Category Archives: Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair

Mornings at Jack Pine

10 Friday Apr 2026

Posted by in Glenn Wolff, Jerry Dennis, Letterpress, Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair, Mornings at Jack Pine, Presentation bindings

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I’m pleased to present the newest book from Deep Wood Press, Mornings at Jack Pine by Jerry Dennis with ten wood engravings from Glenn Wolff. This is also the first book to kick off my Midwest Author Series, more on that below. Jerry turns his keen naturalist’s eye inward as well as outward, finding in the landscape of northern Michigan a mirror for grief, love, mortality, and the fierce pleasures of being alive. Graced with Glenn Wolff’s exquisite illustrations, Mornings at Jack Pine is a small book with large ambitions — funny, tender, elegiac, and shot through with the kind of hard-won wonder that only comes from paying close attention to the world for a very long time.

Set against the rivers, jack pine barrens, and lake country of the upper Midwest, the poems in Mornings at Jack Pine move between precise observation and lyric meditation. The first section is rooted in closely observed rhythms of the natural world — trout rising in tailouts, deer standing in morning mist, a barred owl calling through spruce trees at dawn — and shadowed throughout by the recent death of the poet’s father. The second section unfolds as an extended self-portrait of a man at sixty-nine: a writer, husband, river-watcher, and devoted caregiver to his wife, who is battling dementia. Together, the two sections form a meditation on time, impermanence, and what it means to remain loyal to a place, a person, a life.

The three of us have worked on books, broadsides and fishing fantasies for nearly 20 years now and it is always a pleasure to once again craft a thing of beauty that embraces our creative efforts in such a personal way.

The standard lettered copies are quarter bound in a cool green/black smooth goat with dark green Asahi book cloth over boards. Copper foil stamped spine, inset panel with printed title and a small pine tree I carved out of a chunk of lead and blind stamped onto the leather. The book is printed in 3 colors, 6.5×10″ (16.5×24.8cm), 51 pages and includes a slip case. $600.00

  • 26 lettered copies on Somerset Book
  • 5 deluxe on my bespoke Saint Armand paper leftover from the Wind in the Willows edition.
  • 15 copies for the Guild of Bookworkers Midwest Chapter for the forthcoming “Open Set” exhibit on Hahnemühle Biblio.
  • 250 copies in a paper binding on Mohawk Superfine printed in 2 colors.

Note the Guild of Bookworkers edition – this means that, hopefully, within a year 15 copies of this book will have an exhibition by 15 individual bookbinders creating all kinds of fun, interpretative and high class bindings. Looking forward to it!

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As I was waiting for delayed shipments of book cloth and marbled end papers I had time to bind one of the deluxe copies. This copy is bound onto cords, sewn headbands, full smooth goat leather binding that has blind tooling around the bands, title foil stamped in copper and a leather onlay inspired by one of Glenn’s prints. Housed in a drop spine box (sidewalls match endpapers) with title on spine and cover. $1000.00

This is the first offering from my Midwest Author Series which will continue to showcase incredible writers and artists in future editions. I have a talented editor/writer liaison onboard, Helen Raica-Klotz, who moved to my part of the world a few years ago and started a brilliant visiting author readings/workshops event, Antrim Writers Series, for which I create little broadsides for the readings four times a year. After I return from the Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair I will be printing the edition of 250 on my automated ATF Little Giant cylinder press which will be released later this summer. In recent years, though I very much appreciate my fine press collectors, I have noted my books are being snagged by investors instead of collectors/collections and the prices are often out of reach for many people I would like to own my books. This is an effort to reach a larger, poorer and yet appreciative audience. The planned price for these copies is $75.00. The list of future writers and artists is humbling to me, there are so many talented individuals I want to pair together into beautifully presented books. This formula will continue with small editions in fine press and an extended run (perhaps larger) where the contributing creators can also benefit from larger exposure in my quaint little world of global book stuffs.

Recently there have been several print releases that feature me and my Deep Wood Press:

  • CODEX Papers: Volume 5 – I was honored to be asked to contribute to this volume and it turned into a 15 page photo exposé emphasizing the craft of making fine press books at DWP. This showcases the various studio spaces and disciplines including type casting, engraving, printing and binding. $35.00
  • Assembling: The Art of Translation – My second appearance in a CODEX Foundation Assembly/Exchange portfolio and I am once again honored by inclusion. This is a grouping of 25 contemporary prints by well-known and well-collected artists, printers, and publishers of artists’ books associated with The CODEX Foundation from around the globe. Presented in a beautiful drop spine box. $3200.00
  • Why Make Books by Hand? – Published by No Reply Press, 15 book makers respond with short essays to the question “Why make books by hand” in an edition of 150ish. $135.00 (sold out)

Some images from the creation process of the book.

As I mentioned above, I will once again be attending the Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair on May 2nd. Come find me at table C4, I have a few VIP passes to gift, there’s still time to send you one! Join me and 30 other fine press publishers from around the world for an overwhelming day of books – the 66th Annual ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is just across the street at the historic Park Avenue Armory. One day only, 9am-5pm, 869 Lexington Avenue, New York NY

On one final note — I will be teaching a linoleum cutting and typesetting workshop once again in Les Baux de Provence, France this fall at the Foundation Louis Jou, on October 9-11. The preceding weekend I will be the studio technician and printer for a wood engraving class taught by Joanne Price AND Rebecca Gilbert! This is an incredible opportunity to work in Jou’s former studio (1881-1968) equipped with 3 Stanhope iron hand presses and his own proprietary family of harmonious type. Even better, participants get to stay in the studios in Les Baux as part of the workshop price. As a board member for the foundation I organized this workshop series with Joanne 3 years ago and it was a tremendous success and way too much fun. More on all of this in a future blog post.

