Press News: January 2003

By way of introduction ...

The last press news was posted just over a year ago, in December of 2001, and we are both amazed at how the months have flown by, and embarrassed at the length of time which has passed without our giving some account of the press to those of you who are interested in our work. We apologize for the lapse, and will try to keep more up-to-date in future. In mitigation, we should point out that the rest of the website has been kept up, with announcements of some new books, and the removal of outdated information.

One of the tyrannies of the internet is its ability to suck time into a vortex of diminishing returns. It is true, of course, that websites like this provide the opportunity for people to search out things they wish to explore, and it is a godsend for a press like ours to have our books displayed and advertised for anyone who cares to look. An increasing amount of the press’s correspondence and invoicing is conducted by e.mail, and this has certainly speeded things up. However, the “net” has also entangled us in the expectation of high-speed response, and Crispin now spends a marked percentage of every day at the computer rather than in the pressroom.

Most of our correspondents grew up with the more leisurely pace of the post, and are patient when they don’t receive replies right away. This is in marked contrast to a growing tendency among people – even some who contact the press – who have fallen into the e.mail habit and apparently expect to be answered as if one were at their elbows. An e.mail from such a person left longer than a day or two without a response is often followed by a sharp query, as if the writer were standing poised like a cat at a mouse hole, waiting to see what answer there might be. An attendant phenomenon is the development of “netiquette”, a kind of “prole-speak”, under the terms of which those who have never learned to write a proper letter think it fit simply to squawk at one through the cyberpost, without proper salutation or closing, and without the barest niceties of syntax or clarity. Thus one may receive an e.mail like the one which arrived in my inbox recently, which read: “You guys publish books. What ones?” There was no signature, and the only possibility of answering lay in replying to the e.mail address of the sender. I drafted a response, rather than a reply: “Respected Sir or Madam: I understand that it is difficult to compose a proper letter with the forefinger of one hand up one’s nose and the other thumb inserted in one’s bottom. Please do try again. Yours sincerely, A Wellwishing Publisher.” Oddly, there was neither reply, nor response, nor retort, which seemed to me to reveal in my correspondent a nature more impetuous than investigative, and one moreover not given to self-examination.

Founts & Circumstance

Founts & Circumstance finally appeared in 2002 – and disappeared at once. It was first announced in our catalogue of 1998 for 1999, and was then shuffled irresolutely about for a time while other smaller projects were conceived, produced, and published. The reasons for this were chiefly logistical. Having devised the idea, it was necessary for us to determine what shape it should take, and this was in turn dictated by the types we had available for our use rather than by the demands of a text. The texts, in fact, had all to be determined in light of the typefaces, a procedure precisely the reverse of the way a typographical designer generally works. Over the next two or three years various texts were discovered or sought out and matches for them attempted with a number of typefaces. Some texts had to be abandoned because of difficulties with copyright: a particular wrench was the loss of a passage from Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons which we had hoped to use, but which we gave up when it proved impossible to find the representatives of her estate. In the process, Crispin learned a good deal about titling faces, and was faced with some interesting design problems.

Once the first broadsheets were completely designed, it was Jan’s turn to make the necessary experiments with a variety of hand-made papers, some of which she had never printed, and others, not for years. The project had been enriched by the discovery of a cache of Barcham Green papers which we were able to buy with the help of some patrons. These, combined with an original Kelmscott sheet and some Wookey Hole, Velka Losiny, and St. Armand papers, began to move the project ahead. The designs were completed over several months, and among the many pleasures of the work was the opportunity we had to print together at the handpress, Crispin boying for Jan and doing some of the inking for the more complicated formes – something we had not done for more than ten years. One of the sheets, the Atrax display using Whitman’s poem, took nearly ten minutes for a single impression, since the various coloured elements of the forme had to be removed from the press and inked separately, then replaced and locked up.

As things turned out, there was an additional treat in store. It had always been our intention to include a colophon sheet in the box, as well as a sheet of notes identifying the typefaces and the papers used. When the time came to write the notes up, it soon became clear that one sheet would not provide enough space for the information Crispin felt should be included. In the event the single sheet grew to a 12 page pamphlet the size of the box (16 by 22 inches), side-stabbed and laced into mouldmade paper covers with a label, with its own title page, and printed in double column in a riot of colours. It included an introductory essay on titling and display faces, went on to provide a brief entry on each sheet giving information about the texts and designs as well as the types, and took the opportunity to offer showings of another dozen or so typefaces which had not been included in the broadsheets themselves. The broadsheets were stimulating and interesting to design and print, but the Notes proved to be the most fun.

