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11 x 7 ½ ins, 20 double-page spreads, alternately of full colour images printed by the artist on heavyweight Zerkall chamois geglattet mould-made paper, and 24 point Caslon type printed on Somerset mould-made paper, in a threadless, cased zig-zag binding, in an edition of 350 copies. 225 copies in a decorated slipcase. £145 125 copies with a portfolio of signed prints of the images, including an additional print, and a 24 x 36 in. poster of one of the images, all in a
THESE LETTERS WHERE WRITTEN BY Myfanwy Thomas, ‘daughter the younger’ of the poet Edward Thomas, to her Japanese friend and Thomas scholar Masatsugu Ohtake, for whom we undertook this unusual project. The book charmingly records, first tentatively and then more familiarly, Masatsugu’s admiration for Thomas, and Myfanwy’s pleasure in the interest that was shown in her father’s work on the other side of the world. It contains twenty wood-engravings by Hellmuth Weissenborn, who engraved the illustrations for the Press’ THE DIARY OF EDWARD THOMAS, 1 January to 8 April 1917, published in 1977, and a foreword by Richard Emeny, secretary of the Edward Thomas Fellowship and friend of both Myfanwy and Masatsugu. The book is hand-set and printed in an edition of 100 copies on a special making of Kozo hand-made paper, made from a single mulberry tree. Masatsugu has allowed us to keep 50 copies for sale, which we have full-bound in a specially smooth making of ochre Oasis goatskin, with matching marbled endpapers by Christopher Rowlatt, and with a separate portfolio of proofs of the engravings printed in black. The copies are signed by Masatsugu in Japanese calligraphy, and stamped with his seal. Eight copies of this delicately made book are still available at £265.
The newest addition to the series, currently described on the web as ‘by far the finest periodical of the book arts of the twentieth century, surpassing even the seven-volume Fleuron issued in the 1920s’ [Bromer Booksellers, Boston] and ‘a highly literate and gloriously produced chronicle of fine printing’ [Wykeham Books, London]. MATRIX 28 covers a huge range of topics, from the unique founts of the Offizin Haag-Drugulin in Leipzig (illustrated by a 20 x 30 in removable poster printed at the Offizin for Matrix on Italian Fedrigoni paper), to the brilliantly eccentric correspondence of Eric Gill’s son-in-law René Hague, letterpress printing in São Paolo, the first sight of the Janet fount engraved on boxwood by Reynolds Stone, the extraordinary story of the Paige typesetter on which Mark Twain lost his fortune, and the Vandercook proof press which celebrates its hundredth birthday. There are wonderful examples of letterpress printing from around the world including Katherine Ruffin’s Vandercook created in six workings of silver and grey from wood and metal type, Ernst Schneidler’s Antiqua Roman printed in Dresden, Antiykwa Poltawskiego from Lodz, and Fancy Types by Mackellar, Smiths and Jordan printed at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York. There are unpublished photographs by Lee Miller of Jean Miró working in the Atelier Lacouriere in Paris, and rarely-seen portraits by Janet Stone (Reynolds’ wife) of Stanley Morison, Edward Ardizzone, John Nash and David Jones; and important accounts of the work of the Baynard, Lion and Unicorn and Curwen Presses. The special copies are bound in brilliantly coloured leather and paper marbled by Christopher Rowlatt, and come with a portfolio of eight additional photographs by Janet Stone. 70 copies quarter bound in Oasis leather and marbled papers, with a separate folio of photographic prints, £335 [subscribers’ pre-publication price, out of print]
This richly illustrated issue comes with samples of the scintillating papers from Cave Papers in Minneapolis; descriptions of, and colour-engravings from, Abigail Rorer’s Mimpish Squinnies, Gaylord Schanilec’s Sylvae, and Geri Waddington’s of the Dordogne; accounts of the surreal world of Adanaland, with a perforated sheet of the local stamps; Andrew Anderson’s recently rediscovered posters; Lee Miller’s photographs of Egypt; Howard Bratter’s Woodside Press in Brooklyn; a visit to Joseph Cribb in Ditchling in 1955; Jane Grabhorn’s Jumbo Press in San Francisco; and Hilary Pepler’s The Hand Press. The variety and zest of MATRIX 27 mirrors that of the rest of the series. With the usual fold-outs, tip-ins and sew-ins from printers around the world. A few copies of the regular edition are still available. Quarter bound in Oasis leather and marbled papers, with a separate folio of photographic prints, £335 [out of print]
When Gwenda Morgan died in 1980, we found she had kept an extraordinary diary throughout the war when she had worked as a land girl in and around her native Petworth in Sussex. The diary describes in a matter-of-fact but completely engaging way the daily rigours of life on the land throughout the year: ‘September 1 1939. Germany has begun to bomb Poland. Damn and blast Hitler. Didn’t go to farm. Billeted children…. March 14 1940. Snowed a blizzard. A surprise to everyone after the warmer spell we’ve had. Peter Thorne came into rick yard with some sheep looking an amazing picture. Wrapped in sacks that were white with snow, and his head white too, and his face and hands bright vermilion. He had a letter from Land Army offering me a job between Henfield and Hurstpierpoint. Very inaccessible so don’t think I shall take it.’
This eclectic and engaging Aga cook book was first published in 1984, and went through five editions. Thinking it had sold out, we forgot about it until the Fine Bindery had a sort out and found another 200 sets of sheets from the 1996 edition. These they have bound up, and suddenly Randle family life of 25 years ago has sprung to life again in Judith Verity’s wonderfully zestful linocuts of piles of nappies on the Aga, a child blowing out three candles on his birthday cake, Rose searches the freezer in vain for more food and picks up windfalls with the dog, while the guinea pigs argue over a lettuce leaf. In between are some excellent recipes, all written by a cook who doesn’t care to spend too much time on preparation. To judge by the prices now asked for the first edition (bound in tartan worsted) this may become a cook book classic (we recently saw a copy advertised as ‘with a rare signature by Rosalind Randle’). 7 ½ x 5 ins, bound in printed cotton, £17.50 |
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