Book of the Week — Prayers Written at Vailima

03 Monday Dec 2018

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Allwyn O'Mara, Bembo, Bonnie Thompson Norman, California, Catherine Kanner, Fanny Stevenson, french-fold, Hiromi-Sansui, letterpress, linoleum cuts, Pacific Palisades, poet, prayer, Robert Louis Stevenson, Samoa, Scottish, The Melville Press, The Windowpane Press, Vailima

“Deliver us from fear and favor; from mean hopes and cheap pleasures. Have mercy on each in his deficiency; let him not be cast down; support the stumbling on the way, and give at last rest to the weary.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

Prayers Written at Vailima
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Pacific Palisades, CA: The Melville Press, 1999
PR5488 P75 1999

In 1889, Robert Louis Stevenson moved his family to Vailima in the South Sea island of Samoa. The Scottish novelist and poet was in failing health. His doctors hoped that a change in climate would help. Stevenson believed in the power of prayer and composed many of his own. He held evening prayer services in his home, attended by his family members and his Samoan servants. The Samoans had a strong tradition of closing each day with prayer and hymns.

Stevenson lived for another four years, dying on December 3^rd. In 1910, Fanny Stevenson had her husband’s prayers published as an ornate gift book, to which she added her own introduction. There is a morning prayer and two evening prayers, a prayer for time and a prayer for rain, a prayer for separation, a prayer for friends and a prayer for family, a prayer for Sunday, a prayer for self-blame and a prayer for self-forgetfulness, and a prayer for joy.

In this edition, both book and jacket have a delicate, handmade quality that reflects the subject matter of native prayers in a far corner of the world. Designed by Catherine Kanner, with her linoleum cuts used directly to print the many illustrations. The text was composed using handset Bembo types and printed letterpress by Bonnie Thompson Norman of The Windowpane Press. The paper used is natural white Hiromi-Sansui paper in the 24 gsm weight, in French-folded signatures. The binding design is a collaboration between the book’s designer and Allwyn O’Mara, the binder.

Edition of two hundred numbered copies. Rare Books copy is no. 95, signed by the designer.

Inanna: from the great above she set her mind to the great below

07 Wednesday Mar 2018

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Bembo, goddess, Inanna, Jana Lee Pullman, map, Nideggen, Sumer

“From the great above she opened her ears to the
great below,
The goddess, from the great above she opened her
ears to the great below”

Inanna: from the great above she set her mind to the great below
Jana Lee Pullman
Madison: Western Slope Press, 1989
PS3566 U55 I63 1989

Printed on Nideggen with 12pt Bembo. Edition of twenty-five. Rare Books copy is no. 5.

Book of the Week — Colours of Persia

26 Monday Dec 2016

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airbrush, Barcham Green, Baskerville, Bembo, calligraphy, carborundum, collages, color, crayon, Curzon, cut-outs, drypoint, English, etchings, Farsi, foldouts, Garamond Italic, goatskin, gold foil, Hafez, inlaid leather, Isfahan, Ker Porter, letterpress, linocuts, London, Mashad, onlays, Persia, Prix de Rome, Richard de Bas, Saadi, Shiraz, silver foil, Susan Allix, Tehran, tilework, University of Utah, watercolor, Yazd

Although I have no beauty, colour & perfume
Am I not after all the grass of His garden?”
— Saadi

COLOURS OF PERSIA: PERCEPTIONS, ACCOUNTS…
Susan Allix (b. 1943)
London, 2007
N7433.4 A57 C65 2007

From the artist: “The text is arranged around the headings of five cities – Tehran, Mashad, Yazd, Shiraz and Isfahan. These names are printed in English in 48pt. Garamond Italic and Farsi, which was cast in Tehran. Different typefaces have been used for the different voices of the authors: Ker Porter speaks in Bembo, Curzon in Baskerville, Hafez in varying sizes of Garamond.
Handset and letterpress printed on handmade Barcham Green. The paper for the prints is handmade Richard de Bas. Twenty-six prints, of which seventeen are etchings with drypoint, carborundum and other methods, seven are linocuts, and two are a combination of two or more of these processes. Four prints in black and white, the rest in color, including hand coloring by watercolor, crayon and airbrush, and gold and silver foil.
Additionally illustrated with some foldouts of varying sizes, including some with cut-out shapes. A variety of colored sheets act as interleaving or free colored collages.
Bound in goatskin, some of which has been dyed cobalt blue and yellow. The inlaid leather is also inlaid with waxed paper printed in a style similar to tilework, its semi-transparent quality allowing the title to show through in shadow. The design, based on architectural shapes, has onlays of black, freely-cut leather reminiscent of calligraphy. Within the edition, each binding differs slightly.”
This is the forty-fifth publication of Susan Allix, who has received the Prix de Rome for her book work. Edition of twenty-five copies, signed by the producer. University of Utah copy is no. 9.

Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014), In Memorium

11 Saturday Apr 2015

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A Poet's Alphabet of Influences, Alfred A. Knopf, Atheneum, Austin, Barbara Cash, Bembo, blind-stamp, Blizzard of One, Bonnie Sucec, BookLab, C. N. Potter, Charles Seluzicki, Columbian handpress, Crown Publishers, Curtis Rag, Darker, Day Christensen, Don Howell, Elegy for My Father: Robert Strand, Gretchen Esping, handset, Humanities Research Center, Iowa City, Ives Street Press, Jorge Luis Borges, Josef Albers, K. K. Merker, Kim Merker, Larry Yerkes, Linotype Janson, Luminsim, Maine, Mark Strand, Monotype Univers, Neil Welliver, New York, Oregon, Photo-silkscreens, Pillar Guri Press, Portland, Prose, Pulitzer Prize, Random House, Reasons for Moving, Red Butte Press, Rives BFK, Romanee, Salt Lake City, Selected Poems, Shari Madsen, Sleeping With One Eye Open, Spectrum, Stempel Helvetica, Stone Wall Press, Sweden, Texas, The Continuous Life, The Manuscript Society of America, The Night Book, The Story of Our Lives, Twinrocker Paper Mill, uncorrected proof, University of Texas at Austin, University of Utah, Van Dijck, Vandercook Test, William Pène du Bois (1916-1993), William R. Holman, Windhover, Windhover Press, woodcuts

Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand taught at The University of Utah from 1981 to 1993.

“And though it was brief, and slight, and nothing
To have been held onto so long, I remember it,
As if it had come from within, one of the scenes
The mind sets for itself, night after night, only
To part from quickly and without warning.”

From “Luminism,” The Continuous Life

Sleeping With One Eye Open
Iowa City: Stone Wall Press, 1964
PS3569 T69 S55 1964

Printed by K. K. Merker from Romanée type on Curtis Rag paper. Edition of two hundred and twenty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 60.

[

Reasons for Moving
New York: Atheneum, 1968
PS3569 T69 R4 1969

University of Utah copy is poet’s autographed copy.

Darker
New York: Atheneum, 1970
PS3569 T69 D3 1970

University of Utah copy autographed by the poet.

Elegy for my father: Robert Strand, 1908-1968
Iowa City: Pillar Guri Press, 1973
PS3569 T69 E44 1973

Photo-silkscreens by Gretchen Esping. Printed by Shari Madsen in 14 pt. Bembo on handmade Japanese Shogun paper. Edition of one hundred and fifty copies.

The Story of Our Lives
New York: Atheneum, 1973
PS3569 T69 S7

University of Utah copy autographed by the poet.

Texas
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
Austin: Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1975
PQ7797 B635 T4 1975

Translation by Mark Strand. Keepsake for the members of The Manuscript Society of America, designed by William R. Holman. Set in Linotype Janson. Edition of two hundred and ninety-five copies.

[

The Night Book
New York: C. N. Potter: Distributed by Crown Publishers, 1985
First edition
PS3569 T69 N55 1985

Illustrations by William Pène du Bois (1916-1993)

[

Prose
Portland, OR: Charles Seluzicki, 1987
PS3569 T69 P76 1987

Drawings by Josef Albers. Printed by Barbara Cash at the Ives Street Press, Sweden, Maine. Text set in Monotype Univers. Titles hanset in Stempel Helvetica. Blind-stamp throughout. Paper is Rives BFK. Edition of one hundred and eighty-seven copies. University of Utah copy is no. 80, signed by the poet.

Blizzard of one
New York: Alfred A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1998
PS3569 T69 B57 1998

Uncorrected proof.

The Continuous Life
Iowa City: Windhover Press, 1990
PS3569 T69 C66 1990

Woodcuts by Neil Welliver. Printed by Kim Merker and Don Howell using a Vandercook Test press from handset Spectrum types on Windhover paper. Binding by Larry Yerkes. Edition of two hundred and twenty-five copies, numbered.

Selected Poems
New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1990
PS3569 T69 A6 1990

Uncorrected proof.

A poet’s alphabet of influences
Salt Lake City: Red Butte Press, 1993
PS3569 T69 P64 1994

Drawings by Bonnie Sucec, hand-painted by the artist. Designed, set by hand and printed damp on an 1846 Columbian handpress by Day Christensen. Type is 16 pt Van Dijck. Paper is handmade cotton rag from Twinrocker Paper Mill. Bound and boxed in linen case by BookLab. Edition of seventy-five copies plus 20 copies hors de commerce. This is copy XX, signed by the poet, artist, and printer.

Book of the Week – New Borders: The working life of Elizabeth…

05 Monday Jan 2015

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Adolf Hitler, Bauer Type Foundry, Bembo, Berlin Academy, calligraphy, Curwen, Elisabeth-Antiqua, Elizabeth Friedlander, Ellic Howe, English, font, forgery, Francis Meynell, Frankfurt, Friedlander-Antiqua, Georg Hartmann, Germany, Incline Press, Italian, Italy, Jewish, Linotype Corporation, London, Mondadori, Monotype, Nazi, Pauline Paucker, Penguin Books, propaganda, rubber stamps, Sandhurst, Third Reich, typeface, typography, Wehrmacht

New Borders. The working life of Elizabeth…
Pauline Paucker
Oldham, United Kingdom: Incline Press, 1998

Elizabeth Friedlander (1903-1985) produced calligraphy and decorative designs for books from the 1920s until her death. New Borders is based on her workbooks, which she kept throughout her life.