The responses to the project once it was completed were gratifying. As a sample:

Words fail me. The quality is almost impossible to believe. I know you do good work, but this time you have exceeded yourselves. Beautiful, fascinating, ... a true wonder, a joy to behold.
David Bond (Canada)

Uno scrigno di gioia.
Luigi Manias (Italy)

What an astonishing work of art it is!
Jaap Schipper (Netherlands)

Peter Lazarov & Anik See & Serendipity

We have often said that one of the greatest pleasures of the work we do is the opportunity it affords to meet and work with fascinating people. This past year has proved that once more. In May, Peter Lazarov, the Bulgarian engraver whose work will be featured in Endgrain Editions Three (Spring 2003), came to Canada to stay with us. He proved to be a companion of the heart from the first day, and it was a real wrench to see him leave after only three weeks.

Peter brought with him the engraved blocks for his book, and he and Jan spent a good part of the time he was here setting them up and proofing them. As Jan will describe in the “Printer’s Note” in the book, these blocks are providing her with challenges unlike any she has met before. Because Peter’s earlier engravings were done in Bulgaria where it was not possible to get properly prepared engraving blocks, and because he has never until recently owned a press and has rubbed his proofs by hand, many of the blocks are not anywhere near type high. Moreover, many are warped, and some vary markedly in height from one side to the other, making it necessary to devise complex and innovative underlays in order to allow them to be printed on a press at all. In addition, some of them have “checked” (opened up) along the laminations where two pieces of wood have been glued together, resulting in fine white lines in the printed proofs. Some of these checks can be closed completely or at least slightly by pressure in the lock-up, or by other techniques using combinations of heat and dampness, but others cannot. In most of those cases we have elected to print the blocks in any case, since their beauty transcends any such minor imperfections, and most of the blocks show no sign of their occasional eccentricities of height or condition. Endgrain Editions Three: Peter Lazarov will be the first of the series to be printed in the alternative, larger format (10 ½ by 15 inches), and we anticipate its making quite a stir among collectors of wood engravings, since Peter’s work is unlike that of any other engraver we have seen.

A heartening postscript to Peter’s visit is his having been invited to be Artist in Residence at Vancouver’s prestigious Malaspina Printmakers’ Cooperative for the month of September, 2003. His visit will allow us to pursue our friendship further.

During the summer we had been contacted by Anik See, who had done a short apprenticeship in letterpress in the States and was interested in setting up her own press near Calgary, Alberta. She needed to find some type cases and good used type, and wondered if we knew of any to be found. By an odd coincidence, we had recently been told of some printing equipment being sold in a town near us, including some type frames, so I dropped in to have a look and report back to her. There were, indeed, some type frames and cases, and these Anik undertook to buy, driving out in a friend’s truck and loading them up with me one summer afternoon.

We were delighted and charmed by Anik, who turned out to be not only a budding printer but a writer whose book, A Fork in the Road (Macmillan Canada, 2000), recounts her adventures cycling in South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, largely for the purpose of exploring the foods of the countries she visits. The book is a fascinating and delicious read, and highly recommended (it is published in the States under the title A Taste for Adventure). As one would expect from someone whose life has taken such interesting turns, Anik proved to be a toothsome addition to our social diet, and we were very happy and grateful when she returned in November to stay with us for a three-week apprenticeship, during which she helped substantially in setting and printing A Natural History of Surprise, which we published that month. Another pleasing aspect of that production was Peter Lazarov’s wood engraved frontispiece for the book, which he created in exchange for a poem Crispin wrote especially for a project Peter is working on, combining texts in English, Bulgarian, Dutch, and Japanese with prints he is making based on the texts. (You can see the title page opening with the frontispiece facing it on the Books in Print page for A Natural History of Surprise.)

The “serendipity” mentioned above occurred at the sale of printing equipment where Anik secured her type frames. For two years or more we had been looking for a larger Vandercook proofing press with a mechanized action, in order to save wear and tear on Jan’s shoulders and elbows from cranking the cylinder on the Universal One we have. The nearest one I had found was in Oregon, and the owner wanted far more for it than we could afford, even before the exorbitant shipping charges. We had reached the point of resignation. But when I walked into the warehouse space where the press equipment was being sold, there, under heavy plastic sheeting, was an immaculate Vandercook Universal III, and we were able to buy it on the spot at a very good price. Our neighbour Vince Hennessy and his son Bryce, who excel in the impossible where heavy machinery is concerned, collected it and moved it into our pressroom for us, where it became our tenth press.

New Presses – & Some Not So New

Since we began giving workshops five or six years ago, a number of the participants have bought equipment and started their own presses. In some cases these are part-time enterprises, or retirement projects pursued for recreation and pleasure, rather than especially for gain or financial support. Others are full-time occupations, producing substantial books with the intention of providing income for the printers. Because these presses have all (with one exception) been started by people who studied at Barbarian Press, we would like to introduce them here so that those of you interested in following such leads might contact them and see what they are about. We wish them all well – not that they need our help! We list them in alphabetical order:

Cotton Socks Press (Proprietor: Andrea Taylor)
dnataylor@telus.net
Andrea took a workshop with us a few years ago, and has been continuing work as a printmaker and calligrapher while getting her press in order. Her first book, a collection of short prose pieces recalling her childhood summers by the sea, is being planned now. It will be illustrated with her own colour linocuts, which are lovely.

