Update 3 March 2009
I am teaching for VALA again, at Grant School in Richmond. Since the public schools have no money there are no programs like art or music to stimulate the kids' imagination. Hopefully the new administration will see fit to rectify the problem (I guess I mean a new administration in California since governor Schwartzenegger seems to want to destroy the public schools. What a sorry mistake his election was, just like BushCo). The youngsters enjoy the opportunity for self-expression in the book projects, here they are (with their teacher, Mr Royce) showing off an accordion book:
Tom Pickard's reading at Moe's Books, mentioned below, is on line here.
I have a piece on Artists Books in JAB 24. I guess I did something right because apparently the board of the Columbia College, Chicago, tried to have my piece withdrawn from the issue!
PSHAW! got a glowing review in Parenthesis, the journal of the Fine Press Book Association. In case you are wondering what a "fine" printer is, as opposed to a regular printer, I believe they hold out their pinkies while feeding the press. You can read the unexpurgated version on Kyle Schlesinger's blog. Lots of fascinating stuff further down the page too.
A review of J.J. Phillips' book by Andrei Codrescu appears in the online version of his magazine Exquisite Corpse:
J.J. Phillips, Nigga in the Woodpile, Serendipity Books, 2008. The mysterious J.J. Phillips is one of my literary heroes, and one of Exquisite Corpse's consecrated writers. We have used our best critical acumen for the small task of decribing briefly what she does, but as for coming close, brighter minds are working at being born. Suffice it to say, that every one of her works is a finely machined word-machine, precise both visually and functionally. This text, subtitled, "a rant," is that. One of the stanzas reads: "Mitochondria./Yo mama./Native bearer/of the genetic load." Besides being a JJ Phillips'-certified inquiry into negritude, this "rant" required a layout, as in "a laying of hands," and here we must praise the publisher, Peter Howard, and Alastair Johnston at Poltroon Press for making an elegant book-objet that is of a piece with the "rant." The holes in the "o"s in the word "Woodpile" on the black cover are there to follow the reader, and they do. You open the book, you read "Mean cut-you-with-a-razor gene," you close the book, there are those eyes. The "rant" is followed by an interesting history of the poem's publication, including an egregious mis-setting that the author argues, rightly, was a web-publishing crime, and reveals, in addition, something of the mystery of how J.J. Phillips composes, but not enough of it to keep you from wondering. I wonder. There are many surprises in the book, including the facsimile of a letter in jive by "Crow Jane," one of JJ's "characters".
And this from the Oakland Library newsletter, under "New arrivals":
Johnston, Alastair ... [ellipsis]. Berkeley : Poltroon Press, 2008.
Although the author fails to spell out the title of this collection of his writing, the essays included spell out very explicitly where the "real" work was being done and where the genius and inspiration could be found in the literary and publishing circles of the late 20th century. Johnston is a leading voice in the typographic arts who must take significant responsibility for the widespread intrusion of Afro-Pop music into our daily lives.
Since William S. Peterson took over as editor of Printing History in 2007, I have had reviews in almost every issue. These include:
John A. Lane Early type specimens in the Plantin Moretus museum, British Library, Oak Knoll, 2004
Jane Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson: Wood engraver and illustrator, Oak Knoll, 2005
Fred Smeijers, Type Now Hyphen Press, 2003
Tyrus Harmsen & Stephen Tabor, The Plantin Press of Saul & Lilian Marks: A Bibliography, Pat Reagh, 2005
Frans A. Janssen, Technique & design in the history of printing, Hes & DeGraaf, 2004
Alan Bartram, Typeforms: A History, British Library, 2007
Graham Hudson, The Design & printing of ephemera in Britain and America 1790-1820, British Library, Oak Knoll, 2008
In general they are books I would recommend. Now if only i could find a paying gig!
September 20, 2008
I just completed a commission from Peter Howard of Serendipity Books. It is a poem by J.J. Phillips, the erudite & gifted author of MOJO HAND, called "Nigga in the woodpile," about her adventures as a library cataloguer. The poem is hilarious but there is also a suite of brilliant footnotes. Peter gave me carte blanche on the design so I added a library-book pocket in the back with the facsimile of a letter (shown above), a 78 rpm record label, and some strategically placed die-cut holes in the cover. As usual I think my latest is my greatest work. The edition was only 150, and copies are going fast. Contact Serendipity Books if you want one.
