Hearty Fare

Happy Day of Thanks! This goes out to all who enjoy good books, good food and good company...not necessarily in that order. This sweet book is a reminder of all that I am grateful for: all of the above! Hearty Fare, by Bunston Quayles—pen name of the late, great Los Angeles artist, Vance Gerry (1929-2005)—was letterpress-printed in an edition of 150 copies on Rives paper in 1991. It is a small, chapbook of comfort food recipes "intended to be a reminder to gentlemen of dishes once relished but perhaps temporarily forgotten," according to Gerry. The quantities of ingredients are left up to the cook, and he only intends for the recipes to be inspirational reminders of hearty fare. This book is a treasure—even if it was printed for the "gentlemen"—and it is spiced with Gerry's own elegant woodcuts. It was a gift from my dear husband and friends for one of those pesky "round-numbered" birthdays I celebrated earlier this month, and it totally blew me over. For this I am forever grateful!
     Vance Gerry continues to be an inspiration to me. He was a master of porchoir illustration and was one of those towering talents who was always creating; always doing something new. At the age of thirteen, he learned to set type in the tradition of fine press publishers while working at Grant Dahlstrom's Castle Press in Pasadena. After attending Art Center and the Chouinard Art Institute on the GI Bill, he went to work as an artist in the Disney Studios in Burbank, where he spent his entire career working on such films as The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, The Rescuers, Robin Hood and Fantasia/2000. In his spare time, he wrote and printed many private press books for his own Weather Bird Press—often under the assumed name of "Bunny Quayles" or "Bunston Quayles." 

I never had the pleasure to meet Vance Gerry when I was living in Los Angeles in the mid-80s, however I did follow close on his trail. In those days in LA, the used and antiquarian bookstore association published an annual two-color brochure and map which was beautifully letterpress-printed by Patrick Reagh. The covers were always handsomely illustrated by Vance, and I would never miss an opportunity to pick up a copy (which was far more meaningful than the Map of Stars' Homes.) At the time, I was unaware it was Gerry's work, but I always saved them. The stories I've heard from friends who knew Vance well, tell of his sense of style, his incomparable talent, prolific output, and his very quick wit. Friend, Bonnie tells me, "When asked at one time if he had any children he replied, 'No, but I was one once.'" This goes far to explain why he was also a big collector of childrens' toys.
     To learn more about Vance Gerry and his work, there is a brief, but nice biography written by Adela Roatcap on the Fine Press Book Association site for which I am also grateful. May you all have a Happy Day of Thanks today and enjoy some hearty fare!

Under the Big Top

Yes, it's a tent dealer sale today under the Big Top, but I'm just window-shopping as the prices are just as BIG. These two 4 foot tall, handcarved wood blocks of a circus scene c. 1930s-40s caught my eye here. They are unusually nice and rarely do you find such beautiful wood print blocks as these for sale unless they go up for auction. They really belong in a printing museum rather than on someone's wall. The primary and secondary plates intended for a two-color letterpress poster are originally from the Neal Walters Poster Company in Bentonville, Arkansas. Predictably, the wonderful circus scene of animals, arial artists and circus clowns surrounding the nice type layout is unsigned, but both blocks appear to be in nice condition. "150 Circus Artists and Performers From All Parts of The World. Double Giant Menagerie From Five Continents. 5000 Seats 500,000 Invested." The only thing more frightening than the clowns is the price of $5500 for the matching set. Window-shopping is always free here. View the flipped images of these two enormous woodcut blocks at bottom of post.  

The Lasting Impressions of Antonio Frasconi

January has been a cruel month thus far. This past weekend I learned about the great loss of legendary artist, Antonio Frasconi, who died January 8th at the age of 93 at his home in Norwalk, Connecticut. Frasconi had a long and prestigious career as one of the America's greatest printmakers. Working primarily in wood, he illustrated over 100 books, album covers, Christmas cards, magazine illustrations and even a US postage stamp. Largely self-taught, he found inspiration in comic books as well as the works of German Expressionist artists, Jose Posada and Japanese artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Kitagawa Utamaro. According to Douglas Martin who wrote his obituary in The New York Times, "he decried art education, saying the average student does not learn the pertinent questions, much less the answers. He abhorred art that dwelt on aesthetics at the expense of social problems. He repeatedly addressed war, racism and poverty, and devoted a decade to completing a series of woodcut portraits of people who were tortured and killed under a rightest military dictatorship in his home country, Uruguay, from 1973 to 1985."
     Frasconi was born in 1919 in Argentina to Italian immigrant parents, raised in Uruguay, and moved to New York to study at the Art Students' League in 1945. He loved to draw and paint, but often complained it took too long for the colors to dry. Over the course of the next sixty years he became a master woodcut artist and developed a keen sensitivity to the slightest variations in the grain of the wood. He preferred to print his work by hand, using a spoon and a baren, as he felt a machine was no match for the sensitivity of the hand and the intricacies of the ink and paper.

