In the mid-20th century, the advancement and proliferation of new technologies democratized the art of the book, and of printmaking in general, to such a degree that, as many artists adopted innovative processes of Xerox, risograph, and silkscreen, so too did many rediscover letterpress. Print was chic, print was groovy, print spread the word of protest and opposed the systems and strictures of its traditional predecessors. Alongside the overt political statements of poster-makers and underground newsletter printers were the aesthetic forces of conceptual and serial artists, and it was a natural result that the birth and growth of artists’ books and private press publications boomed with the help of Kim Merker, Walter Hamady, Morris Cox, and so many others.

In the present e-catalogue, we celebrate this crucial moment in print history. We hope this list inspires you with the power of print, whether for its nostalgia or its invention, its relevance or its history.

In the introduction to our last Eric Gill list three years ago, we quoted Fiona MacCarthy, who said of Gill’s artistic legacy that “his immediacy lingers.” Three years later, we find ourselves again in a position to consider his bountiful contribution to the evolution of the book arts. Occasioned by the acquisition of a cache of original art—including a finished wood block—we offer a mix of material that covers a wide swath of an artistic career that spanned close to four decades. Beginning with the original artwork for Roger Fry’s 1910 Christmas card and bookended by his detailed drawing for the crucifix for the Blundell School chapel, which Gill executed in 1938—just two years before his death—this group presents a representative overview of Gill as calligrapher, sculptor, engraver, illustrator, and author.

Now that we have turned the calendar page to a shiny new year, we thought it a fitting occasion to present our first list for 2023, which we have filled with shiny new acquisitions. We therefore offer for your consideration twenty-five recent arrivals in the area of American and English fine printing.

Over the duration of our exhibit, “Word for Word: Four Artists in Conversation,” we have reflected on the look of language, on the parallels between the ways we see and the ways we speak and write. What is for us a source of wonder has been the central question for our current artists—Sarah Hulsey, Thomas Ingmire, Marianne Perlak, and Margaret Shepherd—and the primary pursuit of typographers and calligraphers who seek to reveal a text’s meaning by way of its own letters. With this in mind, we here offer highlights from “Word for Word” and from our own collection, setting out a landscape of letterforms rich in creativity and interpretation.