Print With Impression

Whitney Lyn Stahl

In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of the Arts in Art and the Book Corcoran College of Art & Design Washington, DC Spring 2013 We hereby recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by Whitney Lyn Stahl entitled Print With Impression be accepted as fulfilling, in part, requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art and the Book.

Graduate Thesis Committee

Whitney Lyn Stahl ______

Thesis Advisor ______

Program Director ______

Committee Member ______

Thesis Statement

Many of the artists over the years that have arrived in Massachusetts arrived by mere coincidence, and others were drawn there to be a part of the community; all have stayed for the love of printing. The printers of this book art mecca have acquired a long history through the love for the art of the book by these artists and their record of the past. Book history is passed through strong ties to past traditions and legacy. Early educational institutions with the help of unique and invested individuals have continued a historical documentation through Fine Press bookwork. As technology and times have changed, the Fine Press movement in Massachusetts continues to draw new blood with communal appeal, love of the craft, and a sense of allure that book making seems to cast on artists who settle in the area. The book art community will need to continue this custom of captivating and educating the next generation of book artists with their time honored craft and new ideas for the tradition to persevere.

i Table of Contents

Introduction 1

What is Fine Press? and the Arts & Crafts Movement 3 Contemporary Aspects of Fine Printing 4

Book Arts in Massachusetts Early Printers 7 Eighteenth Century 9 Nineteenth Century 15 Early Twentieth Century & Typography 16

Free Academy of Book Arts Arno Werner 25 Leonard Baskin 27 Harold McGrath 30 Benefactors of the Free Academy 31

Conclusion 39

ii Introduction

“Your questions remind me that we all come to books for different reasons, be it a love of

images, words or typography, a love of paper or binding or for that matter,

simply a love of books.” -Michael Kuch

A small book arts community exists in Western Massachusetts that construct the most magnificent Fine Press books. They have continued to come together due to a mix of fate and a passion for the craft. In the tradition of printmaking and book arts, dating back to

Colonial times, this community has survived through the collaboration of artists in the area that believe the education of younger generations is pertinent to the survival of book arts. These unique individuals have realized and mastered their different skills and conspired to produce Fine Press books with masterful printmaking, premiere bookbinding and handmade paper. Many of the artists over the years that have arrived in

Massachusetts arrived by mere coincidence, and others were drawn there to be a part of the community; all have stayed for the love of printing. The printers of this book art mecca have acquired a long history through the love for the art of the book by these artists and their record of the past. Book history is passed through strong ties to past traditions and legacy. Early educational institutions with the help of unique and invested individuals have continued a historical documentation through Fine Press bookwork. As technology and times have changed, the Fine Press movement in Massachusetts continues to draw new blood with communal appeal, love of the craft, and a sense of allure that book making seems to cast on artists who settle in the area. The book art community will

1 need to continue this custom of captivating and educating the next generation of book artists with their time honored craft and new ideas for the tradition to persevere. As

Joseph Blumenthal ended his history of the Printed Book in America, “The Art of the

Book, one of the slender graces of civilization, works its charms on each new generation.”1

1 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, Hanover and London: Trustees of Dartmouth, 1989. 156.

2 Chapter One

What is Fine Press?

“People like me, who care about printing - the architecture of the page -

constitute the tiniest lunatic fringe in the nation.” -Leonard Baskin

William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement

It is easy to say William Morris began the “renaissance in printing”2 with a romantic idea to take the book and apply old world workmanship and craft to create a Fine Press book.

During his time, Morris saw his own books being published with little regard to design and publishers more eager to produce larger, cheaper editions than care for the actual book. Presses would dilute their ink creating an overall gray effect rather than a black line needed for the typefaces being used. Uneven printing was common because of the wood pulp and bleach used in the paper. Some design was used but as Susan Otis

Thompson points out,

“There was as yet no profession of book designer, while the practicing printer was more noteworthy for his technical than his artistic knowledge. A book’s illustrations might be by several different hands, reproduced by several different processes. In any case, no one saw the advisability of relating the lines of the type to those of the drawings or imposing any kind of unity on the decoration of the book.”3

Joseph Blumenthal, Typographic Years: A Printer’s Journey Through A Half Century, 1925-1975, (New York: Frederic C. Beil, 1982), 3.

3 3 Betty Bright, No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America, 1960-1980, 20.

3 William Morris believed the book was like a building, type was comparable to the mortar that holds a building together. He set out to make a well designed book for the people and he believed the only way to do this was to carefully plan every aspect of the design -- paper, ink, type, spacing, margins, illustration, and ornament.

Contemporary Aspects of Fine Printing

After World War II, Morris still had a devoted following, but his immediate influence dispelled as the fine book evolved. Morris’ devotion to the high quality of materials, binding, ink, and craftsmanship remained the basis for printing, but his medieval style was no longer relevant.4 Book artists of his time strove for a more contemporary look: combing their imagery, typography affected by ever evolving technology, which has had a substantial effect on design. From the establishment of offset lithography to today’s polymer plates it is inevitable that technology would have an effect on the Fine Press

Book, but some basic concepts have always remained. In a contemporary Fine Press book:

-The typographer should approach the book knowing the type origins and development.

-The book designer should pay homage to the illuminated manuscript, and have studied the history of the book over its 500 years, as well as balance the author’s text and artists’ imagery without complication.

4 Martin Hunter and Jerry Kelly, A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999, (Jaffrey, New Hampshire: The Grolier Club and David R. Godine, 2004), xix.

4 -The knowledge of the paper and its uses is crucial for the mechanics and potential for binding.5

A binder must consider all aspects presented by the printer. One must question size, weight, images and printmaking techniques. Should thread or tape be best to sew the folios? The flyleaf, the part connecting the book to the cover, should be considered. Are the edges trimmed, gilded, or decorated? A material fitting the cover must be chosen. All of these must come together to achieve the desired end result. Master binder Arno

Werner concludes, “A convincing piece of work comes from having a clear conviction and understanding of what the craft of bookbinding is really about.”6 He believed that a book with a purpose must be functional and be able to last, and a book artist can not forget these two essentials.

The most important factor of the fine press book is the letterpress.7 Finding the relation between type and paper is a skill not many achieve without years of experience. Many learn the letterpress, but finding the delicate balance of ink and pressure is key to printing a fine press book. Many printers have different ways of describing this: Max Weber said,

“Let the paper breathe”8 and Harold McGrath would tell his students, “We don’t print

6 Arno Werner, Arno Werner: One Man’s Work, Edited by Carol J. Blinn, (East Hampton, Massachusetts: Warwick Press, 1982), 7.