Fox Run Press (Proprietor: Anik See)
http://www.jackjackman.com/foxrunpress.htm
Our meeting with Anik was recounted earlier. Fox Run Press is just getting under way. Anik has a small Pilot press, and her interests as a publisher are chiefly new prose fiction and essays by various Canadian writers. She has a small website (URL above) which gives some details about her plans, and she offers a $150 per annum subscription plan, which seems a very sound idea.

Frog Hollow Press (Proprietor: Caryl Wyse Peters)
http://www.froghollowpress.com/
Caryl, who took a workshop with us three years ago, has developed a considerable list of publications since then. Until recently, she has worked on a co-operative basis with poets in her native Victoria: she would produce a book of their work, for which they paid a nominal fee to cover costs. They were then given the edition to sell, in exchange for a gift of their choice. These ranged from home-baked bread, to wine, to books. Having honed her craft as a printer in this process, she is now starting on a more usual track, designing and printing books and publishing and selling them herself. Her website gives details.

Heavenly Monkey (Proprietor: Rollin Milroy)
http://www.heavenlymonkey.com/
Rollin attended our first workshop, and for three or four years he produced a number of small titles as A Lone Press. These included a miniature book on Costa Rican handmade papers with tipped-in examples, and a very fine book on Francesco Griffo, the punchcutter to Aldus Manutius. Two years ago he felt ready to abandon his apprentice name, and started publishing under the imprint of Heavenly Monkey (N.B. not Heavenly Monkey Press). One of his recent books is a very fine bibliography of the private press books of Robert Reid, a pioneering British Columbia publisher. Rollin’s interests are bibliography, books on books, and experimental design. This is a press of real consequence, entering the first flush of maturity, showing excellence in design and execution, and a keen and intelligent publishing sense.

Shanty Bay Press (Props: Janis Butler & Walter Bachinski
walter.bachinski@sympatico.ca
Janis was in our first workshop with Rollin, intending to learn letterpress printing in order to produce books with Walter’s illustrations. Walter’s work in oils, sculpture, and particularly his colour work in pastel is widely known and much sought after, but he has now turned from gallery exhibitions to the production of books at his and Janis’s Shanty Bay Press. Their first book, The Eclogues of Virgil, illustrated with two-colour linocuts (1999) caused a considerable stir. During an innocent conversation, Crispin suggested Walter’s exploring pochoir techniques, and the results can be seen in their second book, CIRCUS (2002). This book, illustrated with dazzling full-page pochoir illustrations, is heartbreakingly beautiful. Their next book will be the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, with illustrations in several media.

Spanish Fly Press (Proprietor: Jim Westergard)
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/jimwest/mthrgoos.htm
Jim Westergard has never taken a workshop with us, although he did stay with us for a few days to pick up some tips on hand-setting type. We first encountered Jim when we included one of his engravings in Endgrain: Contemporary Wood Engraving in North America (1996). His press has until recently been the imprint under which he printed editions of his prints, but a year or two ago the book mania hit him, and he has now produced a stunning debut volume called Mother Goose Eggs: Sunny Side Up. This reprints some of the favourite traditional Mother Goose rhymes, such as “Rock-a-bye Baby”, “Humpty-Dumpty”, and “Jack and Jill”, each with a small two-colour engraving of the character in the poem as a child, and on the facing page a larger black engraving of the character in old age, showing the effect of the traumas and horrors inflicted in childhood and recounted in the poems. The humour is black, but witty and humane as well. Jim consulted with us extensively during the printing of this book, and we wish him every success with it.

Workshop

On the subject of workshops, we will be giving one again in 2003, a six-day intensive called An Introduction to Letterpress Printing and Design. As before, it is under the aegis of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG), and will be held here at the press from Monday, June 9 through Saturday, June 14. Information about payment and registration may be had from CBBAG, who may be reached at the following address:

CBBAG
176 John St., Suite 309
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1X5
CANADA

Fax 416-581-1053. E.mail: cbbag@web.net or bembo@sympatico.ca
Phone information: Shelagh Smith, 905-851-1554

There is a limit of six places, and we understand that as of the end of January, 3 are already filled.

FPBA & Parenthesis

The Fine Press Book Association, now in its sixth year, is actively looking for members. If you are interested in fine printing, book history, typography, illustration, bibliography, bookbinding, papermaking, book collecting, or anything else associated with the crafts of design, printing, and publishing, you should certainly become a member of the FPBA.

