Quarto GBW Midwest Newsletter 11-1 Winter 1998 Return to GBW Midwest Homepage Contents Final Report: Cris Takacs Steps Down New Co-Chair of the Midwest Chapter: Annie Tremmel Wilcox Gather Ye Type Fonts While Ye May The Midwest Chapter's New Web Page 1998 Midwest Chapter Annual Meeting Midwest Chapter 1997 Annual Report Announcements News from Your Studio Unclassifieds Final Report: Cris Takacs Steps Down The Midwest Chapter became ten years old in June 1997. That's pretty good for a "group" comprising eighty individuals scattered over ten (or more) states. We've rarely had more than sixteen people attend an annual meeting, but everyone is glad they came or sorry they missed it. You may have heard that the recently formed Delaware Chapter looks like it will fold for lack of attendance. That hasn't happened to us. Julia Miller and Maria Grandinette wrote the letters and held the meetings that formed our Chapter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1987. In October, 1997, Ann Arbor was the site of a most excellent GBW Standards Seminar. I confess, I missed the anniversary date. That sort of sums up my six year tenure in office. Lift you next glass of beer or cup of tea and give your Chapter a toast. And an extra "hip-hip" for Julia and Maria. In 1988, Andrea Klein, Ellie Strong, and I attended our first Standards Seminar in Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Hand Bookbinders. So impressed were we that we volunteered to hold the next Midwest Chapter annual meeting in Cleveland. Using Standards as our standard, Ellie and Andrea and Karen Esper and I put together a three-day extravaganza, which included the first Vendor's Showcase. Karen Crisalli had held an open house in her hotel room back in Chicago to sell leather. And of course we had Jan Sobota do a workshop on cover sculpture (for only $15). Harry Campbell took over as chairperson and Virginia Wisniewski-Klett edited the newsletter for the next two years. Harry got a Midwest exhibit touring and when the Standards were held in Bloomington, Indiana, I took over as chairperson. Harry had talked me into the idea the year before. Ginny had convinced Andrea Klein to take on the newsletter. This is how it is done. You cannot wait for volunteers. Andrea Klein edited the newsletter until her bookstore overtook her binding duties. Vicki Lee volunteered and stayed in the post, though her own address changes took her far from any known definition of the Midwest. I wouldn't let her quit until I found someone else who could do as good a job as she had. Thank you to Eric Alstrom for saying he thought he might be able to do it. I'm sure he can. [Ed. note: We will wait and see.] You will now have two chairpeople. Quite frankly, I tricked them into it. One in the "east," Gabrielle Fox Butler, and one in the "west," Annie Tremmel Wilcox. Between the two of them, they must know everyone in binding. If you had a notion that I was a "wild one," watch these two in action. I am sure you will see great things from the Chapter now. I'll stay on to help with Programs. It has taken me six years to learn how to do the job and I'm a little reluctant to let it go. I missed the first annual meeting of the newly formed Midwest Chapter because my car broke down on the Ohio Turnpike. I got towed home and spent the weekend at an aerobatics contest with some new friends - glider pilots. I later joined their club and earned my glider pilot's license. This month I take over as President for that group. A much smaller group and even less organized than the GBW. It is time to devote my energies there and become a better pilot. You've made me become a better binder. If you are ever in the Northeast Ohio area in the summer, give me a call and I'll take you up. Respectfully submitted, Cris Takacs return to contents New Co-Chair of the Midwest Chapter: Annie Tremmel Wilcox by Maximillian Bradawl, Roving Book Arts Reporter As of January 1, Annie Tremmel Wilcox, of North Liberty, Iowa became one of the co-chairs of the Midwest Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. "Cris Takacs did so much for the Midwest Chapter during her enthusiastic tenure as chair," Annie said, "it will take at least two people to replace her. I think Gabrielle Fox and I are up to the job." Annie first became interested in book arts while pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Iowa. She took a class in letterpress printing and was hooked. She continued to weave book arts courses into her graduate program, studying the history of the book as one of her major areas. Annie studied letterpress printing with Kim Merker, serving as his assistant for two years at the University's Windhover Press. During this time, Merker was gradually bringing the faculty to the University that would form the core of its Center for the Book. Annie studied papermaking with Tim Barrett, and became an apprentice to the late Bill Anthony. She completed her certificate in rare book and paper conservation studying under Pam Spitzmueller. "My time studying with Bill in-fluenced me deeply," Annie said. "He was such a talented binder and good teacher." To complete her graduate degree work, Annie wrote a book about her apprenticeship. That book, A Degree of Mastery: A Journey Through Craft Apprenticeship, will be published this fall by New Rivers Press in Minneapolis. Currently, Annie divides her time teaching in several departments at the University (book arts, rhetoric, and writing), doing pop-up workshops throughout the Midwest, and helping her husband Scot