7 Blumenthal, Typographic Years, 74.

8 Blumenthal, Typographic Years, 72.

5 with ink here, we print with impression.”9 By looking at the type it should be well covered, but with a magnifying glass the texture of the paper will be breaking through the ink. Thus, “minimum ink and maximum coverage” gives a sense of crispness to the page.10

9 Alan J. Robinson Editor, H.P.M., Harold Patrick McGrath, (Easthampton, Massachusetts: Cheloniidae Press, 1991), 20.

10 Blumenthal, Typographic Years, 72.

6 Chapter Two

Book Arts in Massachusetts

“So far as relates to the introduction of the art of printing, and establishing the press in

this section of the continent, Massachusetts claims precedence over all the other

colonies.” -Isaiah Thomas

Early Printers

Printing in Massachusetts has a long history dating back to Colonial times when the first press was started in 1638 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. British Minister, Joseph Glover, transported his family, a press, and type across the Atlantic with Massachusetts as their destination.11 Unfortunately, Glover died mid-atlantic, passing his press along to his wife. With an already established, but unknown relationship the press was set up at

Harvard College (later known as Harvard University). The new printer in charge by default, Stephan Daye had been hired to “conduct the press”, and reluctantly became

America’s first printer.12 Barely literate, Daye took on his son, Matthew Daye, as an apprentice. It is suspected Matthew Daye was primarily responsible for printing.13 There is evidence of Stephan Daye’s incompetence in printmaking through records of

11 Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America, Edited by Marcus A. McCorison from the Second Edition, (New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 43.

12 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 50.

13 Barbara Blumenthal, “From Stationers to Book Artists: A Brief History of the Book Arts in & Near Northampton,” Paradise Printed & Bound: Book Arts in Northampton & Beyond. Edited by Barbara Blumenthal. (Northampton, Massachusetts: The 350th Anniversary Committee, 2004), 1.

7 mortgages and jail time served. It appears that his lack of knowledge in the art led to financial troubles for Daye, and the press having to stay afloat with funds and commissions from Harvard College.14

The first recorded printed material was a Freeman’s oath as a broadside and an eight-page almanac in 1638. The first book to be printed was The Whole Booke of Psalmes

Faithfully Translated into English Metre in 1640. Stephan Daye continued to print until

1649, when workman Samuel Green took his position under unknown circumstances.

Through examination of their work it seems that Samuel Green may have been taught by

Stephan Daye, and Daye even worked as a journeyman after Green took over management of the press.15 Green’s most substantial contribution to the press was the

Eliot Indian Bible. Collaborator John Eliot received his pastorate in Roxbury,

Massachusetts, and his main goal in life was to convert Native Americans to Christianity.

He spent much time translating the Bible into the local Algonkian language.16 The

English Society for Propagating the Gospel funded the project; they bought two new presses and supplied the specially designed type for a three-year contract. Using only two wooden hand presses, Cambridge Press completed fifteen hundred copies, each with twelve hundred pages in 166317 -- a huge undertaking at the time that reached notoriety

14 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 51.

15 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 55.

16 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 2.

17 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 2.

8 even in England among nobility and King Charles.18 Samuel Green successfully ran the celebrated Cambridge Press until its end in 1692.19

The press was buoyant for forty years under the supervision of Harvard College. For many years the British Crown did not allow other presses in the colonies and kept strict censorship laws. Isaiah Thomas says, “the fathers of Massachusetts kept a watchful eye on the press; and in neither a religious nor civil point of view, were they disposed to give it much liberty. Both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers were fearful that if it was not under wholesome restraints, contentions and heresies would arise among the people.”20

After other presses were granted permission, much of the focus was drawn to

Philadelphia in the 18th Century, but one man in particular, would continue the tradition in Massachusetts with his passion for printing and the book.

Eighteenth Century

Isaiah Thomas became one of the first principal figures in American printing -- a man of all trades, eventually acquainting himself with printing, binding, paper making, publishing and selling. His long life led him to see the country evolve from colonization to an established nation, and he witnessed ancient, manual printing transition into early industrialization. Thomas is truly the man that established the communal printing environment that has led Massachusetts to be a Fine Press mecca by building an empire

18 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 62.

19 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 2.

20 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 4.

9 devoted to the book form, and writing a history about the craft he loved. Before he built his community dedicated to the Fine Press, he worked his way up from nothing. Due to family troubles, Thomas became an apprentice to a printer in Boston, Zechariah Fowle, at the incredibly young age of six. Fowle agreed to provide room, board, an education in reading and writing, and the art of printing. The apprenticeship looked more like an indentured servant contract:

“the said Apprentice, his said Master and mistress, well and faithfully shall Serve, their Secrets he shall keep close, their Commandments lawful and honest everywhere he shall gladly obey: he shall do no Damage to his said Master, etc., nor suffer it to be done by other, without letting or giving seasonable Notice thereof to his said Master, etc.,: he shall not waste the Goods of his said Master, etc., nor lend them unlawfully to any: At Cards, Dice, or any other unlawful Game or Games he shall not play: Fornication he shall not commit: Matrimony during the said Term he shall not contract: Taverns, Ale-Houses, or Places of Gaming he shall not haunt or frequent: From the Service of his said Master, etc., by Day nor Night he shall not absent himself; but in all things at all Times, he shall carry and behave himself; but in all things and at all Times, he shall carry and behave himself towards his said Master, etc., and all theirs as a good and faithful Apprentice ought to do...”21

Going forth, Fowle had absolute power over young Thomas until the age of twenty-one.

Thomas would do all the daily chores, then set type for the rest of the day; a special bench was made for him to be able to reach the . His first work being The

Lawyer’s Pedigree at age six. Isaiah Thomas learned quickly and, by the time he was twelve, his skills surpassed those of his master. After he could no longer learn from

Fowle, he would acquire new skills from journeymen (someone who has completed an

21 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 18.

10 apprenticeship but has not yet completed a master work) occasionally hired in the print shop.22

At sixteen, after a disagreement with Fowle, Thomas ran away with dreams of England

(to further his education in print like Benjamin Franklin), but only made it to Halifax,

Nova Scotia.23 There, he worked for a printer, Anthony Henry, who preferred to fish all day instead of running shop. Left to his own devices, Thomas was entrusted to run the

Halifax Gazette. Recognizing the disaster that was the typography of the paper, he soon improved the design and began running Anti-British articles.24 Understanding early on how much the Stamp Act would affect the printer, he began publishing political material in the paper.25 Thomas would take the already stamped paper so that the stamp would be displayed incorrectly, drawing attention to the outrageous taxes. He even went as far as to insert the phrase, “Advertisements are taken in, and inserted as cheap as the Stamp Act will allow.”26 Other rebellions included trimming off the stamp completely or replacing the stamp with a skull and cross bones.27 Sealing his fate, Thomas printed the stamp upside down with his own wood carving of a devil jabbing at the stamp above it

22 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 21.

