New Letterpress Books
I have just received several recently published books about letterpress that are of note. The most recent one is Brandon Mise’s “Adventures in Letterpress,” published by Laurence King Publishing Ltd in London. Brandon has been working on his tribute to letterpress for the past several years and it is now in print, all 240 pages of it. The book features work from about 70 of today’s letterpress printers. It has a very tight design, somewhat reminiscent of work I recall my typography instructor from college, Jack Stauffacher, once tried to instill in us.
The next book is “For the Love of Letterpress” written by Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis. This is a book of 160 pages published by Bloomsbury in 2013. It is abundantly illustrated with full color illustrations that cover all varieties of letterpress work. This arrived today and it invites reading as the text covers all aspects of printing from history to hands on explanations of techniques. Cathie has attempted to bribe me in the past with a wonderful rum cake, and it worked, so go buy her book.
And then Rich Hopkins’ incredible book on the Monotype, titled “Tolbert Lanston and the Monotype” arrived today as well. Published by The University of Tampa Press in 2012, this is a wonderful book that covers the whole story of the Monotype system of metal typesetting, extremely well illustrated in color throughout its 214 pages. Rich has been the motivating force behind the bi-annual American Typecasting Fellowship get togethers that have been a must event for me to attend.
I haven’t had time to do anything except to scan these books, but what a treat to have new, real books on letterpress at hand. And thankfully, this is material not found on the internet. Support these authors and buy their books. A new book in the works has been announced in the Briar classifieds, Gabriel Rummonds’ “Fantasies & Hard Knocks: My Life as a Printer” and that may be of interest to many letterpress printers.
fritz
Thanks for sharing!
I had the opportunity to thumb through Grabriel Rummonds manuscript a few months ago and it looks fascinating. He’s collaborated with, and printed for many top-tier authors, and artists, both living and deceased, in many beautiful locations around the world. And all on a hand press no less.