raise their two energetic children, Zachary and Emily. She also decorates cakes, creating most recently a pop-up carrot cake for the local book arts club potluck. When asked about her goals as co-chair, Annie said, "We want to continue to make the Midwest Chapter a useful exchange for members - and a fun group to be a part of." return to contents Gather Ye Type Fonts While Ye May [Ed. note: For the 10th, or 11th, anniversary of the Midwest Chapter, I will reprint some articles from the early years of the Chapter. This first appeared in Volume 1, Number 3, July, 1988. Other early articles will appear in following issues of Quarto.] by Dave Churchman While there are many sources for type as there are owners willing to sell it, the Publick would be well-advised to wake up to the fact that the great bulk of foundry type - both domestic and imported - has been thoroughly dispersed (and destroyed) in the past 20 years or so. When we say foundry types, we mean the large concerns using heavy foundry machines and a metal formula of at least 14% tin - 24% antimony. Heavy concentrations of delightful display types were, at one time, in the hands of America's leading typographers. Literally tons and tons of the stuff. But with the advent and perfection of photocomposition, old ways gave way to new and the bulky metal gave to filmstrips and pixels. Much of that type got sold at auction to collectors, diehard letterpress printers, hobbyists, bookbinders and the like. A lot of it was sold for scrap. But as we survey the market in 1988, we see very little still available from such sources. If you ain't got it by now, baby, you may never! True, there are still a few dinosaur printers with a love for the handset types (and in buildings that are too big for them) who have sequestered a few cabinets of nice things, but be aware that these freaks are few and far between and you will be a lucky duck if you stumble on any serious treasure troves of handset type in your lifetime. What are the alternatives, assuming that you can't possibly go on without adding a few more cases each year? The picture is grim for the most part, but not yet impossible. First off, there are still a few small foundries in the U.S. that make decent type. On the West Coast you have Los Angeles Type Foundry in Whittier, Calif., the ever-popular Mackenzie and Harris in San Francisco, and Bell Type and Rule in L.A. In the Midwest, one finds Barco Type in Bensenville, Ill. (also known as "F&S"), Acme in Chicago (although Barco now does all of their casting) and Castcraft (probably the most overpriced foundry ever). In the East we find Quaker City in Honey Brook, Penn., and the General Motors of typefounding, American Type Founding Co. ("ATF") in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Kingsley in L.A. just bought ATF and seems less than enthusiastic about selling standard fonts (their forté is zinc type which is used almost exclusively by hot stampers). The only other founder of consequence is Harold Berliner in Nevada City, Calif. - a renaissance lawyer with a mini-publishing empire and a zillion matrices for some very interesting faces. Other than that, your choices are limited to a few private foundries here and a handful of flourishing foundries abroad. The private foundries in the country produce relatively little type, although the faces are often unique and quite desirable. Founders that come to mind are Paul Hayden Duensing in Portage, Mich., Roy Rice in Atlanta, Rich Hopkins in Terra Alta, W. Va., Henry Weiland in Milwaukee, Pat Taylor in New York and Theo Rehak in NewJersey. Years ago, we had Harry Weidemann in Nyssa, Ore., Andy Dunker in Jackson, Mich., and John Carroll in Fla., producing some very nice floradorafaces from homegrown mats. If paying $7.50 to $30 a pound has little appeal for you, you might want to consider buying used type - what little is left to buy. Most dealers dump it in barrels when it comes through the door, but a few diehards let it sit around and get picked over by desperate typoholics. Names that come to mind are Jack Frank in Chicago., Dave Churchman in Indianapolis, John Yeagher Hit in Louisville, don Black in Toronto, Dave Seat in Nashville, Pittsburgh Graphics in Jersey City and a very few other scattered throughout the land. Here the types are cheaper, but you can still expect to pay $2 to $4 a pound for nice display faces. Those marvelous display types from the European foundries that were imported so heavily after World War II (Stradivarius, Legend, Libra, American Uncial, Fontanesi, Lilith, Profil, Cancellaresca Bastarda, Mistral and the like) are no longer available in this country, although Neufville in Barcelona and Haas outside Basel are still churning them out for the European market and might be induced to send you a few fonts - for a very large consideration. Your only real chance of landing any of this stuff is in the very thin used type market. You have to buy it from a hobby printing estate or from one of those diehard dealers that will fool with the stuff. