Green Chair Press Blog

Happy Pi Day

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

Letterpress Postage Stamps

Years ago, friends gave me personalized US postage stamps for my birthday. The postal service had a program where you uploaded an image to be used on the stamp. You can tell it was quite some time ago, as stamps are now 49 cents rather than 39.

Personalized USPS stamps

I’ve used the stamps sparingly, and really haven’t given them much thought as well. Then the other day I saw that Zazzle has a lot of pre-designed postage stamps for sale, including these letterpress ones. Unfortunately, they cost 2-3x what a regular stamp costs (good for a special occasion or a gift for your favorite printer!). You can create your own too, go here or through Zazzle.

Sewn books of Louise-Marie Cumont

There was lots of sewing in evidence at Codex. I particularly liked Louise-Marie Cumont’s books. All hand stitched and pieced, they are colorful and fun. Here are the ones I got to see. More here.

The Man in the Square:

The House, variation in four colors:

Suzanne Moore’s A Musings

For this year’s Codex, through Instagram, I got to see some books in progress before the fair. Calligrapher Suzanne Moore has a new book called “A Musings,” a book of all embellished A’s. Jessica Spring of Springtide Press letterpress printed one page and posted pictures of the lock-up and printed page — before Suzanne worked on it. Jessica told me she didn’t recognize the pages after Suzanne finished with them! Suzanne laughed when I told her that. The finished book is beautiful — I couldn’t find a snap of the page Jessica printed, but I did find a few other spreads. They are below, after Jessica’s. I asked Suzanne if she was going to do the entire alphabet, and again she laughed and said she’s considering only one other letter: Q.

Suzanne Moore’s A Musings

Books about Books: The Janus Press at Sixty

Claire Van Vliet started the Janus Press in 1954 and prints limited editions of (mostly) contemporary poets with original images. One of the first bookmaking classes I took at the book center in San Francisco was with Van Vliet. My book Monet Refuses the Operation uses a structure I learned in that class. My books To a Friend Going Blind and Persimmons use a binding method I found in Van Vliet’s book Woven and Interlocking Book Structures

I picked up a copy of a new picture book about Van Vliet’s books, “The Janus Press at Sixty,” at Codex. It’s the exhibition catalog for the current show at the San Francisco Center for the Book and includes images of the 36 books in the exhibition (six from each of the six decades). What’s great about this book, and unlike the recent trend in collections like 500 Handmade Books, is there are multiple pictures of each book, including spreads that can be read so the viewer gets a real sense of the book. It’s a wonderful visual tribute to the diversity of the press. You can get the catalog at the front desk at San Francisco Center for the Book or by calling (415) 565-0545.

Below are 2 books that were new to me. Click on the image to see an even bigger one.

Janus Press, Sun Sky, Earth, 1964

Janus Press, Lilac Wind, 1983

The Saint John’s Fragment

I wanted to buy a book for my collection at Codex, and after a lot of searching for one that had poetry, letterpress, and would be an inspiration for my own work, I settled on Foolscap Press’ The Saint John’s Fragment. The book is based on a unique book by poet David Annwn and calligrapher Thomas Ingmire. The Saint John’s Fragment is a piece from a papyrus codex that measures 3.5 by 2.5 inches at its widest. One side contains parts of seven lines from the Gospel of John 18:31–33, in Greek, and the other contains parts of seven lines from verses 37–38. David Annwn’s poem “Against the Odds” is in response to the fragment, describing what it looks like, what it might mean, and the mystery of it even existing today. At the end of the poem, a page unfolds with Ingmire’s beautiful calligraphy showing the fragment and the calligraphy shows the image of the actual fragment and the missing extended text (see last image below). See more about the book on Foolscap Press’ website and the original book on Ingmire’s blog. Below, click on the pictures to see a much large image.