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.
(Northampton, MA): Apiary Press, 1961. 16mo. (10)ff. One of fifty copies, signed by the artist. Eight etched portraits of Hemingway, all in different sizes and some in color. Heimburg's hand reflects, as do many such acolytes, the instruction and style of her mentor, Leonard Baskin. As preface to the portraits..... More
(Thetford, VT): Cricket Press, 1965. Quarto. (12)ff. One of twenty-two copies. Subtitled "The First Miracle, John 2," the book tells the story of the Wedding at Cana. The text is printed in red, and faces the tipped-in illustrations. Heavily influenced by Leonard Baskin's early work, there are nine exquisitely fine..... More
Boston: Impressions Workshop Inc./Cricket Press, 1965. Square quarto. (16)ff. One of 150 copies, signed on the colophon page by the poet, Bernard Bockes, and the illustrator, George Lockwood. Illustrated with fifteen fanciful woodcuts by Lockwood depicting insects, bats, dragons, and mythical beasts. Some are monochromatic prints, but others incorporate many..... More
(Thetford: Cricket Press, 1967). Quarto. (6)ff. One of forty-two copies, conceived, illustrated, and executed by Gillian Tyler. A short narrative poem printed on pale green paper, and illustrated with a single wood engraving in the style of Leonard Baskin, who was Tyler's teacher at Smith College. Internally fine, bound in..... More
Alford, MA: 1962. Small quarto. 28ff. One of forty copies. Etched title page and twenty-six fine etchings by Fink, ranging thematically from portraits to botany to insects. Many of Fink's etchings have a decidedly Baskinesque aesthetic, but Fink's circle centered primarily in New York, where he was friendly with Jack..... More
Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1963. Elephant folio. (24)pp. One of 150 copies, signed by the illustrator, Rico Lebrun, and by the engraver, Leonard Baskin, below the colophon and on the prints. Lebrun's illustrations evoke the raw emotion and bare-bones humanity and animality of Melville's tale. Pages held loose in unbound..... More
Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1970. Small octavo. (28)pp. One of fifty copies, signed by the artist, Leonard Baskin. Illustrated with a frontispiece etched portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by Baskin and four additional etchings that accompany Tennyson's poem. The title is cut in wood and printed in red from the..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, (1965-66). Four small octavo volumes, each (26)pp. One of 100 copies printed on Hosho paper, signed by the artist/printer Morris Cox. Each volume contains a colorful panorama of nature printed from heavily textured blocks, which give the offset prints an embossed effect. The changing seasons appear in..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, 1967. Small octavo. (28)pp., frenchfold. From an edition of 100 copies, this is one of 40 bound in Hana-asa paper, reserved for members of The Society of Private Printers. Signed by Cox and printed on Japanese handmade paper. Fourteen spare three-line poems, illustrated with three offset prints..... More
(London): Gogmagog Press, 1968. Octavo. (43)pp., frenchfold. One of twenty-six copies printed and signed by Morris Cox. Contains thirty-four "nature prints," actually made with plastic and gesso, with results resembling the vein patterns of leaves, which Chambers refers to as "a notable modern exploration of nature-printing." The title is printed..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, 1978. Quarto. (13)pp., + (24)ff. plates. From an edition of 75 copies signed by the author and the artist/printer, this is one of thirty copies with a signed original drawing as a frontispiece. The plates are reproductions in intaglio plates of images drawn by Cox with his..... More
1971. Four original illustrations capturing scenes of protest. Two focus on the central figure of a young Black man, one who is raising his fist in a timeless and insistent gesture of power and belief, and the other who is pointing with a posture that suggests purpose and urgency. Another..... More