One of England's greatest living poets, Tom Pickard was in town on his current US tour. I was pleased that he referred to me as part of the Morden Tower diaspora, after I introduced his reading at Moe's Books. I also printed a broadside to give away, "Away Boys Away" from his fascinating new work BALLAD OF JAMIE ALLAN which is the libretto to an opera by John Harle. The work explores the life of a 17th-century gypsy musician who went from the pay of dukes and duchesses to being a horse-thief. The book is available from Flood Editions, and very handsome it is too. Like MacDiarmid or Burns, Pickard has an original voice and I don't know any other poet in the English language who so wholly inhabits and embraces his dialect. Haway the lads! [Above: Lyn Hejinian, Kit Robinson (with moustache), Tom Pickard]
My show of Austin material -- books, broadsides, type specimens, newspapers, etc -- at the Book Club of California was a hit and I am off to London to hopefully complete my research on this fascinating era of the burgeoning of great graphic design in Britain.
June 10, 2008
I have another show coming up, this one of Richard & R.T. Austin-related books at the Book Club of California. Here's the card I printed for the opening, which will be on monday June 30th with "cocktails" from 5 to 6 and my talk to the well-oiled clubbers at 6. Do come, and bring your bibliophilic, or -phagic friends.
There's a review of ELLIPSIS ("...") in the latest on-line issue of RATTLE magazine. Very intelligent and perceptive too I must say.
However, my dear OLD friend Gordon brought me down to earth with this funny British short film from the (U.K.) Writers Guild Website, posted on Youtube, called "Book launch 2.0". Worth watching:
14 May 2008
Just out, MIMEO MIMEO volume 1, edited by Jed Birmingham and Kyle Schlesinger. It is a forum for critical and cultural perspectives on the Mimeo revolution, Artists' books, and the Literary Fine Press. It is published in Brooklyn; the first issue contains a lengthy interview with Alastair Johnston on his background, publishing career, and book arts in general. Other features include Jed Birmingham on Jeff Nuttall's mimeo zines MOVING TIMES and MY OWN MAG, and a piece by Christopher Harter on the mimeo revolution of the 60s and 70s, discussing John Sinclair, Leroi Jones and Dianne DiPrima, and d.a. levy, among others. Essential reading for librarians and small press enthusiasts. The cover design is by Alastairovich "El" Johnston.
I am co-curating a show at the San Francisco Center for the Book on Livros do Cordel which is Brazilian street literature. The show has a fabulous display of linocuts, woodcuts, rubber cuts, and pamphlets of all types and will be up for a couple of months, through July 26. Don't miss it. I will be giving a gallery talk on June 6 at 7 p.m. This is the announcement I printed, the artwork is by Amaro Francisco Borges from a chapbook entitled, what else, The Housewife who encountered the Devil.
April 8, 2008
I just finished another session teaching for VALA (Visual Arts / Language Arts) a programme that puts artists in public schools in Alameda County. I was working with two fifth grade classes in Point Richmond. As usual it was hard work but immensely rewarding. The classes are overcrowded (30 plus kids in each class), the teachers overworked & underfunded, and they don't really have a lot of time for creative playing. But my weekly visits allowed them to explore book-making & self-expression. The last class was April Fool's Day so I had each of them make a pop-up April Fool's card and took a portrait (of those who wanted to be photographed) with their book.
Valentine's Day
Suzie Rashkis painted an oil portrait of the press, to be specific our 1887 Chandler & Price platen press and our 1900s piano. It's a good likeness, & nice that it's a close-up so you can't see the surrounding disarray. You may be able to figure out the sheet music I have on the piano. She tells me she already sold the painting and it's hanging in a recording studio in Marin county. More of her work is visible at her own website.
January 4, 2008
NEW BOOK FROM THE PRESS
Poltroon Press is pleased to announce the publication of a collection of essays by co-founder Alastair Johnston: [ELLIPSIS] (...).
[ELLIPSIS] (...) collects essays written over the past 3 decades from a variety of ephemeral publications on subjects dear to the heart and concerns of Johnston. The book begins with a memoir and appreciation of "Basil Bunting: Northumbrian Bard." Three more essays from Poetry Flash include reviews of the Selected Poems of Joanne Kyger, a close reading of Bob Grenier's PHANTOM ANTHEMS, and memoirs of poets Darrell Gray & Philip Whalen. The first section ends with Johnston's piece on Lucia Berlin, "Lady Linotype Operator" that appeared in the Chicago Review in 2005.
The next section concerns influential historic personages: Morris Cox of Gogmagog Press, H.N. Werkman, and W.A. Dwiggins. The piece on Dwiggins' work (which appeared in the PCBA journal Ampersand in 1987) was hailed by Dwiggins' biographer Paul Shaw as the most perceptive magazine article he had read on the work of this great American designer.