Catalog cover for a 1967 exhibit at Galería Colibrí in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The image at top of post is from a collection of 316 silkscreened posters of well-respected Puerto Rican artists whose work represented significant cultural, social and political events that occurred on the island from 1952 to 1985. Frasconi designed many posters for his own exhibits alongside the master Puerto Rican artist Lorenzo Homar.  

A beautiful woodcut print, titled The Bird in Art, a common theme of Frasconi's. This signed 18x24" poster is currently for sale on eBay. Below is a copy of Frasconi's accordion book, Kaleidoscope featuring his printed works up to 1968. Published by Harcourt, Brace & World in order to celebrate Frasconi's selection by Uruguay to represent them in the 34th Biennale in Venice in 1968. Originally posted on eBay, but has since sold. 

Frasconi's cover illustration for the 1962 edition of Graphis magazine, celebrating the 100th issue. Also currently on eBay. 

The three Frasconi woodcut works above are the cover, an interior spread, and title page of Bestiary/Bestiario, a poem by Pablo Neruda. This particular copy from Joshua Heller Rare Books, Inc. was from an edition of 300 printed at The Spiral Press in 1965 under the supervision of Joseph Blumenthal and signed by each. It has previously sold. A larger 1965 edition of 3500 copies printed by The Spiral Press was published simultaneously by Harcourt, Brace & World. These copies are less scarce. 
     Frasconi had a deep love for the book and the printed page, but he was equally devoted to lettering. Many of his woodcuts invariably incorporate hand-lettered text in some fashion. This image from one of my earlier posts is one extreme. 
     Some of Frasconi's commercially produced childrens' books published by Harcourt, Brace and World, can still be found in used bookstores occasionally. Despite the printing quality, they are exquisite examples of his artistry. Below are two favorite examples from my own collection, The Snow and the Sun, a graphic interpretation of a popular South American folktale published in 1961, and See Again, Say Again, published in 1964 as a companion to his earlier work, See and Say. Antonio Frasconi had a very illustrative career, and we are fortunate he has left us with so many lasting impressions. 

The Book-Folder

Rather unbecoming portrait of a bookbinder toiling away on an edition of the Elton's Almanac for their Valentine. Curious the artist misspelled the word "Almanac" in this woodcut illustration. 

Stone Printing

The series of photographs above are of Reynolds Stone's old ironhand presses. Stone (1909 - 1979) was a very distinguished British wood engraver, letter cutter and painter who lived in rural Dorset, England. His wife, Janet was a skilled photographer and took these two and a quarter square format photos of him and his presses in the mid-1960s. The negatives were found recently by his son-in-law (and accomplished artist himself), Ian Beck, who scanned and posted them here. Featured are his Columbian and Albion presses which were eventually sold to a Japanese collector after his death and are now on display in a Tokyo print museum. 

      Stone had no formal design training, but drew inspiration from his friendships with Stanley Morison and Eric Gill who he had a chance meeting with on a train one day. He is remembered as a prolific designer of typefaces, book jackets, postage stamps, British bank notes, memorials in slate and stone and even the official coat of arms seen on the cover of the British passport. One of my favorite works of his is seen here in a previous Letterology post. You can see more photos on Stone's work for the Winston Churchill memorial here. Thanks for sharing Ian!

Robin's Egg Blue Book Cover

Wood engraving for cover of children's songbook by New York artist Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), a contemporary of Thomas Bewick. Published by Russell & Sanders, 1855. See previous Anderson posts here and here. I'm a big, big fan.

Decorative Architecture

Elaborate wood engraved letters from the late 19th century by New York city artist Alexander Anderson (1775-1870).

The Wood Engraved Alphabet

First: ABC Print from Centsprenten van de Koninklijke Bibliotheek.

Second and third: Educational devices to teach the alphabet. Illustrated by Alexander Anderson (1775-1870). Courtesy New York Public Library.
Fourth: Uncertain where this came from but it looks very similar to Anderson's work.
The bottom two items are tri-fold primers. 

Arts & Letters Mark

Device created for the National Book League of Great Britain in 1949 by illustrator, wood engraver and type designer Reynolds Stone (1909-1979). He was another self-taught artist. Oh what a beautiful mark this would make for Letterology!

Early Experimental Typography

Even monks like to play with type!
:: Via Abbsworth