Hammer Creek Press

Successor to the Hellbox Press (1938-1950), the Hammer Creek Press (1950-‘62) was the private press of book designer and typographer John Stroble Fass (1890-1973). Started in 1950 with the acquisition of a small Hughes and Kimber Albion press once owned by Bruce Rogers and purchased from Valenti Angelo, Fass impeccably printed small books, broadsides, bookplates, cards and one of a kind leaf prints primarily for his friends and associates. Friend and wood-engraver John DePol provided many engravings for his books. Most of his work was produced in his one-room apartment in the YMCA in New York City where he kept his type cases under his bed. The press was sold back to Valenti Angelo in 1962 and John Fass died in his hometown of Lititz, PA in 1973. Festina lente.