Next follows a long essay, "Literary Small Presses in Europe and America since World War II," that discusses the work of Untide Press, Jargon, White Rabbit, Auerhahn, Divers Press, Goliard, Trigram, Migrant, and Fulcrum Presses. This article has been substantially revised from its appearance in the American Book Collector in 1981 and now includes 7 photos of books of the presses under discussion. "Book Arts & Beatniks" (illustrated with two books designed by Wallace Berman) from the San Francisco Review of Books, 1992, is surprisingly critical of the subject. In contrast is a laudatory piece on Walter Hamady's Perishable Press that was published in Fine Print in 1986, now illustrated with a Paul Blackburn book designed by Hamady.
A 1990 memoir of Asa Benveniste, publisher of Trigram Press (the important British small press of the 60s and 70s), also has a previously unpublished photograph, and images of Trigram books by Jack Hirschman (illustrated by Wallace Berman) and Tom Raworth (illustrated by Jim Dine). Some of Johnston's concerns overlap & resurface with a Rashomon-like persistence. An article on Wallace Berman's Semina magazine (& the Semina facsimile Poltroon Press created in 1992) is the subject of "Replanting the Seed" which first appeared in Bookways. There follows a profile of Barry Hall (co-founder with Tom Raworth of Goliard Press), and a discussion of his small press activities. There follows a memoir of Peter Isaac, a galvanising figure in the British printing history scene, as well as a small-press publisher.
The last third of the book includes a lengthy essay, "The Author as typographer," about the not-always-successful attempts by writers (from Emily Dickinson to James Joyce) to retain control of the appearance of their printed work. It is illustrated with page spreads by Lawrence Sterne, Lewis Carroll, Walt Whitman, Don Marquis, & James Millington (author of Are we to read backwards?), and includes some isolated eccentrics like Timothy Dexter, the brothers Grimm, and Ernest V. Wright, author of Gadsby, a novel written without using the letter "e". Following this is a collaged note on the history of the Cut-up, with citations from Jonathan Swift, Matthew Prior, Lewis Carroll, Punch, and Borges. For a change of pace there follows a piece on the joy of reading bookdealers' catalogues. This includes a long aside about the Fortsas hoax and some discoveries in the sale catalogue of Laurence Sterne's library.
[ELLIPSIS] (...) ends with another long essay on "Experimental literature and the artists' book." From a consideration of Kerouac's scroll of On the Road, Johnston assess the current state of book arts (inevitably bring up Martha Stewart), and to show there's nothing new under the sun, illustrates some curious nineteenth-century works of San Francisco publishing history including Gellett Burgess's The Lark, the first journal to set prose ragged right, Sallie Sparkle's Seriocomic Story, attributed to Julia Pond, and Fairy Tales up to Now by Wallace Irwin.
[ELLIPSIS] (...) is illustrated with Johnston's own photos and drawings of the people discussed, as well as copious illustrations of books under discussion.
122 pages, perfect-bound, available post-free anywhere in the world by sending $19.95 (Cheque, money order, Dollars, Euros, Pounds, Pesos) to Poltroon Press, P.O. Box 5476, Berkeley, CA 94705-0476, or order through Small Press Distribution. Usual trade discount applies for multiple copies.
ART BECK ON LINE
Back in May 2007 Art Beck sent me some links to sites with interviews and articles by him and I promised to post them. Sorry for the delay, Artie, here they are.
Centrum Arts interview: using the cover of "Summer" in lieu of another old man photo.
Jacket magazine. Art writes: "I think they did a great job laying it out online. don't know if you're familiar with the magazine, but I'm thrilled to be in it. I send a link to the issue contents page rather than just the essay. There's some interesting stuff in it, including a good article on d.a. Levy and a nice piece (if you scroll down below the articles) on Arthur Schlesinger's 'diet'. You have to scroll to 'articles' to find my piece and the levy piece." (It's here in case you can't find it --AJ)
Next, a posting of three poems at the SFSU extended learning website.
From RATTLE magazine, a critical review of a new translation of Rimbaud.
Then a couple of reviews of poetry by old-timers: In the Next Galaxy by Ruth Stone & Life Watch by Willis Barnstone, also in RATTLE magazine.
More poems from Art, and a photo of him (revealing his true identity!) at MEDUSA'S KITCHEN
Now Art, can you get your own MYSPACE page, or something!!
LAST YEAR's NEWS...