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the price is too high and that more will be along shortly. Hours of unrequited regret will follow such cerebration. The point of all this heartburn is that good types are almost non-existent, except in type collections, and if you should be privileged to find some nice types, buy them if you possibly can (assuming you have a use for them!). The day will come - all too soon, alas - when all we will be offered will be the drecky Monotype designs which clutter the catalogs of the smaller foundries. Stymie, Brush, Broadway, and Cheltenham may be utilitarian faces, but face it, they ain't great compared to the true Caslons, Garamonds, and delightful display faces. Unfortunately, there are lots of Monotype matrix cases and flat mats around. The average price of a font of indifferent matrices - mats - which might comprise seventy or eighty small brass mats would be in the $5 to $10 range, often less! And these are the master dies from which the types are cast! The market for type is small ("lousy" might be a better word) and most founders are struggling to make ends meet. Does it seem reasonable that they will develop new designs or add new faces to their line in view of almost universal indifference in the marketplace? We are doomed by obsolescence to an ever-shrinking output of types - even the standard Monotype dreck. There is a firm in India that will engrave a font of new mats - your design - for $800. Imagine how many fonts you'd have to see to a fickle public to recoup the initial outlay. Founders have great imaginations and they have determined that the cost is prohibitive. So, brothers and sisters, we are pretty much stuck with what exists today, with no hope in hell of seeing anything better, or even any cheaper. It seems very likely that even used type will climb in price - if the face is halfway decent - much like used cars have gained value over the past few years with Detroit's head-in-the-sand attitude. No doubt we have left out a few key names, important resources, and vital information, for which we will apologize in advance. But mark our words, good handset types are getting scarcer and you will do well to keep an eye out for desirable fonts. Forewarned ... (Dave Churchman is the Works Manager of the Sterling Type Foundry in Indianapolis and a 25 year collector of antique and obsolete types of equipment.) return to contents The Midwest Chapter's New Web Page The Midwest Chapter has a new way to stay in touch. Those with access to the internet can come hang out at the Chapter homepage. The address is: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~alstrom/. Once there, click the GBW logo. [Ed. note: The Chapter's web page is now located on the national web pages. The URL is: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw/mwchap/.] The page's main features are a list of Chapter members and a electronic copy of this newsletter. The members list includes those members who gave permission to have their names listed electronically. If your name is not included, but you wish to be listed, contact Eric Alstrom. The membership is broken down geographically as well as alphabetically. [Ed. note: The geographic listing has been abandoned due to the labor intensive nature of this task.] Other sections include a list of web page links focusing on the Midwest. If you have your own homepage or know of one here in the Midwest, please pass the address along to Eric. There is also a list of events in the Midwest; I will post these as I get them, so check this section often to keep current. If anyone has comments, questions, or suggestions, please tell Eric. This is meant to be the Chapter's homepage, so all input will be welcome. return to contents 1998 Midwest Chapter Annual Meeting by Annie Tremmel Wilcox I have set up the date and place for the 1998 Midwest Chapter Annual Meeting. It will be on Saturday, May 23rd at Legacy Art & Book Works, Inc. in Columbia, Missouri, where we will be hosted by Jim Downey. This is the most information I have available at the moment, but this will be enough to get people started thinking about attending. I will iron out the details with Jim soon. If you haven't been to Columbia, it's a nice college town with good art, great food, and a fine little brew pub. return to contents Midwest Chapter 1997 Annual Report The size of the Chapter for this period reached a high of 87 members. The breakdown by state is: Ohio (19), Michigan (16), Illinois (12), Indiana (9), Minnesota (6), Missouri (3), Iowa (3), Kentucky (3), Pennsylvania (2), Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Colorado, Alabama, Kansas, Georgia, and Florida all with one member each. We set up a Guild information table at the Akron NOBS Book Fair. We plan to do more info tables at book fairs in the coming year (if we are told about them). Vicki Lee produced three newsletters. She has retired from being editor and Eric Alstrom at Ohio University will take over. Eric has prepared a chapter we page so we can disseminate information more quickly. We held workshops with Peter Jermann on Adhesive Binding at the University of Michigan, and with Sid Neff on Leather Paring at Ohio State University. [Ed. note: This was misstated in the national Newsletter.] Our annual meeting was delayed until July but when it was held we discussed preparations for Standards, and Annie Tremmel Wilcox led a Pop-Ups Workshop. The 1997 GBW Standards of Excellence Seminar will be held in Ann Arbor, Mich. Shannon Zachary, at the U of M Conservation Lab, and other Michigan binders will manage it. The Poetical Vagaries exhibit continued to tour the Midwest and there are still unrealized plans for a catalog. The exhibit will be on view at Standards in the Vendor's area. Gabrielle Fox-Butler and Annie Tremmel Wilcox will be taking over the duties of Co-Chairpersons of the Midwest Chapter in January 1998. I am looking for a few more people to help them. Sue Toth of Edwardsburg, Michigan will be Membership Secretary. She will note