Crispin is the editor of the North American issues of Parenthesis, the association’s journal. There are two issues a year, one from the United Kingdom (edited by Dennis Hall), and the other from North America. The journal includes articles on the subjects listed above, prints informed reviews of new press books, and lists books newly available from presses all over North America, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Memberships are US$40 a year, and requests for membership or further information can be obtained from Morva Gowans (for North America) at FPBAmgowans@shaw.ca, or from Janet Jackson (for the United Kingdom and Europe) at jj@forge.demon.co.uk

Economics – and a slight change in payment schemes ...

The economics of the private press might provide the makings either of a black comic novel or a profound tragedy, depending on whether you see the glass as half full or half empty. About a year ago we were telephoned by a young fellow who was writing an article for a Vancouver paper on the arts as business and wanted to know something about that side of our enterprise. I'm afraid I rather alarmed him. When he asked me how we budgeted a book, I told him we had no idea of the budget until we had spent it; and later, when he wondered how we managed to survive financially, I remarked that I was sure we were secure because the business account chequebook still had all sorts of blank cheques in it. I don't think he got the point, that writing such an article for such an organ was rather like handing out fliers for sexual toys at a Pentecostal picnic.

The plain fact is that keeping a press like ours going is a hand to mouth affair, and in these times it is getting harder. We are constantly told that our prices are too low, and that we could charge more, but we want to keep our prices as reasonable as we can. Many of our subscribers are not by any means wealthy, and might feel strained if we made the books much more expensive. We remember with gratitude the presses who made easy payment arrangements for us, or whose prices were kept down, when we were students and had little money, and it seems to us that we should return the favour. In any case, there seems little point in pricing books so high that fewer people buy them: one would simply end up making about the same amount of money from a smaller market.

The main difficulty for us is in surviving the “trough” between the income from one book and the next. When a book is completed and sent out, money comes in, and that money sustains us until the next book is published. But that money must also pay artists’ fees for illustrations and the costs of some materials, such as leather and cloth for binding, new type, photopolymers, paper, and so forth. This “trough” looms much wider and deeper when a project is a large and time-consuming one, like Founts & Circumstance, or when it simply takes longer than we had supposed for some reason.

In order to address this problem, which has plagued us for many years, we have decided to take a leaf from some other presses. From this point on, we will send out pro forma invoices to individual subscribers two or three months before a book will actually be shipped out. We have canvassed a number of our subscribers, and they have no objection to this. Their attitude is that they have to pay for the book at some point anyway, they know we will deliver, and paying it a little earlier means that when the book arrives they can simply sit back and enjoy it without having to write a cheque first. It is only a matter of timing. Since this pro forma plan can only apply to individual subscribers, and not to book dealers or libraries (who will not or cannot deal in pre-payment), it will mean that we have the income from a book arriving in three stages: the first, from the individual subscribers (which will help to defray the binding costs), the second from the standing order book dealers and libraries, and the rest from the subsequent sales to other customers. We anticipate that this will help us enormously in surviving from the appearance of one book to the appearance of the next! We hope that it meets with approval, as things cannot go on as they are.

Horse Whisper Press ...

Finally, we are delighted to announce that our daughter Polly (Apollonia) has produced her first book under her own imprint, Horse Whisper Press. The details are available on the website. Her purpose in publishing the book, apart from her pleasure in the process, was to earn enough money to pay for a holiday in France to stay with friends over her Spring break from school in March of this year. She has already sold a good part of both states of the edition, and the plane fare is secure; the remainder which she hopes will come in will provide her with the necessary money to pay for train fares, food, and other delights.

Polly conceived the book herself, commissioned several artists to provide wood engravings for it, and designed, typeset and printed it in consultation with us, and with our help. She has been involved in every part of the process, and has worked very hard. Whether this will be the only product of Horse Whisper Press is a question, but as a first effort we think it most commendable.

Parting thoughts ...

The last edition of Press News was written in the recent shadow of September 11; this one is being written in the looming possibility of war in the Middle East. Then we quoted Marianne Moore on the potential of humanity; now we quote her again on the hypocrisy and uselessness of war. Here are the closing lines of her poem “In Distrust of Merits”:

Hate-hardened heart, O heart of iron,
      iron is iron till it is rust.
There never was a war that was
      not inward; I must
fight till I have conquered in myself what
causes war, but I would not believe it.
         I inwardly did nothing.
            O Iscariotlike crime!
         Beauty is everlasting
            and dust is for a time.

Is it really so naïve to point out that a society, a culture, which pays no heed to its artists, is a society shut off from its own thoughts? There is no tragedy like that of the unexamined life. This truth applies to countries as well as to individuals. “There never was a war that was not inward.” And as Wilfred Owen said: “All a poet can do today is warn.”

We wish you all well, and live in hope.

Pax et bonum
CRISPIN & JAN ELSTED