Pi Day

Pi (π) is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi is celebrated every year by math enthusiasts around the world today, March 14th.
And what does Pi have to do with book arts or letterpress or type, you might ask? The first book I printed letterpress was a small artist’s book with Wislawa Szymborska‘s whimsical poem “Pi,” which juxtaposes the finite, impermanent world with the familiar never-ending sequence 3.1415926535… In my book, the first 200 or so digits of Pi dance across the pages, starting on the cover and skating off the back.
So today, a toast to numbers and letterpress! You can read Szymborska’s poem, which begins “The admirable number pi: three point one four one.“, here. There’s an official (!) web site for Pi day with all sorts of fun facts and quotes and pointers to YouTube videos. And here’s a link to my book. I’ll finish off with this haiku from the PI Day web site:
Three point one
Four
et cetera