Born into an affluent family, Friedlander studied typography and calligraphy at the Berlin Academy. She worked for the German fashion magazine, “Die Dame,” designing headings and lay-outs, and attracting the attention of Georg Hartmann of the Bauer Type Foundry in Frankfurt. He invited her to design a typeface. This was to become their Elisabeth-Antiqua. It was originally meant to be named Friedlander-Antiqua. However, Adolf Hitler came to power just as the type was ready to be cast. Hartmann suggested that the name be changed from her Jewish surname to her first name.

The font was cut in 1939, after Friedlander left Germany. Under the Third Reich, Friedlander was forced to apply for official registration and was refused a work permit. She moved to Italy, where she was permitted to work so long as she did not become politically active. She learned Italian and worked with the publisher Mondadori, but in 1938, harsh Italian Race Laws threatened her employment. She moved to London, where she learned English and found a job as a domestic servant.

Francis Meynell found work for her as a designer. By 1942, she was in charge of design at Ellic Howe’s propaganda unit, where she produced forged Wehrmacht and Nazi rubber stamps while also working on freelance commissions.

Her most notable work included patterned papers for Curwen and Penguin Books, decorative borders for the Linotype Corporation, printer’s flowers for Monotype, and calligraphy for the Roll of Honour at Sandhurst.

Examples of her work tipped-in. Set in Bembo. Bound in half cream cloth over yellow and green-patterned paper, with a printed paper cover label. Edition of three hundred and twenty-five copies, signed by the author.

Book of the Week – Martyrs

19 Monday Aug 2013

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Bembo, Bembo italic, Edinburgh, England, Gaelic, Isle of Lewis, Jerusalem, Ken Campbell, Ogma, Oxford, Pictish Ogham, Precentor, psalms, saltire, School of Scottish Studies, Scots, St. Andrews, Stornoway Congregation, Stuart Elliot Rae, Western Isles, Zerkall

: Campbell, Martyrs, 1989

: Campbell, Martyrs, 1989

: Campbell, Martyrs, 1989

Martyrs
Ken Campbell (b. 1939)
Oxford, England: K. Campbell, 1989
N7433.4 C35 M38 1989

From the artist’s statement: “One day in Edinburgh I happened to pass the School of Scottish Studies. Remembering some music that I had heard twenty years before and wished to trace, I went in. An extremely patient lady told me it was on a record of polyphonic singing called ‘Gaelic Psalms from Lewis…which was first published in 1615. This stunning music gets right to your soul; it’s very upsetting. It is a style of singing that arose because Gaelic populations of the Western Isles had no psalm books in their native tongue. Consequently a form developed whereby the Precentor (or priest) would sing a line, and then the congregation would follow with great passion and devotion but, being Scots, often at their own speed. This action produces great waves of sound that sometimes start before the Precentor has finished ‘singing the line.’ I got a friend of mine, Stuart Elliot Rae, to transcribe the music for me, and translate the Gaelic to match the text with the music that was being sung. Then I put the note being sung at the top of a stave composed of brass rules. Underneath, I put the syllable that was being sung in Gaelic in woodletter, then below that the Pictish Ogham script equivalent, again in brass rule (Ogham is a Celtic script consisting of grouped lines). This looked faintly martial and certainly not Roman. I thought I would show Gaelic as a thing of beauty. The colour in the book was celebratory: it goes from cool to hot, with royal purple and gold and silver. Each new stanza starts with a representation of the saltire, the St Andrew’s cross, printed from a cut zinc solid that just kisses the small wavetops of the Zerkall paper to appear like granite. The notes are represented by Bembo italic capital Os set on their side. These are strung together at the end of the book, to make the chain that went from the tongue of the Celtic god Ogma as language binding all men…I tried to make this book as simple as I could, allowing such typographic skills as I may possess to carry its elements as a chant for the eye and the heart. The English, in progressively diminishing sizes, is at the back. Copy no. 1 of this edition now rests at the Stornoway Congregation on the Isle of Lewis, whose recorded singing inspired its making. The book is dedicated to those Scots who, circa 1800, when they were but 3% of the population of this nation state, nonetheless supplied 38% of its infantry. Text is Psalm 79, verses 3 & 4: “Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem…’ rendered into Gaelic, (sung to the tune ‘Martyrs’). Printed on double leaves in traditional Oriental format. Edition of 40 copies.

OPEN BOOK

~ News from the Rare Books Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

Tag Archives: Bembo

Book of the Week — Prayers Written at Vailima

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Inanna: from the great above she set her mind to the great below

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Book of the Week — Colours of Persia

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Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014), In Memorium

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Book of the Week – New Borders: The working life of Elizabeth…

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Book of the Week – Martyrs

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