(Houston, TX: ImpPress, 1965). Small octavo. (12)ff. One of 150 copies, signed by the artist and printer, Dugald Stermer. A quirky type specimen book printed on various colors of paper, in many colors of ink. With full-page illustrations, including a cartoonish frontispiece of a man with a printing press in..... More
(Philadelphia): Philadelpia College of Art, 1972. Quarto. (18)pp. One of eleven copies. Inscribed by the artist, Susan Kronfeld, to Stuart Schimmel, who served on the Grolier Club council and whose personal collections and public curatorial positions allowed him to continually present exhibits to the New York community. Kronfeld's eight color..... More
Prague, Czechoslovakia and Vestal, NY: Robert Marx and Ivan Ruzicka, 1966. Octavo. (28)ff. One of twenty-five copies, signed by the artist, Robert Marx, and the translator and binder, Ivan Ruzicka, below the colophon, and initialled by Marx on the title page. Marx’s etched portraits of old women, all numbered and..... More
East Barnard, VT: Hand and Spoon / Diane Meaker, 1971. Oblong 48mo. (9)ff. One of twelve copies. Inscribed by the artist at the front flyleaf, "for Georgia with love/from Diane". Meaker's four glossy prints pair color spectrums and repeated images of stars, flowers, and menorah-like trees with the lines of..... More
Prague: Státní nakladatelství krásne literatury a umení, 1964. Five illustrations by Zdenek Chotenovský depict a Matisse-like woman in various positions of repose. Her placidity underscores Neruda's twenty love poems, and put into starker light the volume's twenty-first poem, which eulogizes the grief and pain of loving. 76, (4)pp. Bound in..... More
Boston, MA: Nimrod Press, 1962. Elephant folio. (13)pp., + 6ff. plates. One of 550 copies. A massive, multi-colored, visual tour through some of La Fontaine's tales. Nason's woodcuts, which include a portrait of La Fontaine himself, command impressive dimensions while remaining lighthearted and earnest in weight. Bound in wrappers with..... More
(Easthampton, MA): Pennyroyal Press, 1970. Quarto. (33)ff. From an edition of thirty-five copies reserved for distribution by the artist, this is Moser's own, with his bookplate inside the front cover, and with four additional proofs, each titled, signed, and dated in pencil. Contains ten wood engravings by Moser and six..... More
Mount Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1969. Small octavo. 39pp. One of 200 copies. Symbolic frontispiece, which is explained at the colophon. Eiseley's essays, entitled "The Brown Wasps," "Big Eyes and Little Eyes," and "Endure the Night", explore the complications of self-reflection, with semi-fictional digressions evocative of feeling more than fact..... More
Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, (1970). Octavo. (11) ff. One of 183 copies. With an inscription by James Laughlin. A short collection of poems by the poet and legendary founder of New Directions, which published some of the most important writers of the twentieth century, including Ezra Pound, William Carlos..... More
Hamburg: Raamin-Presse, 1976. Quarto. (40)pp. From an edition of 170, this is one of twenty copies with an additional two plates signed and numbered by the printer and illustrator, Roswitha Quadflieg. Translated into German from the original French by Elmar Tophoven, the short story "L'Expulsé" ("The Expelled") first appeared in..... More
(Hamburg): Raamin-Presse, 1977. Quarto. 24pp. From an edition of 120 numbered copies signed by the artist/printer, Roswitha Quadflieg, this is one of forty copies printed in English, and from those forty, this is also one of ten with an extra signed etching. The text is from Adventures in the Skin..... More
(Poiano, Italy: Franco Riva, 1979). Folio. (6)ff. One of 120 copies. Illustrated with a frontispiece etching by Italian artist Ernesto Treccani, with his signature in pencil below. A translation of Dylan Thomas' poem into Italian by Anna Maria Faccini. Part of the "Lectura Dominica" series issued by Franco Riva. Leaves..... More
Iowa City, IA: Seamark Press, 1971. Quarto. (42)pp. One of an unspecified number of copies, though cataloging of other copies state an edition of fifty. Translated and printed by Howard Zimmon in red, ochre, and black. An exacting work of printing, especially so with Neruda's Spanish and Zimmon's English appearing..... More
