As we move towards the holidays I’ve a couple extra special stocking stuffers for those whose bookshelves find themselves in need of filling. For years I have extended my book editions by 5-10 unbound copies, making them available to other book binders to play with and it’s always a treat to see what they come up with.

Jon Buller is an old friend and very accomplished binder. His Bessenberg Bindery in the Kerrytown neighborhood of Ann Arbor, MI produced countless bound doctoral thesis papers but also plenty of beautiful one of a kind and editioned volumes – Jon and his team bound our edition of The Heart of Darkness way back in 2007! His nephew has resurrected the bindery as Bohemio in a new location but in the 2000’s the proximity to Hollander’s (who hosted summer intensives from the American Academy of Bookbinding with Don Etherington and Monique Lallier) and the thriving Kerrytown Bookfest made the cozy neighborhood bindery a destination and haven for many of us other instructors. Jon is now mostly retired but taught at the Campbell Folk School in North Carolina this past year. Here is Jon’s version of our Wind in the Willows which he says is meant to reflect the 18th/19th century binding styles one finds in English manor homes of the time. Bound in a beautiful green Sokoto goat skin, sewn headbands, beautiful gold tooling and an inlaid border of tan goat and housed in a beautiful slipcase with a curved matching leather opening.

This one of a kind binding can be yours for $3200 by clicking here.

The standard edition is still available for direct purchase on my website for $2000 but probably not for long. I have not marketed this book to my institutional collectors as yet but I plan to finally send out notice this week.

Another book which has its origins in Ann Arbor from around the same time period is a special rare edition featuring my old friend Jim Horton. Jim established the Wood Engravers Network in 1994 which continues to thrive 30 years later with an international presence and ever growing membership. In 1998 Jim partnered with Schuyler Shipley and Rebecca Shaffer to produce this edition of Jabberwocky with a remarkable wood engraved reduction block of the Jabberwock in 7 iterations. Reduction printing means carving the block, printing it, carving some more, printing it some more which, by its very nature, limits the whole edition quantity to the first press run – the block is destroyed in its journey to become the final product. I was not involved in the printing of this book but always admired the artwork – and often wished I had. So when I was gifted an unbound set of sheets from Karen Hanmer I decided to contribute to the project these many years later. The text is hand composed in Tell Text No. 5 and Virile Open and is printed on thick Twinrocker Feather Deckle which I trimmed to keep some of the massive “feather deckle” on the fore edge. The binding is an interesting amalgamation of styles, sewn onto leather straps creating true raised bands and covered in full blue Sokoto goat merging into a sprinkled Cambridge panel binding with cloth hinges. Gold titling, blind tooling with inlays of black and orange goat for the eyes and spine title. The book is 8×10 ⅜”, 22 pages, with a slipcase.

SOLD!

Work is progressing on Mornings at Jackpine, a collaboration with poet/essayist Jerry Dennis and artist Glen Wolff, with whom I’ve collaborated on projects in the past. The book is going on the press after Thanksgiving and, if all goes well, a few fine edition copies should be available for Christmas. The Printers’ Family Tree project is also progressing and I will be showing completed bindings at the Manhattan Rare Book and Fine Press Fair next May.

OTHER NEWS:

I spent a good part of this past summer (and fall) working on my house. It was 15 years ago when a few friends and I built the timber frame and fieldstone structure I designed, replacing the old shack I purchased 33 years ago here on the Cedar River. I skimped on a few things trying to get occupancy before my son was born (we made it by a week!) and unfortunately the old septic connection to the house and downstairs bathroom finally gave up in the most spectacular fashion (as such things always do). In the thick of busting out cast iron pipes in 4″ of concrete the anniversary of Deep Wood Press quietly came and went in late October. Here’s hoping year 34 will be a productive one in bookish ways! I also didn’t make it to France this fall as I now have custody of the son whose impending birth drove the frantic house construction pace back then. Some exciting changes have happened at the Louis Jou Foundation though, and I’m anxious to return to France soon and work with our new president and board members as we become more active beyond Provence (and even France) in exciting new directions. This month a locally based national arts organization (Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology) decided to purchase a building in my village and start an art center and I helped them move a former student’s printing equipment into the space. It looks like I will start teaching letterpress and other printmaking processes again – and within easy driving distance of my home! I have kept a very low profile where I live but am intrigued to see where this might lead.

I’d like to note the passing of some important people (to me) in the fine press book world. Bob Baris (Press on Scroll Road) passed away in late October. He and his wife Freddie were regulars at the Oak Knoll Book Festival where we enjoyed much camaraderie with other printers along with a fun exhibit with the Rowfant Club they helped organize in Cleveland. Jean-Francois Vilain left us earlier this month as well. He and his partner Roger have for many years been outstanding participants as customers, judges, observant intellectuals and most importantly, as a friend. Eventually their extensive collection will fill a new vault at the University of Pennsylvania libraries. I know this is just normal, we lose more people as we get older, but I’m discontented with only just memories of too many friends in recent years.

I will most likely bother you again in the near future when Mornings at Jackpine starts becoming photogenic – it is always a cherished moment to take a freshly finished copy of a book and place it on my backdrop, light it, and capture the details of its construction and finished presentation. I’ll get a few pictures of Jerry and Glenn as they work alongside me in the studio as well.

And one last temptation if I may. My partner Madeleine Vedel happens to be a French trained chocolatier and is beginning sales of this years very limited holiday seasonal selections. Earlier this week she was in the studio hand setting the new menu in Garamond and printing on the Vandercook. Find out more at on her website: Cuisine Provencale, peruse some of her French tour offerings and come say hello to us at the table next spring at the Manhattan Book Fair.