LA Letterpress Scene

On July 21, 2017, I was part of a discussion on the LA Letterpress Scene that the International Printing Museum presented as part of the APA Letterpress Wayzgoose that occurred July 20 through the 23. I talked about the development and use of photopolymer in Los Angeles as well as announcing the forthcoming 5th edition of my monograph, Printing digital type on the hand-operated flatbed cylinder press, which was produced in May 2018, by Chatwin Books, Seattle.

Current exhibition/s

Curated by Carolee Campbell is Catching the Light: Bookworks from Southern California 2/2—4/30/2018 at the San Francisco Center for the Book, as well as the concurrent Broadsides from Southern California at the Book Club of California. A catalog (covering both exhibitions) is available from the San Francisco Center for the Book for $20 plus $8 for shipping.

Both exhibitions have Bieler Press entries.

Rolling Stone Poem

Very recently I was surprised and delighted to hear from Daniel Rayzel inquiring about my poem Stars. This had been published in Rolling Stone on May 20, 1976. Daniel was kind enough to send a copy of a photo he had taken. I was a bit clueless as both records and copies of my published poetry had long ago been sent to the University of Minnesota Archives and are near impossible to access. Quite grateful for this find as the three or four other of my poems that were published in the magazine have been hard to find.

International Printing Museum Annual Fair

I will once again have tables at the International Printing Museum’s Los Angeles Printers Fair. This year, 2017,  the fair features “the book arts and paper.”

Saturday, October 14, 10 am to 4 pm. Carson, California.

Aaron Horkey work printed by The Bieler Press

We are making work by Aaron Horkey and printed by The Bieler Press available for purchase. Please go to Fine Press Broadsides at http://bielerpressv.blogspot.com/ to find listings.

Bieler Press Book Tables October 2016

I will be attending two fairs/conferences this October and will have tables with material for sale at both of them.

1) The Los Angeles Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum. Saturday, October 1, 10 am – 5 pm. Carson, California. I’ve been there every year since they started the Fair. Always a good time. Stop by and say hello.

2) The American Printing History Association at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The Black Art & Printers’ Devils: The Magic, Mysticism, and Wonders of Printing History. Friday, October 7, from 11am to 4pm. I will bring our book Black-letter: an interpretation of events relating to the time and presence of Johann Gutenberg, during whose production was the only time I encountered a demon intent on taking over the print shop! For several months we tried everything. . .

For Sale: Bieler Press Equipment

The Bieler Press no longer actively publishes nor is involved in actual letterpress printing. We are, and will be, putting up for sale many tools, equipment, and materials that Bieler Press used for printing in its 42+ years. Check occasionally the Letterpress Presses, Equipment, Tools, Materials, Etc. page (http://bielerpressiv.blogspot.com) for up-to-date information.

Gruffyground Press Chapbooks available

In 2003, The Bieler Press was commissioned to produce one of the final chapbooks of The Gruffyground Press, The Phoenix and Turtle. Publisher, Anthony Baker, never did shut down though so this was followed by several other projects from Gruffyground, including the recent The Elegie (below). Both titles are available from Gruffyground.

The Phoenix and Turtle. The poem of ‘Truthes and Beauties doome and date’ by William Shakespeare. Based on a setting by Sem Hartz. Hartz, in an attempt to capture the look of the Secretary hand of Shakespeare’s period, chose the Enschedé foundry’s Lettres Françoise Civilité of Robert Granjon for his edition. The typeface used in this edition is a size-optimized and letterpress-configured version of Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ digital rendition.

The cover features a digitally reconstructed engraved ornamental initial originally designed by Richard Pynson (ca 1505). A capital S, with the head and elongated neck of a mythological bird extending out from the letterform. Designed and letterpress printed by Gerald Lange from photopolymer plates on Frankfurt Creme and Curtis Flannel (covers). Hand sewn by the publisher. The edition is limited to 220 copies. 11 pages. 4-1/8 by 6-1/4 inches. 2003.

Recently produced by Lange (November 2014) is An Elegie by Ben Jonson, whose production is patterned after the above The Phoenix and Turtle, but features a different Civilité (based on the original Saint Augustin) from the digital foundry P22. Papers (except for cover color) and sizing are otherwise similar. This is typeset by Baker’s bibliographer Mark Askam of Chestnut Press, who also created a similar cover image to fit this new publication (a composite from 15th century elements of Vérald and Malliet). This is considered the second issue in Gruffygrounds’ Shakespeare and His Contemporaries series.

As previously, designed and letterpress printed by Gerald Lange from photopolymer plates on Frankfurt Creme and Curtis Flannel (covers). Hand sewn by the publisher. The edition is limited to 220 copies. 7 pages. 4-1/8 by 6-1/4 inches. 2014.

New Goudy Broadside Available

The Appearance of the Work. A short quote by Frederic W. Goudy, designed and printed in four passes on mouldmade paper. Issued in a limited edition given to attendees of Gerald Lange’s lecture “The Photopolymer Plate Process and Refined Typography on the Letterpress Printed Page,” sponsored by the American Printing American History Association, May 4, 2013. Set by Lange in Trinité No. 3 from The Enschedé Font Foundry. 70 copies were kept for sale. 8⅞ by 10½ inches. $40.00.

Tiny chapbooks

In 2003, Lange was commissioned by type designer Jill Bell to print a small chapbook for presentation at TypeTechnica. Designed by Bell, Paradox uses her typefaces Adobe Bruno, Adobe Bruno Bold, and ITC Clover.

Cover of Curtiss Flannel printed in two colors. Text paper Frankfurt White mouldmade. 4-5/16 by 5-7/16 inches. 8 pages. 250 signed and numbered copies. 

The day before Jill was off to Heidelberg, Germany for her keynote presentation I had finished the printing and folding and asked her how she was going to bind the chapbook. She thought she'd grab a stapler somewhere. When she arrived in the morning to pick up the packages the chapbooks were all hand sewn. Long night. She was very appreciative. At the presentation Hermann Zapf caught her eye, held up the book, pointed at the sewn knot and gave her the thumbs up sign!

Available for purchase from The Bieler Press for $45.


Sex Education by Julie Becker, published in 1983, is a chapbook version of the very first publication issued under The Bieler Press imprint, a humorous broadside issued in 1975

The chapbook measures 4.5 by 7.25 inches but when opened the inner single sheet of Frankfurt White paper, containing the entirety if the poem spread out in six panels of a concertina fold, measures 26 inches long! The covers were issued in either pink or blue. Naturally!

I was reading through a recent catalogue by Nicholas Pounder, Rare Books (Australia), in which I was pleased to see the item described as “beautifully designed: both majestic and clever.” Intrigued, and looking through the physical inventory I discovered I had a few more than my regular stash. These are priced at $75.