and co-produced with Daniel E. Kelm at the Wide Awake Garage. The typefaces are handset ATF Garamond and Kabel. Six colors are printed letterpress. All additional printing within the structure is also letterpress, except for the laser-printed text sheets of the 32-page bibliography. 11.75 x 8 x 1.5 inches, opens to 20 feet wide; 32 pages with supplemental 32 page booklet. ARTISTSBOOKS/012011. Fine. More

[Seattle]: Sea Pen Press, 1988. Hardcover. Number 97 of 100 copies. Signed by the author. Thomas Brush is an award winning Seattle poet who has written several books and for several distinguished journals. He tended bar for four years at a Seattle racetrack several years ago and found it an enchanted place that values possibilities and dreams. This influence is evident in the poems included in Even Money. This interesting production from the Sea Pen Press has a blue handmade light-and-shade watermarked paper covers that are sewn in a non-adhesive concertina fashion to the text. The orange and brown decorated endpapers were created by Neal Bonham of the press using colored paper pulps in a decorative technique that he developed. There are five linoleum cut illustrations by Suzanne Ferris that "capture the linear poetry of the thoroughbred world" (prospectus). The book also has images of racetrack betting tickets decorating the title page and colophon that were created by transferring Xerox images to linoleum. The text is printed in Monotype Janson and the title page is printed with Weiss Initial Series 2. The book is housed in a coarse tan linen covered clamshell box with blue borders and ticket images on the front cover. Both the book's binding and the case were designed and constructed by Judith L. Johnson. In fine condition. Book is 9 x 11.5 inches. Case measures 10.25 x 13 inches. Unpaginated [21 pages]. PRI/090717. Fine. More

Chicago: Sherwin Beach Press, 2011. Hardcover. Number 65 of 75 copies. Signed by author. Morris Fuller Benton was the most prolific type designer of the hot metal era, but unlike Frederic Goudy, Bruce Rogers, or William Dwiggins--whose ideas about type design are well documented -- Benton wrote nothing about his own work, nor was it the subject of analysis by others. Benton (1872-1948) headed the design department of American Type Founders for over forty years and designed hundreds of typefaces. Juliet Shen has made a meticulous study of his work, including a new enumeration of designs appropriately attributed to him. She gained access to papers from the ATF library, now housed at Columbia University. Shen places Benton in the context of American life at the turn of the 20th Century, when branding, advertising, and marketing were first becoming major factors in the economy. She compares his typefaces to similar ones from the same period, discovering the elements which he found important. There are dozens of reproductions of typographic specimens from Europe and North America. As Roger Black says in the introduction, "Benton's lean, driving, consistent style took over American printing in the pre-war era, and remains the bedrock of American typography." The book is designed by Robert McCamant, set in Cloister Oldstyle cast by the Dale Guild Type Foundry from ATF matrices and typeset by Art Larson and Rose Wisotzky at Horton Tank Graphics. It is printed on Mohawk Superfine, with letterpress by Michael Russem of Kat Ran Press, and offset illustrations and captions by Capitol Offset. Trisha Hammer designed and executed the black cloth binding with red stitching to open spine. In fine condition. 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches. 58 pages. PRI/072915. Fine. More

Chicago: Starshaped Press, 2020. One of 40 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. This splendid production from Jennifer Farrell's Starshaped Press celebrates her love for Chicago and showcases the impressive type and ornament collection that she has gathered and uses for her work. For this production she created ten multi-colored prints, or ELEVATIONS, that cover the themes of printing, women, labor, music, neighborhoods, architecture, motherhood and perseverance. Each tells a story in image and anecdote while featuring a grouping of typefaces based on her approach to the subject. Ten CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS designed to resemble traditional architectural bluelines explain and document the text and typography of the prints. Each set is held in an archival folder and housed in a clamshell box. She writes: "Since 1999, Starshaped Press has stayed true to the original craft of letterpress, disregarding the naysayers that claim antique metal & wood type is too limiting for quality design. With solid presswork and hard working midwestern gumption, I like to buck popular trends by showcasing the beauty and relevance of well-designed, historic type. Unlike most letterpress shops, Starshaped focuses on reusing existing materials (some over 150 years old) for all projects, meaning no plastic is ever used in production. The substantial metal type collection at Starshaped Press is constantly growing and evolving alongside my life experiences that are deeply rooted in Chicago. The urban environment is the backdrop for this typographic memoir that showcases the studio’s type collection and serves as a pictorial representation of the first 25 years of my life in the city." Printed on Mohawk Superfine Cover paper. The clamshell box is covered with red cloth with a pictorial title label affixed to the cover. Fine condition. Prints measure 11 x 17 inches. Box is 11.75 x 18 inches. ARTISTSB/061920. Fine. More