N.B. The Oxford Guild of Printers' Fine Press Book Fair takes place at Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, England, on Saturday, August 30. Private presses, Booksellers, demonstrations, trade stands. Admission: £1.
Books in Sheets
Josephine the Singer, a short story by Franz Kafka, published by Press Intermezzo, Austin, TX, 1997. 21 cm x 15 cm, 0.5 cm thick, approx. 40 pp. Printed letterpress on Hahnemuhle Schiller mouldmade paper. Contains one illus. and two-color t.p. (2nd color bright red). $34 for sheets; postage No. Amer. $2; Europe $4.50; price elsewhere on request. Payment by check in US dollars drawn on a US bank. (International money order should do.) Available in bound copies as well. To order, contact: Randolph Bertin, 2612 W. 49th St., Austin, TX 78731, 512 459-9964; e-mail: rbertin@mail.utexas.edu
Books
Porch Swing, Poem by Alison Swan. Bloodroot Press, Ann Arbor. 1997. 4 I" wide x 10 G" high, ed. limited to 8. $175.00. Hand set in Garamond and Goudy Open type and printed on a Vandercook Universal I at the Digger Pine Press in Berkeley, CA. Photography, printing and concertina binding by Jean Buescher. North Carolina porch images are color Xeroxes of infrared silver prints. Assorted handmade earth tone cover, concertina, and end sheet papers are from The Conservatory in Ann Arbor, MI. Also available as an illustrated broadside signed by the poet. 7" wide x 16" high. Ed. of 30. $75.00
From Peter & Donna Thomas, 260 Fifteenth Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062; ph: 408-475-1455.
The View from Mt. Dana by John Muir, a miniature book letterpress printed from linoleum blocks cut by Donna Thomas, on paper hand made by Peter Thomas. Cover paper hand painted, "stick structure" binding. 2 L" x 2", 10 accordion pages. 3 special leather onlay bindings with silver foil stamping on text; $242.97. Regular copies, $42. Send check payable to Peter & Donna Thomas. Add $3 p&h, Ca. residents add 8% sales tax.
Forty, a miniature book letterpress printed on handmade paper. Each page has at least 15 press runs with various representations of the number 40 printed in different colors of ink. Full paper case "stick structure" binding. 2 H" x 2", 6 pp. 40 copies. $75 + $3 p&h; 8% tax in Calif.
Sacred Harp, by Keith Willard. Miniature designed and produced by Pat Baldwin, Pequeno Press, Bisbee, AZ. 43 pp., 2 G" x I". Printed in Baskerville type on Neenah Classic Crest paper, bound in paper over boards at Waterleaf Mill & Bindery. Signed and numbered edition of 55. $75 + $2 p&h. Pequeno Press, PO Box 1711, Bisbee, AZ 85603, 520-432-5924, fax: 520-432-3065; e-mail: patbooks@primenet.com
From Oak Knoll Books, 414 Delaware St., New Castle, DE 19720, ph: 302 328-7232; fax:328-7274, 1-800-996-2556; oakknoll@oakknoll.com; www.oakknoll.com
The Carl H. Pforzheimer Library, English Literature, 1475-1700. Three volumes, hardcover, over 150 illus., 1350 pp, 1997. $350.00 + shipping. Order # 46580-r-1, ISBN 1-884718-33-7.
Studies in British Paper History: The Oxford Papers edited by Peter Bowers. The first volume in the new series, Studies in British Paper History, published by the British Association of Paper Historians (BAPH). The essays contained were presented at their Fourth Annual Conference. Paperback, illus., 108 pp., 1996. Price: $29.95 + s&h. Order # 46562-p2, ISBN 0-9525757-0-1
Printing on the Iron Handpress by Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, 1997. Hardcover, illus., 496 pp., $75 + s&h, order #48848-Z. Paperback, $49.95 + s&h., order #48849-Z.
Harry Duncan says in the Foreword, "Anyone who stays the course and follows to the end the directives given here can count on acquiring a consummate, tried and true method for handling an instrument that has never been surpassed, that still calls for a printer's full participation, physical as well as mental, in order to achieve the best work of which he is capable." Rummonds lays out this manual by covering all the materials involved and step-by-step, various different ways to achieve the same result to make a distinct, substantial and evenly inked impression on damp paper. Realizing that there is more than one way to print, the author concentrates on methods that can be repeated with a reasonable amount of success and dependability as well as serving as a point of departure for experimentation. The work contains over 400 illustrations and technical diagrams meticulously drawn by George Laws and over 35 photographs of famous, well-known, historical and contemporary fine printers at their presses. End materials include an extensive glossary, bibliography, and a list of suppliers.
From Ur to Uncle Remus: 5000 years of Animal Fable Illustrations by Clay Lancaster, 1997, published by the University of Kentucky Libraries. 130 pp., 33 illus (5 in color), edition of 1000 numbered copies. $35 each + $4.50 per order s&h. Orders to: Administrative Services Dept., University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, KY 40506-0039.
The Skunk Story, by John James Audubon. A new miniature book published by Kitemaug Press, this account of Audubon's boyhood encounter with a skunk was excerpted from Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1846) which Audubon wrote in collaboration with John Bachman, a Lutheran minister of Charleston, S.C. 2 1/4" h x 2 7/8" w, edition of 50. $30, postpaid. Available from Frank J. Anderson, Prop., Kitemaug Press, 229 Mohawk Dr., Spartanburg, SC 29301, 864-576-3338.
Books for Reading Pleasure
Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World, by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. 215 pp., A Thomas Dunne Book/St. Martin's Press. $22.95. The account of two people's journey into the world of book collecting. Reviewed in the New York Times, Monday, May 26, 1997.
The Club Dumas, by Arturo PÈrez-Reverte, 1995. Trans. 1996 by Sonia Soto, Harcourt Brace & Co., NY. 362 pp., illus. hardback, $23. A mystery novel with a complicated plot set in the world of international rare book collecting.
Exhibition Catalogues
Liures et reliures, the fully illustrated catalogue of Sun Evrard's solo exhibition shown in Paris in 1995, has been reprinted and is available in their bookshop and by mail from the Librairie de la BibliothËque historique de la Ville de Paris, 22 rue Mahler, 75004 Paris, France. Price at the bookshop: 120 FF, by mail 140 FF (postage included).
Reliures a Structure Croisee, catalogue and bookbinding manual of the International exhibition of Crossed Structure Binding, in French/English, is available by mail from the Librairie de la BibliothËque historique de la Ville de Paris (address above) or Librairie Blaizot, 164 rue du Fg St. Honore, 75008 Paris, France. Price (postage incl.) 225 FF for EEC, 270 FF for other countries.
Preservation Brochures
AIC has three new brochures based on the brochure, Caring for Special Objects. They are: Caring for Your Paintings, Caring for Architecture, and Caring for Works of Art on Paper. The latter was written by Mary Todd Glaser, NEDCC, with assistance from Betsy Palmer Eldridge, Margaret Holben Ellis, and Karen Tidwell. It discusses preservation measures that will prolong the life of works of art on paper. Reading list included. Brochures are free, from: AIC, 1717k St., NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20006. 201-452-9545; fax: 202 452-9328, email: Infoaic@aol.com
Also from AIC: 1997 AIC ABSTRACTS, 143 pp.; $10/members, $15/nonmember (+ $3 p&h)
NEDCC has Care of Photographs: Preservation leaflet in Spanish. Available at no charge. Send 55¢ SASE to Gay Tracy, Northeast Document Conservation Center, 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810-1494.