23 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 155.

24 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 155.

25 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, (Worcester Massachusetts: Worcester Bicentennial Commission, 1975), 11.

26 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, 11.

27 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, 11.

11 inscribed, “Scorn and contempt for America pitching down to destruction.”28 Enraging the printer and the government, he was fired after only six months at the age of 17.

Thomas tried to return to Fowle, but after an argument, ended up traveling south with false hopes of buying a press he had heard was for sale.29 After a few wrong turns he ended up in Charleston, South Carolina, with a printer recommended to him by a friend.

He worked for Robert Wells who owned a bookshop attached to the print shop for nearly two years. Growing up with limited education and learning materials, Thomas finally had the opportunity to explore and appreciate the book and its form here. After spending five years as a journeyman, he again returned to Fowle, but this time was successful in becoming an equal partner in a new printing venture.30

In 1770 at the ripe age of 21, Isaiah Thomas established the Massachusetts Spy, the only tri-weekly paper in Massachusetts, and only one of five papers in the state. It soon became the most popular publication due to Thomas’ readable design and audacity to print daring articles speaking against the British Crown. With backing from John

Hancock (a notable Patriot of the American Revolution), Isaiah Thomas became the sole owner of the press -- no longer being tied to Fowle.31 As one may have suspected with his past history at the Halifax Gazette, the paper began to ruffle feathers from the very start.

28 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, 11.

29 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 161.

30 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 21.

31 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 21.

12 One of the articles in the seventh issue of the Spy insulted the Governor of North

Carolina, Willam Tryon, and all copies were ordered to be publicly burned.32 After offending so many, Thomas had to make the arduous decision to relinquish his work in the political world for his own safety; he saw the upcoming conflict between the British and American Colonies and knew the British saw him as “very obnoxious.”33 On April

18, 1775 it was found out that scores of British troops were approaching Boston (The

British are coming, the British are coming!) and Thomas had no choice but to flee with fellow political advocate, Dr. Joseph Warren to Lexington, Massachusetts. On the 20th he opened up shop in Worcester, Massachusetts where war times hit the press hard. Paper was scarce, but the Massachusetts Spy continued publication in hiding.34

After the war, fortunately there was a boom in production. Over a short amount of time

Thomas was able to build new houses dedicated to printing, binding, and a bookshop. At this point, he no longer was a political radical, but had a little rebellion left in him. In

1785 when the State of Massachusetts declared a tax on all almanacs and newspapers,

Thomas simply refashioned the Spy into a magazine.35 In 1785, Thomas went on to publish a type specimen book in order to showcase all the new typefaces he had acquired.

From 1784-1802, the business expanded with branches in Massachusetts, Vermont, New

32 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, 15.

33 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 168.

34 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 21.

35 Richard C. Steele, Isaiah Thomas, 24.

13 York, New Hampshire and Maryland.36 Many Americans had learned how to read from spellers printed by Thomas. His New England Almanac had a circulation of 30,000 copies. The press was making spellers, children’s books, medical, science texts, and history, music, literature and the Bible. Eventually, Thomas built his own papermill employing Zenas Crane, who later went on to found Crane Paper & Co in 1770 whose company is still in existence today. In Worcester alone, Thomas employed 150 people, helping make Worcester a noteworthy city in Massachusetts.

This former apprentice never lost his love for printing. He had a “great sense of craftsmanship and pride of workmanship.”37 Thomas also saw the value of his education and saw printmaking as a means of capturing that history. In 1810, he printed the History of Printing in America. Thomas seemed to foresee the importance of preserving print history to pass on the tradition of the craft he took pride in for so many years. He accumulated an enormous library from his studies and donated them to a society he is most fondly remembered for, the American Antiquarian Society, still in existence today.38

Even at the age of 76 he says, “My attachment to the art...is not diminished. Could I live my life over again and choose my employment it would be that of a Printer.39” Thomas cemented the tradition of printmaking and book arts in the state of Massachusetts with his

36 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 22.

37 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 24.

38 Barbara Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 2.

39 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 23.

14 hard work and dedication to the craft and its history. He knew that to attract future generations, he had to explain past generation’s own devotion to the Fine Press book.

Nineteenth Century

Northampton, Massachusetts, was a successful printing center and had its own share of book activity.40 Simeon Butler founded a bookshop specializing not only in book selling, but book publishing and binding. Passing through many hands, the business was successful from 1797 well into the Twentieth Century. Simeon Butler’s son, Jonathan

Hunt Butler, joined him in 1828. After Simeon Butler retired five years later, J.H. Butler began taking on apprentices, the first being Henry Childs. Childs described the business as, “employing five to six girls, and as many apprentices, besides journeymen.”41 Childs remained with the store for fifty years, eventually becoming a partner. One of these prominent apprentices to work under J.H. Butler, starting at the ripe age of 14, was

Theodore Bliss. Bliss eventually became chief binder until J.H. Butler’s death. He said of the book shop, “Our store was the literary center for the cultured people of the circle of towns near Northampton.”42 After changing names and hands a few times the shop closed its doors in 1935.

40 Barbara Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 3.

41 Barbara Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 4.

42 Barbara Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 4.

15 A more familiar name, Henry Houghton apprenticed in Burlington, Vermont studying printmaking masterpieces in the 1860’s. He used these skills to establish a publishing firm in Boston, Massachusetts called Houghton Mifflin Company. Many influential printers of the early Twentieth Century worked at their Riverside Press (a high quality trade press) and set high standards of design throughout the publishing world.43

Early Twentieth Century & Typography

The Industrial Revolution led to the flourishing of books arts in Massachusetts with the influence of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. Designers were drawn to the hand-made quality of the old way of printing and took it upon themselves to create a true American style. The Club of Odd Varieties was founded in 1886 for, “the promotion of literacy and artistic tastes, the study of the arts as applied to bookmaking.”44 The still existing Boston Society of Printers first met in 1905 with members consisting of some of the greatest designers this country had to offer: Master book and type designers Bruce

Rogers and Daniel Berkeley Updike helped shape the Society of Printers. Over the years membership has grown with the inclusion of some of the most prominent and influential practitioners such as book and type designer William A. Dwiggins, book artist Leonard

Baskin and his printer Harold McGrath, designers Milton Glaser and Phillip Meggs, printer and educator Ray Nash, and wood engraver Barry Moser. The most important aspect of this club is the monthly conversations happening between the printers,

43 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 39.

