The Poetry of Richard Outram

single words or a brief phrase. A bonus for costing for many of the “bells and whistles” (to the Carson collector is an envelope of draw- use their phrase) that have made McSweeney’s ings by the writer; Hö comix. A remaining productions unique. For example, I now know bibliographic mystery is that the box of the set that leatherette case wrap will cost $2.30 per I purchased is black, while every photo of it on unit and a fold-out poster-sized dust jacket with the Internet, all clearly derived from the Steidl printing on both sides (see the volume under catalogue entry, which is still online, is white. review as an example) will cost $0.27 per unit. Wonderwater is an example of a title that Of particular interest to the collector are the is likely to be more elusive because buyers details behind variant states for some titles. For (collectors and libraries) with different collec- example, McSweeney’s number 11 appeared in tion focuses are drawn to it. In this instance three different coloured leatherette covers for the it is not difficult to imagine Horn, Bourgeois, simple reason that the printer didn’t have stock Carson and even Waters enthusiasts needing of one colour for the full press run. It turns out the set. I am not so sure Cixous will attract that the orange cover of 1,800 copies will be much collecting interest but I stand to be corrected. more elusive than the black cover of 9,000 copies. The third printing of Dave Eggers’ What Is the * * * What in red was 10,000 copies but will also prove elusive (in these parts at least) as most of the I recently purchased The Art of McSweeney’s print run went to Ohio State University, which (Chronicle, 2010) and wish I had had it to hand assigned the book to its entire incoming fresh- when I discussed the press in Amphora 153. A man class. This is the kind of deep background heavily illustrated oral history on the publisher, that sets a collector’s adrenaline surging. the volume captures the motivations and modus All in all, The Art of McSweeney’s provides operandi of a collective devoted to the pleasures fascinating insights into a seemingly quixotic of the book as object. Coming as he does from publishing enterprise. Highly recommended. a generation much more likely to be immersed in the digital world, McSweeney’s devotion to books as “things we want to keep” is heartening: • Paul Whitney is city librarian at the Vancouver Public Library. We came together and remain together only out of a mutual love of words… and are committed to the neverending REVIEWS process of reinventing bookmaking to best guarantee those words live and last. Through Darkling Air: The Art of McSweeney’s goes well beyond the The Poetry of Richard Outram visual to encompass fascinating details on author relations, editing, design, production By Peter Sanger and budgeting for many of their titles, including (Gaspereau Press, 2010, $65.95) all issues of the journal up to number 31. Reproductions of late-19th and early-20th- It has been eight years since the last century book covers and title pages from the publication of the Gauntlet Press was issued. press “reference shelf” point to the inspiration Peter Sanger’s study Through Darkling Air: for the look of many McSweeney’s titles. Of par- The Poetry of Richard Outram has brought ticular interest are descriptions of the interactions the Gauntlet Press, the private press run between designers and printers, most notably by Outram and his wife, Barbara Howard, Oddi, the Icelandic printer for the majority back into people’s consciousness. of early McSweeney’s titles. Detailed printing Will Ransom, in Private Presses and Their specifications are provided along with the Books, recognized the Gauntlet Press as a 33 significant example of the private press as the as to the choice of endpapers, text papers, colours typographic expression of a personal ideal, and binding. Howard and Outram isolated conceived in freedom and maintained in themselves from the commercial pressures that independence. In 1954, having recently gradu- restrict independence. Generally speaking, ated from the University of Toronto, Richard the books and broadsides were not sold but Outram moved to London, England, where given to friends. If any were left over after this he met Barbara Howard. She had graduated distribution, these might be sold. This practice, from the Ontario College of Art and was not typical in the private press world, combined in England for further study with the aim with the small editions, might explain why of becoming a professional artist. Outram Gauntlet Press items rarely come on the market. began to write poetry about this time. The primary aim of Peter Sanger’s Through In England, Howard and Outram encoun- Darkling Air is to bring Outram’s poetry to the tered the English private press movement. notice of scholars and the general public and This was the inspiration for Christmas show that it is very deserving of attention. cards they sent during this period. Howard In discussing Outram’s poetry, Sanger has designed a wood engraving. Outram pro- of necessity discussed the Gauntlet Press and vided the poem that served as the text. the bringing together of Howard’s design In the late 1950s they returned to Canada and ideas and wood engravings with Outram’s were married. The best man at their wedding was poetry. It is not my purpose here to comment Allan Fleming, the noted Canadian designer. on how successful Sanger is in achieving his Fleming’s imprint, the Tortoise Press, published aims. Rather, I wish to point out that Through Outram’s first book of poetry in 1959 (the only Darkling Air provides a unique opportunity book issued by that press). Outram had six of his to gain some insight into these two artists and poems published in the second number (July their private press. A potential reader should 1961) of James Reaney’s journal on literature and note that these discussions by the author are the arts, Alphabet. Fleming designed Alphabet and distributed through a text of 433 pages although Reaney set all of the text by hand, making it some- somewhat concentrated in two chapters. thing of a journal in the private press tradition. From 1960 to 1988, the Gauntlet Press printed It was out of this background that Outram and everything by letterpress, with wood engravings Howard resolved in 1960 to set up their own pri- printed from the wood. After 1989, the Gauntlet vate press, which they called the Gauntlet Press. Press produced its books and broadsides elec- Howard continued to pursue her work as a painter tronically and printed them on an ink-jet printer. and wood engraver with a great deal of success. As the publisher of Through Darkling Air, Meanwhile, Outram wrote poetry while working Gaspereau has given us something more than crit- as a stagehand for CBC Television in Toronto. ical commentary in this book. It contains 32 pages Gauntlet Press publications reflected the in- of colour illustrations of Gauntlet Press broad- tense collaboration of these two artists. Together sides and pages from books. Howard made liberal they designed the broadsides or books, set the use of colour in the Gauntlet Press publications. type and printed them by hand, often using more The wood engravings were printed in various than one colour. Howard provided the wood colours of ink. Titles were frequently printed in a engravings and bound the books. The pair were colour of ink different from the rest of the text. committed to printing only what they wanted These illustrations include pages from three to print. Until the 1990s this was restricted to books produced in the early 1970s: Creatures, Outram’s poetry and Howard’s wood engrav- Locus and Arbor. In particular, plate 37 stands ings. Broadsides with poems by writers that out. Here we see reproduced on two pages face Outram admired were published in the 1990s. to face what is an exquisite double-page spread All of the design elements reflected Howard’s in the original, Creatures. One only wishes training as a visual artist. Each book or broadside that the pages were reproduced to size, but the was a work of art showing careful consideration plates do provide original measurements, and 34 readers can get a good sense of the layout. Canada, I find myself not wanting to shelve it As one would expect in a work focusing on because it looks so happy on my coffee table. Outram’s poetry, Through Darkling Air does It is not, however, a picture book, despite its not contain bibliographic descriptions of the 20 colour plates, 40 black and white illustrations, Gauntlet Press publications. Outram published and chapter heading icons borrowed from the a few items after Howard’s death in 2002 but cover image. Nor is it a typical academic tome, did not use the imprint of the Gauntlet Press as despite its 132 pages of notes and bibliography, its the publisher. Pages from some of these are also comprehensive index, its nine-page “Chronology illustrated. Richard Outram died in January 2005. of Children’s Print History in Canada,” and its As a physical object, this is an outstanding professional methodology of exhaustive research visual publication. The text comprises 460 described in the introduction. It’s a story. pages plus the aforementioned 32 pages of il- Our narrative begins far back in the 18th lustrations, containing 71 images. A substantial century. The first adventure, “Beginnings to number of the images are in full colour.

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