New Projects from DWP: A Printers Family Tree

30 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by in A Printer's Family Tree, Future Projects, Glenn Wolff, Jerry Dennis, Letterpress, Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair

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First off, the website has recently been updated and is now fully functional again after over a year in cyber limbo!

I will be in New York in just a week on April 5th to once again be part of the Manhattan Fine Press Fair. Our usual location at The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, 869 Lexington Avenue. Just across the street the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America is hosting the largest antiquarian book fair in the world at the Park Avenue Armory. Join me and many other private presses, book artists, makers and takers from around the world. And good news, after 11 years the church/school is letting us use the gymnasium which purportedly has windows! Please let me know if you hope to attend, I can add you to my will-call list.

I’m excited to bring along a new project which has been boiling away in the back of my brain for over a decade as I worked on the logistics – A Printers Family Tree – from Gutenberg to Zaph with some paper engineering! Thirty years ago I did all kinds of this sort of thing as individual projects but I’m committed to edition at least 10 of this new piece. I’m still working out paper weights for different pieces but all the elements will be created from intaglio prints – both new mono prints and culling from my vast collection of too many plate proofs and states from my earlier engravings and mezzotints. The names are foil stamped from brass type in this prototype but I will create slugs on my Linotype machine in Garamond for the final impressions. I’ve worked out the binding structure but the boards will remain relatively plain in paper and cloth for flexibility and because they won’t be visible when displayed. The book will be housed in a case as it still won’t sit like a proper book when closed.

The spread that is just penciled in with names will have pop-up elements as well but I’ve left this “editable” as I’m hoping I’ll have plenty of feedback on my choice of whom to include in my list of prominent type designers. Though I have a laser cutter/engraver all these are/will be hand cut to follow the inevitable irregularities the intaglio prints and mono prints have to offer in the trunks and foliage and to allow flexibility foiling the names on each panel with the jig I’ve created for my foil stamping machine.

Looking over exhibitors at our “fine press” book fairs – a majority are now book arts. Two different things in my mind and kind of a dilution of the real work. I do miss the old days of the FPBA before the flailing organization opened up it’s definitions of fine press. If you can’t beat them, join them. What do you think of these evolving definitions?

Other current projects are a new book with essayist/poet Jerry Dennis and our mutual friend and frequent collaborator, Glenn Wolff, is once again illustrating with wood engravings. Jerry, Glenn and I have done multiple projects together over the past couple of decades and it’s always fun to work out a new project – Mornings at Jackpine is a collection of verse and an essay contemplating the turning of seasons in our physical world and the cycle that is our existence. Jerry’s essays, poems, and short fiction have appeared in more than 100 publications, including The New York Times, Smithsonian, Audubon, American Way, Gray’s Sporting Journal, PANK and Michigan Quarterly Review. His books are widely acclaimed, have won numerous awards, and have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Czech, and Korean.

Some of Glenn’s engravings for the project:

Another recent collaboration with Jerry and Glenn is a series of broadsides to benefit Michigan libraries that are facing defunding, book banning or reduced services and hours. The first print is available now via the Peter White Public Library in Marquette, MI. “A Passion for Books” is printed on 300-gram Somerset textured cotton paper, measuring 15 x 11 inches. The text is composed in Garamond and printed letterpress on a Vandercook 219 OS.

We are working with the Library of Michigan and other entities to see how we can bring this and the 3 additional prints we plan to add to the series to more libraries across the state. I’ll happily crank my Vandercook for a day or two to do what I can to support our libraries.

Two editions are available:

·       Special Roman-Numbered Edition: Limited to 20 pieces, hand-colored by Glenn Wolff, and signed by Jerry Dennis, Glenn Wolff, and Chad Pastotnik. Available for tax-deductible contributions of $500 or more.

·       Open Edition: A signed two-color print available for tax-deductible contributions of $100 or more.

Order by clicking the “Donate” button at https://pwpl.info/giving/ and in the payment processing page scroll down to the broadside option of your choice. Payments can be made via debit card, credit card, or PayPal. If you would rather use check or credit card over the phone, contact Heather Steltenphol, Development Director at Peter White Public Library, at 906-226-4305 or via email at heather@pwpl.info.

Another recent philanthropic project is a broadside completed for The CODEX Foundation’s 5th Assembly/Exchange Portfolio – The Art of Translation. Further announcements and details forthcoming from CODEX for this 2025 release but I will share these images of my contribution during production with hopes some of you will be interested in acquiring it with the rest of the portfolio upon its release in a beautiful box along with probably 20-40 of my contemporary peers from around the globe. I was happily paired with David James Duncan to produce his piece “One River” for the first Assembly/Exchange in 2019.

Another project in its infancy is large in scope but has begun to form up is my series of Midwest author books which Mornings at Jackpine will kick off. In addition to the fine editions I produce, a second state will be offered on Mohawk paper and a simple binding structure which I will print on my Little Giant press allowing me production speed unheard of with my hand cranked cylinder proof press and I’ll pass the time and cost savings along to those of you who love the books but can’t justify the expense (I get it, I really do.) I’ve worked out everything but the marketing but that’s never stopped me before! I’ve also created a new partnership to edit this series of books but this will all be gone into in depth in a future blog post. This is another aspect of Deep Wood Press I’ve been wanting to explore more and have given a lot of thought to in the past decade. I will continue to issue fine editions of great books from the past that have touched and inspired me but my heart is in new writings, upcoming authors and translations and that’s the direction I see things moving forward with the greatest energy.

Ok, that’s a lot for one blog post. I’ll let it digest and get back to you in the next 6 months.

One last note. The stupid AI on WordPress tells me my words and sentences are too complex for most readers and that some of the words I use don’t even exist. If you’ve made it this far – welcome to the minority!