44 Barbara Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 5.

16 designers, publishers, collectors, typographers, illustrators, and librarians.45 The Society holds annual lectures honoring outstanding designers to “promote the intrepid spirit of discovery and inquiry embodied by the work and life of William A. Dwiggins.”46 The lectures are usually attended by design students, educators, and design professionals.

They also provide monthly presentations with a range of interests and are “dedicated to publishing scholarly works that resonate with its mission: the study and advancement of the art of printing.”47 The Society began with a few lectures inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement but,

“was not simply an outgrowth...it was motivated to challenge the primacy of the profit-driven publishing management by bringing cultural values into the factories where books were being made. Knowledge of design history and handiwork were the basis for aesthetic standards of the rapidly evolving printing technology, with a particular concern for the design and use of type.48”

They were the first organized group promoting a higher standard of printing and are still bringing the community of designers, artists and printers together to celebrate and educate.

One of the Society’s founding members, Daniel Berkeley Updike grew up in an aristocratic family in Providence, Rhode Island on land his family had owned for two

45 Richard Zauft, “The Society of Printers,” Parenthesis: The Journal of the Fine Press Book Association 21, (Autumn 2011): 11.

46 Richard Zauft, “The Society of Printers,” 13.

47 Richard Zauft, “The Society of Printers,” 13.

48 Richard Zauft, “The Society of Printers,” 13.

17 hundred years.49 Updike grew up wealthy, but his father died without leaving funds for him to further his education. Updike’s mother was well educated and taught him what she could, but inevitably he had to develop a trade skill, instead of pursuing college. He modestly began his printing career as an errand boy for Houghton Mifflin Company, but after his first summer working at the press, he was tired of the long hours and wanted to quit. Before he had the chance, to his surprise, he was offered a job as assistant to the advertising manager and told that the company saw great potential in him.50 Updike made headway quickly at Houghton Mifflin Company because of his eagerness for learning as well as quickly familiarizing himself with type and design. Henry O.

Houghton and George H. Mifflin began to have great interest in bookmaking at the

Riverside Press, their trade publishing house. Their interest lead Updike to spend his last two years at Riverside Press improving upon the design of the book and printmaking.

After his experience with Fine Press, Updike left Houghton Mifflin after a dozen years to pursue his own dreams of fine printing.51

Updike began his solo Fine Press venture by placing his work into the hands of other printers; he found the lack of direct control did not satisfy him. He opened Merrymount

Press in 1893 to be in full control from beginning to end of the printing process stating,

“Perhaps the reason that I survived, in spite of mistakes, was that a simple idea had got a hold of me -- to make work better for its purpose than was commonly thought worthwhile

49 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 12.

50 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 56.

51 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 57.

18 and by having one’s own establishment, to be free to do so.”52 Early work reflected the

Kelmscott style, but eventually Updike developed his own, more contemporary style.53

His greatest contribution to book arts is his scholarship; understanding that the continuing tradition of passing on the art of printing in the Massachusetts community and beyond was essential to the future of fine printing. Updike’s two-volume work Printing Types,

Their History, Forms, and Use is the keystone to many printing programs.54 Daniel

Berkeley Updike ended his study by saying,

“in every period there have been better or worse types employed in better or worse ways. The better types employed in better ways have been used by the educated printer acquainted with standards and history, directed by taste and a sense of fitness of things, and facing the industrial conditions and the needs of his time. Such men have made of printing an art...The outlook for typography is as good as ever it was -- and much the same. Its future depends largely on the knowledge and taste of educated men.”

Another designer just ten years younger than D.B. Updike, Bruce Rogers, was brought to

Boston from the Mid-West, as a designer for the magazine Modern Art. From an early age Rogers was interested in printmaking, but after seeing William Morris’ work in college “his whole interest in book production became rationalized and intensified.”55

With no American tradition to mimic, many designers looked to Morris for inspiration.

Like Morris, he thought past the idea that illustration alone could make a book great, but

52 David R. Godine, Editor, The Art of the Printed Book, 1455-1955: Masterpieces of Typography Through the Five Centuries From the Collections of the Piermont Morgan Library, (New !York: The Piermont Morgan Library, 1973), 46.

53 Martin Hunter and Jerry Kelly, A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999, xix.

54 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 62.

55 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 64.

19 that type and paper had a great deal to do with a successful book. After graduating from

Purdue University, Rogers was offered a part-time type designer job at his friend’s magazine, Modern Art, with a guaranteed ten dollars a week and made the move to

Boston, Massachusetts. Not long after coming to Boston, his talent was recognized and he was hired by Houghton Mifflin Company’s fine press, Riverside Press, to be in charge of limited editions in 1900. Reluctant at first, he was given the rare honor of full editorial responsibility of the Fine Press.56 This opportunity allowed for his typographic skills to grow and be as creative as he wanted with the books he published.

After spending sixteen years with Riverside Press, Rogers moved to England to try to develop his own style away from the commercial printer. After failing to find work in

England, Rogers returned to Massachusetts to print his new typeface, Centaur. In collaboration with Montague Press in Massachusetts run by fellow book designer, Carl

Purlington Rollins they completed The Centaur. Although not staying in Massachusetts, the area influenced many of the choices he made in design and returned often for the sense of community that the area offered.

A dissatisfied designer from the advertising trade, was invited to move to Massachusetts with (a fellow designer) and his wife, Bertha.

Goudy had read an article about Massachusetts, “Village Handicrafts” in the Boston

Society of Arts and Crafts Magazine, Handicraft. He thought Massachusetts was going

56 Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, 65.

20 to be congenial compared to his former city. While they did find it naturally pleasing,

Goudy quickly discovered it was difficult to make a profit in Northampton and consequently moved to New York shortly after. Dwiggins found it suited him, so he remained and soon became friendly with members of the Boston Society of Printers.57 He was an influential member from its start till his death in 1956. Dwiggins love of design and dedication to craft “personified the mission and passion of the Society.”58 He encouraged the education of young designers before they were exposed to the commercial world of printing and their print morals flew out the window. The Society of

Printers was a way for him to expose these young designers to the fine printing craft he held so dear.

As a lifelong successful designer, Dwiggins designed over 300 book covers, and his typefaces Electra and Caledonia are still widely used. He befriended fellow designer and

Society member D.B. Updike whose Merrymount Press allowed for a steady stream of commissions designing covers, calligraphy and illustrations.59 In 1911, Dwiggins bought a house that could accommodate his own printing equipment, and The White Elephant

Press was started with the motto, Was Soll Ich Damit Tun? (What Shall I Do With It?).

The first productions to come from the press were a keepsake to commemorate a talk at the Society of Printers, a moving notice with a map of the studio’s new location and a

57 Thomas, The History of Printing in America, 12.

58 Richard Zauft, “The Society of Printers,” 13.

59 Bruce Kennett, “The White Elephant and the Fabulist: The Private Press Activities of W.A. Dwiggins, 1913-1921,” Parenthesis: The Journal of the Fine Press Book Association 21, (Autumn 2011): 28.

21 print of a freight train (a nod to friend and fellow printer Carl Rollins Purlington at Dyke

Mill, who Dwiggins often collaborated with. During this time Rollins and Bruce Rogers were producing The Centaur).60

His work may be the most unique of these printers. Dwiggins made most of his wealth working in advertising, but formed low opinions of commercial publishers and book designers. In 1919, Dwiggins and his cousin Laurance B. Siegfried produced a fake series of interviews with publishing tycoons and book salesmen revealing the inferior quality of printing books and the indifferent attitudes of those publishing them. Extracts from An Investigation into the Physical Properties of Books as They Are at Present

Published caused a major stir in the book world.61 Dwiggins believed art was an expression of one’s self and everyone else’s opinion did not matter. He is quoted as saying,

“Art has nothing to do with democracy. You must get that out of your head...It has been revealed to me by a sojourn in the middle west that art is to be pursued solely as a personal matter. People do not want it, and it is entirely a right that they shouldn’t. Old man Morris led us all astray by his dream of a popular or democratic art activity. It isn’t there, old cock, and for one I am content that it isn’t there. Sweat the popular art poison out of your blood, and start in pleasing yourself, and you have cured ONE trouble in your state of affairs.”62

60 Bruce Kennett, “The White Elephant and the Fabulist: The Private Press Activities of W.A. Dwiggins, 1913-1921,” 28.

61 Bruce Kennett, “The White Elephant and the Fabulist: The Private Press Activities of W.A. Dwiggins, 1913-1921,” 29.

62 David R. Godine, Editor, The Art of the Printed Book, 1455-1955: Masterpieces of Typography Through the Five Centuries From the Collections of the Piermont Morgan Library, 137.

22 As these three men were influenced by William Morris, a whole new generation will be influenced by their type design. The Free Academy of Book Arts had the same effect on a new generation similar to Morris on Updike, Rogers and Wiggins.

23 Chapter Three

Free Academy of Book Arts

“These three men, through their generosity, skills and appreciation for fine books, trained and inspired several generations of printers, bookbinders, graphic artists, paper makers, paper decorators, calligraphers, and other book artists, offering what Baskin and many

others have referred to as an informal ‘free academy of book arts.’” - Barbara

Blumenthal

The renaissance of book arts began when Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt came as a visiting lecturer to Smith College to teach “The History of the Making of Books” and “The

History of the Book as a Work of Art.” A member of Smith’s art department, Clarence

Kennedy taught “The History, Technique, and the Art of the Book Production” and founded the book arts workshop at Smith College. These classes drew the three men, essential to contemporary book arts to the area: Arno Werner, Leonard Baskin, and

Harold McGrath. The crazy mix of men made up “The Free Academy of Book Arts,” as their many students call this time in their lives. David Godine describes them as,

“Mac was as straightforward and good-natured as Baskin was tortuous and fractious. Between them, they nurtured an entire generation of printers, binders and graphic artists whose talents are still manifest in the Pioneer Valley and whose influence is incalcuable. Arno Werner, an indispensable component of the same circle, provided similar encouragement to an entire generation of binders. Leonard never considered teaching a primary calling or himself a pedagogical

24 force, but he was an inspired teacher. He asked a lot of his students, he never pulled punches, and he didn’t suffer fools gladly.”63

They continued the long tradition of teaching the future generation their trade by allowing young students into their shops, never turning anyone away. They left a lasting impression of a generation of printers and have allowed for the tradition to continue with their willingness to share and educate.

Arno Werner

Arno Werner was born in Mylau, Saxony, one of ten children of a weaver. At the age of

13, he apprenticed as a bookbinder and put in his time as a journeyman in Germany. At the time Werner was introduced to bookbinding, bookbinders were forced to do cheaper bindings due to the machine driven commercial world of books.64 Werner credits

William Morris with the rebirth of the graphic arts because of his love and enthusiasm for producing only the most beautiful books. In 1925 he moved to New York with twenty five dollars and his tools in a cigar box. He remembers this as an exciting time in his life, when New York was full of people involved in the graphic arts. Werner attended luncheons, lectures and plain get-togethers with typophiles such as the Goudys, Carl

Rollins, Dard Hunter, William Dwiggins, and Bruce Rogers.65 Werner says of their

63 63 Bruce Chandler, Lance Hidy, and Barry Moser, In the School of Baskin, 7.

64 Arno Werner, Arno Werner: One Man’s Work, 4.

65 Arno Werner, Arno Werner: One Man’s Work, 10.

25 influence, “I feel greatly indebted to all those people for giving to me freely much of their time, skill and experience.”66

After wandering around with not much luck of finding a permanent job, Werner was inspired by an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art to move back to Europe and study with master bookbinder Ignatz Wiemeler in Leipzig where he was head of the

Department of Bookbinding at the Akademie fur Graphische Kunst. He eventually settled in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1942 to establish his own bindery.67 This master bookbinder would go on to mentor a plethora of the book arts community now practicing in Massachusetts today when he began taking in apprentices in the 1960s, starting with his students at Harvard University.68 Werner was the chief bookbinder in the rare books department at the Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Arno Werner seemed to be at the heart of the period in Massachusetts called the “Free

Academy of Book Arts.”69 Along with Leonard Baskin and Harold McGrath, Arno

Werner was adamant that his studio be a free learning center for eager young artists. He

66 Arno Werner, Arno Werner: One Man’s Work, 11.

67 Saxon, Wolfgang. “Arno Werner, 96, Master of Bookbinding Craft.” The New York Times, August 05, 1995. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/05/obituaries/arno-werner-96-master-of- bookbinding-craft.html.

68 Barbara Blumenthal, “Arno Werner, Leonard Baskin, Harold P. McGrath and the Tradition of the Book Arts in Massachusetts,” Parenthesis: The Journal of the Fine Press Book Association 21. (Autumn 2011): 19.

69 Lance Hidy, “My Studies at the Free Academy of Gehenna,” Parenthesis: The Journal of the Fine Press Book Association 21, (Autumn 2011): 5.

26 despised expensive workshops and apprenticeships; Werner believed in the interest of giving, not getting,

“Right now, hand binding is in a time of renewal. We have emerged from a wasteland and are enjoying an increased interest in and respect for our work. I have no use for those who are out to cash in on this renewed interest, with costly workshops and apprenticeships. What is needed in our profession is an interest in giving--not just that old American interest in getting. The thirst for the dollar cannot be the only incentive, nor the getting of it the primary reward. There must be an understanding and love of our work, and the desire to preserve the life of our craft.

