• Home
  • About
  • Gallery ~ Books, broadsides and ephemera
  • Studio Rental, Residency & Instruction

Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press

~ Fine letterpress and intaglio printing ~ Celebrating 30 years in 2022

Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press

Tag Archives: Franz Kafka

Fine Bindings for CODEX and other news!

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Breon Mitchell - Franz Kafka, CODEX, In the Penal Colony, Kenneth Grahame, Letterpress, Mad Parrot Press, Presentation bindings, The Wind in the Willows, Vladimir Zimakov

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Codex Book Fair and Symposium, Franz Kafka, Kenneth Grahame

It’s been a busy few weeks getting ready and I’ll be heading to Berkeley starting this Friday to once again attend Codex – CODEX VII Nordica – what is now the biggest fine press fair in the world. Come see me at table #159 about 2/3 of the way to the back on a corner along the left side of the aisle, you can’t miss me. For this big show I’ve prepared a couple presentation bindings of my latest book, a new translation of Franz Kafka’s In the Penal Colony as well as some of my earlier book editions. One of them may be spoken for already and I’m down to my last few copies of this book.

img_6372
img_6373
img_6374
img_6377
img_6379
img_6380
img_6382

And another one in a similar motif – I’ve been using a printed sheet for the endpapers that evokes a topographic map as the Penal Colony takes place on an island so decided to continue that on these covers. Both have Hewit spines and dark blue Harmatan goat on the covers that has been extensively blind tooled, both have various onlays of other leather bits are complete in a drop spine box with spine label. Actually, I’m still working on these a bit, fiddly bits….

img_6383
img_6385
img_6386
img_6387
img_6389
img_6391
img_6394
img_6395
img_6396

The Wind in the Willows — Kenneth Grahame

I will also have with me a prototype page layout for The Wind in the Willows to accompany the first illustration we’ve (Mad Parrot Press) commissioned from Vladimir Zimakov. Conveniently, Vladimir has a table right next to me so we can answer questions and take in the love that surrounds this wondrous book. I’ve gotten more inquiries about this book already than any other ever except maybe the long gone Heart of Darkness and it’s great to share the excitement with people. Here is Pan as found by Rat and Mole during their search for Otter’s poor lost boy Portly from the chapter “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”. In the book it’ll match the text block size and be a generous three color plate of 8 x 9.25 inches – we hope to have at least ten more of these from Vladimir for the book!

final print comb 5

Apologies for the less than ideal photos. There hasn’t been much sunlight here in Northern Michigan these last couple weeks. Plenty of five degree days plunging to -20 at night and an abundance of snow approaching three feet now. It’ll be good to go to California, I’ll take 60 degrees and rain about now no problem even if I have to dig myself into my house and studio when I return.

img_6369

Our poor snowmen are now “at one” with their world….

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Another binding for Kafka

01 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Book Bindings, In the Penal Colony, Letterpress, Oak Knoll Fest

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Books, fine binding, Franz Kafka, literature

Finding myself pretty well prepared for Oak Knoll next weekend I decided to crank out another binding of the book yesterday and opted to make a drop spine box for it as well.

This copy is bound on Iowa PC4 straps and quarter bound with Harmatan goat and gelatin sized flax Cave Paper with a matte silver foil title & dull black foil author attribution on the cover, the endpapers are offset printed Cartiere Magnani Revere.

10 1/8 x 13 1/4 x 5/8″ (25.5 x 33.5 x 1.6cm) without box or slipcase.

 

 

IMG_6049
IMG_6050
IMG_6053
IMG_6056
IMG_6057
IMG_6061

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

To the press soon! The Kafka progress

13 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Breon Mitchell - Franz Kafka, In the Penal Colony, Letterpress, Mad Parrot Press, Oak Knoll Fest, The Hunter Gracchus

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breon Mitchell, Dellas Henke, fine press books, Franz Kafka, intaglio prints

Just moments ago I sent off the (I hope) final text edits and layout for In the Penal Colony to translator Breon Mitchell and artist Dellas Henke. Lucky for all of you we are perfectionists and because of that this new manuscript from Breon has undergone nine (I think) revisions in the past six months. I must say I’ve had too much fun doing this — for an otherwise usually grueling process it’s been fun sparring with my collaborators from anything from syntax to making calls on typographic “house style.”