changes of address and new Midwest members from the national Newsletter and report them to the chapter newsletter editor. Cris Takacs will stay on as Programs and Publicity Secretary to help with setting up and publicizing workshops. Respectfully submitted, Cris Takacs, Chairperson return to contents Announcements Studies Opportunities Wanted Howard Stein is preparing a new Studies Opportunities list. So if anyone out there wasn't in the old book and wants to be in the new, ask Howard for a sign-up form. Also, if you know of any book arts courses in your area that haven't been in the Study Opportunities booklet, let Howard know about it. Howard Stein's address is 184 Terrace Place, Brooklyn, NY 11218. His phone number is 718-832-6822. NOBS Exhibit A book exhibition of extraordinary interest and importance is being planned for the Emily Davis Gallery at the University of Akron from April 3 to 24, 1998. Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Bibliophile Society (NOBS), the exhibition "A Century of Innovative Book Design: Influences of Art, Design Theory and Technology on Book Design for Mass Market" is curated by University faculty member Christopher Hoot. It will feature approximately one hundred years of innovative book design. Books in the exhibition are mostly mass produced publications, not small press books. There will be a opening reception on Friday, April 3, from 4 to 9 p.m. Exhibition hours at the Emily Davis Gallery are Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 16th Annual Akron Antiquarian Book Fair The 16th Annual Akron Antiquarian Book Fair will be hosted at Emidio's Exposition Center, 48 E. Bath Road, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, which is conveniently located just off Route 8 between Akron and Cleveland. The fair will be Friday and Saturday, April 10th and 11th. Look for another great collection of out-of-print and rare books from over 60 dealers. Andrea Klein, member of GBW and past editor of the Midwest Newsletter, is once again the co-chair of this event. If there is an extra table available, the Midwest Chapter will once again pass out Guild information and binding tips. If you are in the Akron area this Easter weekend, stop by and chat. return to contents News from Your Studio Jean Buescher, proprietor of Blood Root Press, has a new book available. Porch Swing, a poem by Alison Swan, is hand set in Garamond and Goudy Open type and printed on a Vander-cook Universal I at the Digger Pine Press in Berkeley, Calif. Photography, printing and concertina binding are by Jean. North Carolina porch images and color xeroxes of infrared silver prints. Assorted handmade earth tone cover, concertina, and end sheets are from The Conservatory in Ann Arbor, Mich. The book measures 4 3/4" wide by 10 1/4" high. Edition limited to eight copies. $175.00. John Trester writes that he is now active again and is working on several projects, including a book on architecture called The American Home, some note book designs, an abstract of his sister, and a family cookbook. He would like to know how to put lines in blank books for writing, without having to draw them or hiring a printer. He also writes: "You cannot hide, flavor, texturize, or camouflage tofu. Would someone please convince my wife?" [Ed. note: I believe it was Sheppard's Bindery who was selling lined sheets which would be great for blank books at the Ann Arbor Standards. I keep wishing I had picked up some. As for tofu, I'm afraid I'll have to side with your wife. Write me for some good recipes. You'll learn to love tofu. I did.] Eric Alstrom has been busy teaching and binding. In October and January he again taught a weekend workshop for an upper-level undergraduate class of graphic arts students studying typography and the book arts. For those who follow the Book_Arts-l listserv, fortunately he did not have to define the book arts. He is also busy on binding books for the upcoming GBW national exhibit and an Italian exhibit celebrating the famous Italian poet Leopardi. He is also busy trying to get this newsletter out and mounting the Chapter webpage. He is also hoping everyone sends in their "News from your studio" forms by April 24. return to contents Unclassifieds Send items for sale or wanted to Eric Alstrom, Newsletter Editor. Bookbinder's Toolbox (http://www.redmark.co.nz/tool.htm) People all around the world can post notes here about buying and selling used bookbinding tools and equipment. There is a space on the "submit" form where one should put in their country, so folds know where the "for sale" or "wanted" item physically is. For Sale: Complete Bindery. Small complete hand bindery in excellent shape. Want to sell as a unit. "If I don't have it, you don't need it." Free course in bookbinding if desired. Includes: job backer, guillotine, board shears, kwikprint, type, 10 guilding rolls, 2 Sears tool cabinets with hand tools, rolls of book cloth, paper (plain and marbled), leather, 2 letter presses, sewing frame. Owner has decided to take up knitting. Jo Ann Leu 440-871-2344 (Westlake, Ohio). For Sale: Hickok backing press: 38" high, 31" wide, 23" deep. Chandler & Price guillotine: 20" high, 32" wide, 45" deep, weighs a "ton" and is on a heavy duty table. Bill Hoffman 216-486-4226 (Cleveland, Ohio). Video tour of the Marguette Edge Guilding Company. This is not a how-to video, but does show a demonstration of the edge guilding process. Copies are available for sale from the Guild through Bookbinders Warehouse for $35 plus $3 shipping. return to contents