When I see people around me who are not interested in giving freely of their time and expertise, I cannot understand it. This is our craft that we love and which feeds us. How can we not have the time and energy to do our best, and to teach others?”70

Werner’s idea was to preserve his love of the craft by spreading the understanding and love of the work. No craft can endure by tradition alone, but it is up to the artists to improve upon the craft, do the best work they can and pass on this improved version.

Leonard Baskin

Leonard Baskin was less available than Arno Werner, but taught at Smith College and took on any willing young artist who stopped by his studio. Later in his career he collaborated more with his young students to let their style shine through (especially the colorful apprentice, Michael Kuch). He saw teaching as a debt being paid back for all the

70 Lance Hidy, “My Studies at the Free Academy of Gehenna,” 6.

27 people who taught him.71 Although commonly described as a harsh critic and not the easiest man to get along with, all of Baskin’s students admired him and “the respect

Leonard garnered was entirely genuine for he demanded no expedient of veneration.”72

Leonard Baskin was attending Yale University at the time he discovered William Blake in the library. Blake inspired Baskin to learn to print, explaining it as, “got key and access to bliss.”73 He immediately convinced the school to allow him to use a press at the

Jonathan Edwards College. He was introduced to the giant Chandler & Price foot- treadle-press and a set of Caslon typefaces. Baskin leapt into his first book, On a Pyre of

Withered Roses, a book of poetry. With this venture Gehenna Press was created. Soon after this he joined the US Navy and went to Europe where his printing lay dormant until his return to the United States.74

Gehenna is derived from a line from Milton’s Paradise Lost: “And black Genna call’d, the type of Hell.” Baskin furthers his literary allusion with the pomegranate; it was the pomegranate that Persephone carried into Hell.75 It also just so happens the pomegranate

71 Lance Hidy, “My Studies at the Free Academy of Gehenna,” 6.

72 Double Elephant Press. “Leonard Baskin in Memoriam,” http://www.michaelkuch.com/site_files/ baskin/leonard_baskin.html

73 David P. Bourbeau, “The Gehenna Press: Through the Eyes of a Devoted Disciple,” Paradise Printed & Bound: Book Arts in Northampton & Beyond, Edited by Barbara Blumenthal, (Northampton, Massachusetts: The 350th Anniversary Committee, 2004), 68.

74 David P. Bourbeau, “The Gehenna Press: Through the Eyes of a Devoted Disciple,” 70.

75 David P. Bourbeau, “The Gehenna Press: Through the Eyes of a Devoted Disciple,” 69.

28 is a Jewish symbol for fertility; fitting for the continuing accomplishments of the

Gehenna press.

Baskin returned to the States dreaming of printmaking and got a job with the Worcester

Art Museum in Massachusetts in 1951. Soon after he received a job at Smith College in

Northampton, Massachusetts to teach typography. Here he established the student-run press, Apiary Press. “Baskin first encountered printing in an educational setting. The integration of fine printing into academia helped to foster a more appreciative audience, as well as indoctrinate some of its practitioners in the aesthetic of the new traditionalist typography.”76

Baskin’s realization that he was not the greatest printer allowed for Gehenna Press to really flourish. As well, Baskin took on more of the traditional Fine Press role of proprietor who oversees all aspects of production, but maintained his status as the fine artist prominent in the books.77 His right hand man, Harold McGrath would take over much of the printing for Gehenna Press and later McGrath’s apprentices. Baskin showed his admiration and appreciation for McGrath in the fifty-year Gehenna bibliography:

“McGrath and I in tandem made an interactive and productive team. His was the perfected means to carry out my printing needs and typographic fantasies. He had the infinite patience of the immaculate compositor and in his press-work he built ever more and more complex and intricate make-readies to assure perfect and even impression tone. He possessed the quotient of excessive staying power that

76 Bright, No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America, 1960-1980, 57.

77 Martin Hunter and Jerry Kelly, A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999, xxv.

29 superb presswork requires...It did not take very long for Harold McGrath to become a full-time employee of a more formally organized Gehenna Press. I used to boastfully prattle that the Gehenna Press was the only private press with a full-time employee...Apprentices were always welcome and Harold McGrath’s great patience was further tried as he slowly and skillfully taught the young people the mysteries of composition and printing techniques. That the Gehenna Press served as a fountainhead for a generation of bookworkers significantly adds to the totality of its achievements.”78

Harold McGrath

Many artists came to study with Baskin, and ended up staying because of Harold

McGrath.79 Not much is written about the printer of Gehenna Press, except the kind words of his students. McGrath did get a job at the Pro Brush factory after being a

Military Policeman in WWII. This is where he got his start in printmaking after being the only man in the factory that could fix the press. Eventually McGrath and Baskin crossed paths at the factory when Baskin was given permission to use the factory’s press for his own work at night.80 Their partnership was complimentary to one another, Baskin provided the design and McGrath the printing skills needed to create such impressive works. Their skills were combined to make incredible books until 1976, when Baskin decided to move to England. This is when Harold McGrath flourished with his students.

Barry Moser, Jeff Dwyer, John Locke, Ruth Mortimer, and John Lancaster formed the

Hampshire Typothetae as a company and museum, with Harold

McGrath as their only employee.

78 Bruce Chandler, Lance Hidy, and Barry Moser, In the School of Baskin, 31-32.

79 Alan J. Robinson Editor, H.P.M., Harold Patrick McGrath, 31.

80 Caxton Club. “Barry Moser -- Engraver, bookman,” http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2002/ Sep/Moser.htm.