Here is Dellas’s sixth etching for the book,”Entitled” to be used as the frontispiece.

All of the intaglio prints have been pulled and are awaiting another dampening for the text run. All but three more sets….

— We’ve decided to print an additional three special copies on some old Barcham Green “Windhover” stock saved by Dellas while he was working with Kim Merker and the Windhover Press during his graduate student days at the University of Iowa in the ’70s. I will contribute some lovely old stock Fabriano sheets from the ’40s for fly leaves or doublures. Some three discriminating individuals or institutions will enjoy these lovely folios of crisp sheets hand pulled by an iconic craftsman and paper mill and impressed with our impressions of this interesting little story.

UPDATE: The manuscript is finished! To the press soon!


I’ve not been idle while waiting for manuscript revisions. Progress has been made on my other Kafka project, The Hunter Gracchus, with completion of the last engraving and mezzotint intaglio work and adapting the other plates to the new size format. I’ll post some pictures of layout revisions soon.

Also, James Dissette and I have not neglected our Mad Parrot Press venture! We’ve brought Marc Castelli back on board to illustrate our new production of EM Forster ‘s The Machine Stops. Marc has worked with us in the past on our books under the Chester River Press imprint for both Heart of Darkness and The Chesapeake Voyages of Captain John Smith as well as other ephemeral projects. However, we’ve run into a snag with the Forster estate at the moment but hope to work it out to all of our benefit in the very near future. I’ll keep you posted of course as I’m always timely with my blog….


Looking toward fall:

I’ll once again be at the 16th annual Kerrytown Bookfest in Ann Arbor, Michigan peddling my books and demonstrating intaglio printing as I have for the past 16 years.

I’ll also be at Oak Knoll Fest XX in New Castle, Delaware on October 5-7th. Please join me and 40 other fine presses from around the world as we convene for this very special 20th anniversary gathering at Oak Knoll where the Fine Press Book Association was born.

All books convey a message through printed word and image. The fine press book is not just a vessel for an idea, but a message in and of itself. When the careful combination of paper, typography, printing, and binding accentuate the ideas contained within in a distinctive and artistic way, then the book as an object takes on special importance. How this evolving practice is viewed by artisans, collectors, institutions, and dealers is what Oak Knoll Fest is all about.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts


Visit the main website at deepwoodpress.com to join the mailing list and to purchase available books and broadsides.