April 1, 2007
Our 32nd anniversary! My lecture to the Friends of St Bride went over very well. I popped round the corner to the Old Bell to fortify myself beforehand and learned that the pub had been built by Christopher Wren to house his workmen while they were building St Bride's Church, but it was also the site of Wynkyn de Worde's first press in Fleet Street. The flagstones under my feet had been trod by De Worde's workmen. So the omens were auspicious. I met some jet-setting fine printers, Charles Whitehouse from Switzerland, Scott Ritchie from Tokyo, and Graham Moss from Oldham. One of my favourite book designers, Gerry Cinnamon, attended. It was great to meet him. It's not often I get to address an audience that includes such scholars as James Mosley and Robin Kinross. Both were gracious. The two leading experts on wood engraving were present. Nigel Tattersfield offered some proof that Richard Austin senior was a wood-engraver, after I had stated only the son did the wood engravings. My comment was I was relieved it wasn't a publication party. Next day I followed up his lead in the British Library. Also Iain Bain came up afterwards with a piece of the "true cross": two actual Austin engravings, from Somervile's THE CHASE.
I produced a keepsake for the occasion: An edition of Thomas De Quincey's spoof of Thomas F. Dibdin's LIBRARY COMPANION which first appeared in the London magazine in 1820. I don't think it has been printed separately until now. "Large-paper" copies are available from the Friends of St Bride. As I only printed 150 I imagine it will go fast. I came across it during my background research into the Regency era and set it in Monotype Bell with a tailpiece that I attribute to Richard Austin (junior) of a sinking ship at sunset! It is a hilarious send-up of the drooling anoraks who place more store in fine old leather bindings that the actual contents of books. The footnotes to the footnotes to the footnotes were a major typographical challenge! But then you would expect complex footnotes in a book on shoe fetishism.
Speaking of the St Bride Library. They desperately need your help to survive. Please consider sending them a cash contribution.
Tom Trusky sent me the info on another printing in film title: Printer's Devils which is a gay porn movie I had heard about, but not seen, that takes place in a print shop (see the book arts in film page). Also I saw a trailer for Miss Potter and thought I noticed an Albion press. Must investigate.
January 2, 2007
I will be talking at the Saint Bride Library ("The Temple of Typography"), Bride-Lane, Fleet-Street, London, on February 20, when I will be giving the Second Annual Justin Howes Memorial Lecture. It will be a chance to express my appreciation for Justin's help in my researches into the lives and work of the two Richard Austins (father & son) who made major contributions to the Book Arts in Georgian Britain & beyond. Richard Austin, Sr (1756-1832), who shares his sesquibicentennial with Mozart, was the brilliant punch-cutter behind Bell & Stephenson's British Letter Foundry. In the 1780s these types, particularly the italics, began to have an impact on the look of news and jobbing typography in London. Early in the nineteenth century, Austin cut the revolutionary Porson Greek type for Cambridge University Press and went on to cut the modern face types of the leading Scottish founders, Wilson of Glasgow and Miller of Edinburgh, before setting up his own Imperial Letter Foundery with his son George in 1815. Apart from this well-known work, he also provided punches to the other London founders, Fry and perhaps Caslon & others. The Scotch types saw service throughout the nineteenth century and were well-established in Boston and other backwaters of English publishing. In the twentieth century Austin's types have been revived by the linecasting companies and have latterly inspired digital revivals.
Richard Turner Austin (1781-1842) is often confused with his father. He was not a Bewick pupil as is often stated, but trained as a seal engraver before taking up wood engraving. He was also a painter and exhibited at the Royal Academy. His earliest work was also spread around the far-flung English publishing world from Stourport on Severn to New York. He worked for prominent London publishers including Bulmer, Savage, and Vernor & Hood, and also contributed cuts to provincial printers such as Nicholson, Houlston, Rusher, and the Edinburgh firm of Oliver & Boyd. My study of their lives and work attempts to place them in the cultural context of their time. My talk is free and open to the public.
I recently finished a couple of projects for Ian Jackson, a Berkeley publisher. As we do not advertise our services, the people who come to us for design or printing know and understand what we do and usually share our aesthetic or have similar publishing goals. I have rarely found a more sympathetic client than Ian Jackson, the Berkeley bookman. The IMPERFECT CORRESPONDENT, an anthology of excuses for not replying to mail, brilliant annotated by the polymath Jackson, was one of his productions. The engraving of EATING THE MAIL was chosen by him as frontispiece.
Jackson has also made a wonderful addition to the shelf of linguistics: TEACH YOURSELF MALKIELESE IN 90 MINUTES by Jan Cosinka. Jackson, who published the work, hired me to design the cover and so I gave him something along the lines of Victor Gollancz's jackets from the 30s when Stanley Morison was playing with process colour. The book, which you will enjoy if you liked THE SCHOLAR AND THE MADMAN or José da Fonseca's ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE, is available from him at P.O. Box 9075, Berkeley, CA 94709, for $15, post-paid anywhere.