30 Harold McGrath was a true printmaker, someone who no longer had to think about setting the type or running the press; it had become engrained in him. Dan Carr describes seeing Harold for the first time,

“For the first time I saw the hand of a craftsman, the skilled movements filled with understanding, knowledge and appreciation. I was many years before I felt anything in my own hands. On that day I had seen in and I’ve never forgotten the image that became a goal for me. For the master craftsman the complete knowledge of the craft has passed entirely into his or her hands. And I might add into the whole body so that thought, sense and feeling combine at each moment and make available a knowledge so extensive that words cannot usually approach its expression, but the work of the craftsman is just such an expression.”81

These men were certainly the catalyst that kickstarted the book arts community into a vibrant and productive group again and so many people benefitted from their knowledge, skill and willingness to share. It is clearly expressed by their students, printer Daniel

Keleher describes his experience with Baskin and McGrath,

“Leonard Baskin showed me and taught me a love of beautiful paper, type, presswork, and books. He gave me my background in the history of types, printers and a sense of the importance of fine printing. Harold McGrath taught me the mechanics and the necessary attitude of working to achieve it, without which it would be impossible.”82

Benefactors of Free Press

“A small slate on the door read Gehenna Press, the chiseled and gilt letters all in lower case. Inside was a virtual working museum; a study of contrasts in

81 Alan J. Robinson Editor, H.P.M., Harold Patrick McGrath, 67.

82 Alan J. Robinson Editor, H.P.M., Harold Patrick McGrath, 42.

31 symbiotic, near-perfect harmony. On an antique carved refectory table were a bust of Shakespeare, a large red leather day book, a paper cup partially filled with cold gray coffee, and a Dunkin’ Donuts bag. On the polished wood floors were Oriental runners between islands of rough, oak shipping skids and iron turtles. There was Fine Art everywhere, but none more prominent than the silver and gilt framed prints on the wall over the oily, grease jointed Kelly B. One a windowsill were curios of every description, lives a small animal skull, a dried whole pomegranate or two and a toy monkey in a stick and string frame. And there was Harold,” David Bourbeau describes his first experience at Gehenna Press, “An introduction to the world of fine press and bookmaking that has shaped and consumed my life ever after.”83

Most of the people who had walked through the doors of Gehenna Press have the same experience; they are overwhelmed by the splendor that the press provides.

Barry Moser

When asked why Massachusetts was such a mecca of book artists Barry Moser replied,

“People joke that it’s the water,” he says. “But it is a combination of factors. We have one of the world’s highest densities of wonderful authors around here. And we had Leonard Baskin as an example of what could be achieved, with Harold McGrath at his side to translate and make Baskin approachable.”84

Barry Moser first came across the name, Leonard Baskin while studying at Auburn. He was struck by a striking black and white figure of a disfigured and upturned man, a . From that moment on Moser started following Baskin’s career. He tried to do his first engraving as an incompetent scholar, with an exacto knife. In 1962, after graduation Moser moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts, a town over from Leonard

83 Robinson, H.P.M., Harold Patrick McGrath, 50.

84 Caxton Club, “Barrry Moser -- Engraver, Bookman’, http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2002/ Sep/Moser.htm.

32 Baskin. Never thinking a young kid from Tennessee could meet such a famous artist, he remembers getting a thrill from looking up Baskin’s name in the phone book and getting a rush. It seemed like a pipe dream until he met a local frame shop owner who took an interest in Barry Moser’s work, who also happened to be good friends with Leonard Baskin. The shop owner brought him over to Baskin’s studio to introduce them. Moser remembers Baskin being involved with his own work and hardly looking up. He came back a week later to start studying with him.85

Barry Moser states that during his time with Leonard Baskin he learned three things:

“-You must do the work over and over again until it’s right. Until is is better than it was before. You have to destroy the bad ones and start again. Creation only follows destruction.

-You must use the best materials you can possibly afford even if it means taking out a second mortgage on the house or borrowing from kin. But owning and using good materials is not enough in and of itself. You must also know and understand the nature, history, and composition of those materials. I have never made an image since with anything other than the very best materials I can afford.

-You must strive first to be a craftsman--to know how to put materials together into a unit--a beautiful, seamless, and coherent unit that possesses an inherent sense of inevitability and has qualities of permanence that will outlast you and, who knows, may even insure your own immortality.”86

Moser admits Baskin’s influence was powerful, it went beyond materials and composition but into language and intellectual life. He recalls printing for the first time in the shop as stepping into another era, but not into the past -- he had stepped into the future. That moment was a great epiphany in his life comparing it to how “Saul of Tarsus

85 Barry Moser, In the Face of Presumptions: Essays, Speeches, & Incidental Writings, (Boston, Massachusetts: David R Godine Publisher, 2000), 46.

86 Barry Moser, In the Face of Presumptions: Essays, Speeches, & Incidental Writings, 47.

33 would have felt when the scales of blindness fell from his eyes and the spirit of Jesus told him that his name, from that day forward, was Paul... I had, that day -- unknown and unexpectedly -- come home. Come home to my future life and to my artistic form: The

Book.”

Moser would eventually go on the opening a print shop with the infamous Harold

McGrath. Barry Moser began reading everything he could about printing, coming under the influence of Bruce Rogers, William Morris, Emery Walker, and Eric Gill. In collecting his own presses and type for his own shop inspired him to read, really read as his friend and American Printer said to him, “setting type is the most intense form of reading there is -- upside down and backwards.”87

Lance Hidy

Lance Hidy first discovered Leonard Baskin as a senior in high school at the Portland Art

Museum in Oregon. An exhibition displayed Baskin’s Illiad india ink drawings. As a teenager, Hidy realized this figurative drawing was not what was in style in 1963 and was intrigued by Baskin’s work for this reason88 at a time when many artists were concentrating on more abstract work.

Unknowingly following in the footsteps of Leonard Baskin, Hidy arrived at Yale as a freshman in 1964. On May 4, Baskin spoke at a Wayzgoose of the Honorable Company

87 Barry Moser, In the Face of Presumptions: Essays, Speeches, & Incidental Writings, 50.

88 Chandler, In the School of Baskin, 21.

34 of College Printers and Lance Hidy says he felt, “like I was being hit by a locomotive.”89

Inspired to operate the same press Baskin had used twenty-three years before to make his first book, Hidy would use to make his own. Lance Hidy jumped at the chance to visit

Gehenna Press with Yale librarians Ken Nesheim and Dale Roylance. Hidy says,

“Anyone who visited Gehenna in the 1960s were stunned.”90 Hidy brought along his book and while Baskin was busy with the librarians, Hidy was taken under Harold

McGrath’s wing. Harold immediately helped troubleshoot some of the problems he was having during the printing process; giving him tips to adjust the press.

Not long after, Hidy was invited to visit a class taught by Baskin at Smith College where the only assignment for the course was to: edit, design, and illustrate a little book, hand- set unpublished type, print the pages by letterpress, and bind it by hand. Hidy began neglecting his classes at Yale, and took on this challenge of creating a book instead. This led him to receive the ‘Scholar of the House’ exempting him from his courses allowing for him to concentrate on drawing, painting and printing for the year. Leonard Baskin was so impressed, he invited Hidy to continue his print education after his graduation from Yale.

Lance Hidy’s apprenticeship was not a long stay due to Hidy’s own struggle to find his own voice and style, but he took what he learned from Baskin and McGrath with him to carry through his whole career. His work may no longer resemble a student of Baskin,

89 Chandler, In the School of Baskin, 28.

90 Lance Hidy, “My Studies at the Free Academy of Gehenna”, Parenthesis, 6.

35 but his generosity towards the craft has only elevated book arts. Hidy remembers his time in Massachusetts,

“These three men, Baskin, McGrath, and Werner, were a free academy of the book arts, and the word soon spread. These Gehenna masters caused Northampton to become a book arts Mecca. Not only was no money ever requested in exchange for the education, Arno was known to dispense money tools, supplies, and room and board to support the fledgling apprentices. In one case he even helped a student purchase a car. Sandy Kirshenbaum, during the time she was publishing Fine Print, told me that she believed the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, including Northampton, Amherst, Hadley, and Easthampton, to be the most active and vibrant book arts community in the country. That vitality continues to this day.”91

Michael Kuch

Michael Kuch is one of Leonard Baskins last apprentices, but they were together for over a decade. Kuch attended Hampshire College, where Baskin was teaching. Before this

Kuch had been a self-taught artist since a young age and acknowledges Baskin’s style to have influenced his own maturing style. After graduation, Kuch stayed on with Baskin as an apprentice, and it is important to note that Kuch should be credited with incorporating color into Baskin’s bookwork. These years together were priceless to Kuch often joining

Baskin for family meals and endless conversations,

“I can hardly speak to the immense influence Leonard has had on my life. Whatever proportion of dumb luck & fate propelled me into Leonard’s close orbit fifteen years ago, my life now without having known him is unimaginable. What I can more easily articulate is what it felt like to know Leonard for all those years was like one long, fabulous conversation. A conversation as one might have on a summer’s afternoon for it felt that fluid. A conversation that meandered around making art & survival as an artist, around centuries of innumerable artists, their

91 Hidy, In the School of Baskin, 33.

36 triumphs & failings, around life’s curiosities & about the profundity of being human.”92

Michael Kuch later would move on to open his own press, Double Elephant Press, but still works with the same typesetter, printer and binder that Baskin was using in his later years. He creates contemporary Fine Press books, continually pushing the definition and line between Fine Press and Artists’ Book. In the small community of Western

Massachusetts Michael Kuch does not see the group as collaborators, but more of a happenstance of people with a common interest coming together to make a book. This does not mean everyone is meant to work with everyone else, many of these artists have found who works well together to create. Michael Kuch notes, “I don't so much seek advise from others; I find that advise seeks me: people have lots of opinions & they tend to not mind sharing. I do try to look at what other book artists are producing–some of it is quite lovely, some of it not so much.”93

More often than not Kuch says that the artist is the artist, printer the printer and binder the binder,

“Again, my use of local artisans in the production of my books is directly the result of Baskin's influence in western Massachusetts. Baskin's original binder, Arno Werner, taught many of the bookbinders who remained in the area. They in turn, taught another whole generation of local bookbinders. The old offices of the Gehenna Press with pressman, Harold McGrath, served as an ad hoc academy of sorts with a similar lineage of letterpress printers. Given the isolated industry of the typical visual artist, I really enjoy the collaboration that is nearly inevitable in producing books of the highest quality. To me it is like the composer who is

92 Michael Kuch, 2012, Interview by author, Washington, DC. May 25, 2012.

93 Kuch, 2012, Interview by author, Washington, DC. May 25.

37 required to work with musicians to perform the work. The artisans' influence on the design of the book is hard to parse. I would think that I have entirely designed my own books having only appropriated the 'good' ideas of others.”94

So many people went in and out of the studio’s of the Free Academy of Book Arts through the years; Graduate Student Barbara Cash did a census of those who, for “the love of the book,” engage in book arts activities in the Pioneer Valley during the period of

1954-2004 and over 82 people and presses were listed. Some have come and gone, but all have ties to the book arts community during these fifty years. The connections and collaborations among book workers fanning out from Northampton is far-reaching, and even distant book artists have become a part of the fabric in the Pioneer Valley book arts community.95

94 Kuch, 2012, Interview by author, Washington, DC. May 25.

95 Blumenthal, Paradise Printed and Bound, 89.

38 Conclusion

“This is very much like the challenges that the first printers faced in transferring the

standards of the calligraphy book, written with a quill pen, to the new industrial

technology of printing from metal type. If they could do it, so can we.” -Lance Hidy

There are other communities in the United States that draw book artists and printers. The

University of Wisconsin has drawn many with their Book Arts classes and esteemed book artists and designers, Walter Hamady, Jeffrey Morin and Caren Heft. The West Coast attracts artists interested in modern letterpress printing with Julie Chen and Barbara

Tetenbaum both professors at the colleges, Mills College and Oregon College of Arts and

Crafts. The list goes on with Iowa, Alabama and Washington, DC; all of which have educational programs featuring book arts. The tradition of the art carries on through the tight knit communities created at colleges. The students then expand throughout the world, allowing for book arts to spread amongst other communities. Apprenticeships have become almost a thing of the past, they limit the artist, and money restrictions often cause problems. The growing trend of book arts in colleges and universities is a positive reaction to young artists being intrigued by the medium.

“The landscape of book arts education in New England reflects the rich heritage of the art and history of the book in the region.”96 Massachusetts alone has three colleges offering book art programs; with three more in New England. All of the art colleges in the area

96 Blumenthal, Parenthesis 21, 33.

39 offer some kind of book art activities and there are numerous workshops opening up opportunities for people who are not full time students. These programs are allowing for the art to grow in new ways through the education of others. The artist can make a living making their art, and teaching the craft they have mastered while expanding the community.

Book arts must keep up with ever changing technology to attract potential interests. New technology is being integrated in the book arts by introducing it into classes such as graphic design. Artist, professor, and designer Jeffrey Morin says,

“In a large program with unlimited resources, bookarts can be taught as a separate discipline. Unfortunately, very few educators work in such an environment. For the vast majority, bookarts can be an energizing element of an established major or concentration area. Though many would expect the relationship to be established with the printmaking component, it is as logical to fold bookarts into the design curriculum. This added a layer of conceptual richness and creates a forum from which to collaboratively teach, creating a healthy and collegial environment. Ah, books.”97

By teaching bookarts in a graphic design setting, it is reaching a wider, younger audience that can later form new ways of using old crafts, such as polymer plates in letterpress and solar plates in etching. Embracing the future and understanding the past in an integral part of keeping the book art tradition alive.

97 Jeffrey Morin. “Finding a Place for Book Arts in Graphic Design” http:// www.sailorboypress.com/articles/bookarts.aspx.

40 The artists in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts understand historical convention and the importance of teaching each generation to carry on the craft. Each take in young interested artists and craftsmen , and teach at surrounding schools, colleges and workshops. . By continuing the long tradition of printmaking through the education of others the art is guaranteed a successful future.

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