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 627 other subscribers

Categories

CD packaging
CD packaging
coverspread
If
If
The Path
The Path
Ripping Oblivion
Ripping Oblivion
cover
the process
the process
Deluxe Mad Angler
IMG_6035
scripta2-l
Trout spread
Trout page spread
A printed sheet next to the type form
A printed sheet next to the type form
final print comb 5
Cover of The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.
The Trout in Winter
The Trout in Winter
Deluxe Mad Angler Poems
Caxtonupspine
img_6385
The Mad Angler's Manifesto
The Mad Angler’s Manifesto
IMG_6027
Green Man (1994)
The Frogs Who Wished a King
Saturnalia
Saturnalia
Along with Youth by Ernest Hemingway broadside
Along with Youth
fanned book
deluxe binding of The Intruder
deluxe binding of The Intruder
IMG_6061
Cover for The Changeling's Exile
The Changeling’s Exile
smithspinebx
open box
Title Page
Title Page
Don Etherington binding of The Intruder
Don Etherington binding of The Intruder
Where_they_rund
hodspine
IMG_7418
The 6th etching for the book, "Entitled"
The 6th etching for the book, “Entitled”
type hand-set on a curve
type hand-set on a curve
Opening spread for Minisens
Opening spread for Minisens
Wind prom
Deluxe copy of The Intruder
Deluxe copy of The Path
Title page from Killing the Bear by Judith Minty
Title page from Killing the Bear by Judith Minty
img_6376
path2-l
Killing the Bear by Judith Minty, deluxe edition binding & slipcase
Killing the Bear by Judith Minty, deluxe edition binding & slipcase
smithtitle
Custom bound journal, commissioned work
Custom bound journal, commissioned bindery work
a pile
a pile
"The Intruder" cover
opening spread for the Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop
Opening spread for the Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, intaglio engravings by Chad Pastotnik.
Deluxe copy of The Intruder
If detail
title page from Heart of Darkness
Title page from Heart of Darkness
JSspread
IMG_3901
Killing the Bear by Judith Minty
Killing the Bear
Tree (1991)
Deluxe copy of Heart of Darkness
Don Etherington binding of The Intruder
Don Etherington binding of The Intruder
troutsm
IMG_6015
drinky coaster
Deluxe copy of The Changeling's Exile
spine label detail
spine label detail
Messing about in boats
smithcolormap
intruder-trout-low
MoonTitle
Tedprize
the linoleum blocks for "The Path" center spread
the linoleum blocks for “The Path” center spread
IMG_0805
Cover detail
detail of “The Intruder” cover
img_6380
front cover
intruder-calf-low
"The Intruder" cover
The Intruder
intruder-calfspinelow
Spread from Heart of Darkness
Spread from Heart of Darkness
IMG_7440
img_010339
Deluxe copy of The Path
MAonbox
img_7436
TreeAngle
Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.
Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.
Bower by Terrance Hayes
Bower by Terrance Hayes
img_010375
top
Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.
Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.
Some books produced at Deep Wood Press
Some books produced at Deep Wood Press. The John Barth book “Browsing” was printed here at DWP for The Literary House Press (Washington College, MD) by James Dissette, my sometimes partner in crime in printing for Chester River Press.
prototype for deluxe edition of "The Intruder"
Deluxe edition prototype
spine title
Cover for the book There Be Monsters
There Be Monsters.
scripta-l
Kafka page spread detail
Deluxe Mad Angler Poems detail
Glenn's remark
Glenn’s remark
1,000 Artist's Books
1,000 Artist’s Books
Glenn's intaglio plate
Glenn’s intaglio plate
Deluxe copy of Heart of Darkness
IMG_6040
mosters title page
Title page for the book There Be Monsters
kirktitle
img_010373-1
cover shot
Chained books at Chetham's Library in Manchester, England where I was a keynote speaker at a letterpress conference.
Chained books at Chetham’s Library in Manchester, England where I was a speaker at a letterpress conference.
intruder-erin-low
Hand set type and border material for Deep Wood Press promotional item.
JPEG image-E3D0B7CFE94E-1
kirkcover
Deluxe copy of The Intruder
intruder-calf-low
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, regular edition binding
Heart of Darkness
Presentation binding for The Chesapeake Voyages of Captain John Smith
Presentation binding for The Chesapeake Voyages of Captain John Smith
Opening spread for There be Monsters
Opening spread for There be Monsters
Center Spread
Center Spread
Opening spread from Changeling's Exile
Pile of books
Pile of Intruders
Badger c
wordpress visitor counter

blog stuff

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Book lovers

  • John Voelker Foundation
  • Fine Press Book Association An organization of individuals interested in the art of fine printing, formed with the goal of promoting the appreciation of beautiful books and printing skills.
  • Books and Vines Musings on Classic Literature, Collectable Books, Fine Wines and a Sundry Other Things that Make Life Interesting.
  • Wood Engravers' Network Since 1994, a group of printmakers, especially interested in wood engraving, have gathered and formed an organization called the Wood Engravers’ Network.
  • The Book Blog A blog dedicated to collectible books by fine presses & other specialty publishers.
  • Deep Wood Press website

Book Bindings Books Breon Mitchell - Franz Kafka Broadsides CODEX Equipment Fine Press Book Association Future Projects In the Penal Colony Letterpress Linotype Mad Parrot Press Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair Moon as Bright as Water Oak Knoll Fest PR and Media releases Printing The Hunter Gracchus The Intruder The Mad Angler's Manifesto The Path The Wind in the Willows Trout Vladimir Zimakov Workshop

On Facebook:

On Facebook:

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

  • Follow Following
    • Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press
    • Join 169 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: