Aaron Horkey Dead Man Printers Proof

Shown is a printers proof of the recent Aaron Horkey illustrated art print Dead Man. Print was originally commissioned by Alamos Drafthouse for the showing of the film by the same name, directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Printed via giclée by Geoff Graham of Graham Editions with letterpress filigree border by Gerald Lange of The Bieler Press. Printed on 505 gsm Somerset Velvet Photo Enhanced paper, a 100% cotton, acid-free sheet. Print measures 6-15/16 inches wide by 16-1/2 inches long.

Signed and numbered by the artist, and includes gocco print on reverse indicating this as the first collaboration with publisher, Dead Arts Publishing. Both editions, Alamos Drafthouse and Dead Arts Publishing, went out-of-print upon release.

A visually stunning piece and indicative of a new direction in Horkey’s work.

The Aaron Horkey Letterpress Print Series

Focal close-up of a printed proof, Melvins/Goatmeal. Courtesy of the publisher.

In production at The Bieler Press is a suite of eighteen limited edition letterpress art prints of Aaron Horkey illustrations (to be issued in sequence).

High resolution digital scan backs were taken of the original drawings to capture their intricate detail and to provide accurate rendering for the letterpress process. Printed by Gerald Lange from steel-backed photopolymer plates on dampened Somerset Velvet Radiant White mouldmade paper.

Edition copies will be available for purchase from Dead Arts Publishing upon their announcement.

Non Libri Sed Liberi

Excerpted from Kenneth Grahame’s essay of the same title (from The Pagan Papers, 1898); this paragraph is often referred to as the “Lament to a Bookbinder.” Set in a letterpress configured version of Monotype Bell. Printed by Gerald Lange in three colors (titling in deep maroon, grids in pencil gray) from steel-backed photopolymer plates on dampened mouldmade Somerset Velvet Newsprint Grey in an edition of 120 copies.

9 by 11 inches. Published February, 2009. $39.95.

Hand set type in the age of the computer / Paul Hayden Duensing

Hand set type in the age of the computer, a statement by Paul Hayden Duensing was issued in October of 1987 to commemorate the twelfth anniversary of The Bieler Press (Los Angeles).

Illustrated with an engraving of ‘the manner of holding the composing stick’ (based on a woodcut from Joseph’s Moxon’s 17th-century manual on printing). Handset in Monotype Calligraphia and letterpress printed in two colors (engraving in pale gray) on Arches Cover mouldmade acid-free paper.

Broadside measures 13 by 10 inches. Published in an edition of 200 copies. $29.95.

An Account of the Epiphany

The visit of the Magi as told by a stable boy—written, designed, and produced by Gerald Lange.

“A non-traditional Christmas tale that magically captures the ethos of Christianity.” Of all my work, this, to me, is the most personally endearing.

Set in LetterPerfect’s digital font Old Claude and letterpress printed on Giovanni, a mouldmade paper from the Fabriano mills. Hand-colored. 8-1/4 by 13-1/2 inches.

Issued in a signed edition of 120 copies by The Bieler Press, Marina del Rey, in the winter of 2000/2001. $39.95.

Books seem to me to be pestilent things / John Locke

Books seem to me to be pestilent things is a limited edition broadside of John Locke’s infamous observation on the book trade.

This was letterpress printed with handset Goudy Text/Lombardic Initials on Rives BFK Heavyweight Gray acid-free mouldmade paper. Published by The Bieler Press [while located in Minneapolis] in an edition of 240 copies in March of 1985 [second issue from the printer/publisher]. 10 by 6-1/2 inches. $19.95

USC Fine Arts Press broadsides

Herbals from the Lena and Jack Pincus Collection is a limited edition broadside produced for an exhibition honoring the Lena and Jack Pincus collection of herbals held at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library. Issued from the USC Fine Arts Press, Los Angeles, 1989.

Features a replication of an original sixteenth-century woodcut from Commentaires on the Six Books of Dioscorides (Pierandrea Mattioli, 1563/65), one of two that were restored and proofed at the Press.

Designed by Gerald Lange. Hand set in ATF Caslon 540 Italic and letterpress printed in two colors (pale green and light cream) on German Etching Black mouldmade acid-free paper.

13 by 21 inches. This is one of 200 copies from the edition. $125.

Cervantes: Clasico y Contemporaneo, is a limited edition broadside produced for an exhibition and symposium held at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library. Featuring an image of Don Quixote and Sanchez reproduced from an original watercolor of Enrique Herreros.

Designed by Gerald Lange. