Bookarts Canada Profile
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
arts BOOK artscanada du livre VOlume 3 number 1 3 number VOlume 2012 pRofilE s EVAN ID AV d | s o T o H p he range of illustrators, calligraphers and authors mentioned in Hoi Barbaroi, the Jan Ttwenty-fifth anniversary bibliography of Barbarian Press, demonstrates the breadth of Jan Elsted’s printing experience. The Barbarian Elsted books I have had the pleasure of handling have filled me with awe: elegant and expressive layouts A Printer’s Printer are printed so the various elements look as if they fell effortlessly into place on the page. Jan speaks interviewed of discovering her hands as she tore paper for the by Tara Bryan first time, and the pages she has produced since 1977 show the passion, restraint, control, and dedi - cation of one who derives great pleasure from the challenges of producing a beautiful imprint. 2 B ook Arts arts du livre canAdA 2012 vol.3 no.1 TARA BRYAN: How did you learn to print; have you developed your own s system over time? EVAN d i JAN ELSTED: I learned by observing Graham Williams of the Florin V A d Press, and “boying” for him as he printed on a Columbian handpress. | s o Graham was a master at hand-inking and mixing inks, and was very T o H methodical in his approach. I credit his training for giving me the oppor- p tunity to hone my skills on a handpress before moving to automated PrTGi iN iN w TH TENdERNEss inking presses, and for by Simon Brett instilling in me a sense of the high standards of A wood engraver takes proofs craftsmanship necessary on finishing a block, which prove, to fine printing. I am es- sometimes painfully, what he has pecially grateful for his done or failed to do. The balance teaching of the special- between intentions and what can be ized techniques of print- achieved with the material is always ing wood engravings. uncertain, and while boxwood of- These have proven in- fers a close grain, and lemonwood valuable, for they have a more open cut, generalities and given me the foundation intentions alike crumble before how for what has become a particular specialization and joy: the printing a particular block behaves when of engravings from the wood. I owe Graham another debt of gratitude the tool touches it. Engravers try for offering life-saving practical advice regarding hand-printing the 121 to make a block that anyone can blocks of Endgrain: Contemporary Wood Engraving in North America in print, but often the sheets come a large edition: “try using your vertical platen instead of the Albion.” back with the artist’s intentions only Seventy-three thousand impressions later, I showered many blessings on partly realized. Sometimes, how- his head. The purist in me gave way to common sense – as much as it ever, we have the privilege of having ever exists in a craft devoted to aesthetics rather than economics – and I our blocks printed by a master such have been aspiring to that balance ever since. as Jan Elsted. As to my own system, I adhere to the somewhat contradictory goals My first attempt at working with of “less ink, more impression” and “kiss impression,” and have adapted Jan was to send her a block so the techniques of hand-printing to work on platen and cylinder presses, mangled with plugs (corrections solving problems by trial-and-error, and arriving at my destination which involve drilling out errors and by going rather than by meticulous planning. I do enjoy taking pains, inserting fresh wood; it is very hard whether in the details of “making ready” engravings or achieving colour to get them level) that even she consistency. I love mixing inks, but know virtually nothing about colour could not print it. Then, one of the theory, and play until the blend seems right and Crispin responds with blocks for our Pericles fell apart in “Yes, that’s what I was looking for.” Whether the ink dries on the page to the press. But Jan managed to coax the desired hue is always a little variable, but involves that element of im- the required number of prints from provisational joie de vivre which we both enjoy. I stand in awe of printers it nevertheless: the printer’s equiva- such as Gabriel Rummonds, Steven Heaver, or especially Russell Marat, lent of landing an airplane on the who can bring such scientific exactitude to their craft. Hudson River without loss of life, I B ook Arts arts du livre canAdA 2012 vol.3 no.1 3 think. She must enjoy a challenge. In preparing layouts for Pericles, the relation of images to text was hardly the same two pages together, and in sending her, batch by batch, more than 140 blocks for a 130-page book, I kept her entertained. The blocks, ranging in size from full pages to the size of postage stamps, were engraved on a miscellany of woods from best boxwood to oddments that hardly sustained a cut, and were accompanied by my suggestions. If Jan quailed at these, she never showed it, even when it meant aligning blocks on different sheets across the gut- ter, in detail. Most rewarding and often tear-jerkingly so, every time I sent her a proof of how I thought the engraving should look, she In the background, Jan prints on the Vandercook Universal III. In the foreground sent back prints that looked is the 1850 super royal Albion, and on the right, the 1854 foolscap folio Imperial. infinitely better, richer where richness is required, and more Each book requires specific attention, depending on page and type delicate where tenderness was size, the choice of paper, and the nature of illustration, and I choose called for. the press appropriate to these. The handpress is still called into service when a one-pull, multi-colour run is advisable, or when an engraving de- mands individual inking techniques or is notably above type height. The Vandercook (Universal III, usually) is generally the press of choice for text for its consistency of inking and ease of set-up, and for engravings where possible. It is not so adaptable, however, when it comes to the fine detail of make-ready for blocks: a platen press allows for a more acces- sible and efficient build-up of overlay. TB: In what order do you print pages? JE: I generally print pages signature by signature, two-up. We never have enough type in case to print an entire book of text, so set and dis For example, the block for the [sort type back into the typecase] as we go. I will begin in the middle of full-page engraving titled Descent the signature and work to either end, usually with text first followed by of Diana was a good one, but as the images. However, I always proof the blocks and paste them in place I worked up from the dark lower to be sure that text and image sit well together. Occasionally, I will print part into the radiance through a block while waiting for text to be ready, but it is a more nerve- 4 B ook Arts arts du livre canAdA 2012 vol.3 no.1 which the goddess descends, its limitations began to show. When required to sustain fine, fretted lines, or little shapes of fine-tinted shadow, it began to feel crumbly rather than crisp. When printed, the tiny remaining pieces of the surface, which should have appeared as separate marks, tended to congeal into blobs. s EVAN d i V A d o | T o H p The lightness of the idea eluded me. However, back came the The terms “super royal” and “foolscap folio” are indicators of the size of the presses’ platens; they were related to old handmade paper sizes. pages, and Diana was radiant: this was Jan Elsted after all. A wracking business as reprinting a page with a block on it is more great printer of wood engrav- arduous and risky: blocks require far more preparation and sometimes ings does not only command ink, deteriorate over the course of a run. machinery, and paper in making her proof: she is also able, some- : How do you decide which press to use for engravings? TB how, to enter into the mind of the JE: It depends on the state of the block (both height and condition); the ink- wood engraver she is working ing (an area of the block may require less ink than the rest, or even hand- with, to know better than he does dabbing with a small ink ball); the paper (page size and surface quality), himself what is in his heart, and and most importantly, the degree and extent of make-ready required. then prove that. Furthermore, One of the mysteries of printing wood blocks on a cylinder press is that she told me, more than once, how sometimes the surface will just not take the ink: it seems to smear rather much she enjoyed doing so. • than penetrate. In those cases, I transfer the block to a platen press and the Over a career spanning 50 years, problem is generally solved. I have no particular answer for this, but just English engraver simoN BRETT has accept it as one of the inevitable unknowns that makes life interesting. illustrated some 60 books, including two for Barbarian Press and many TB: How do you choose and prepare your ink? Folio Society classics, as well as making individual prints. His 98 signed JE: Ah yes, ink: the bane of my existence.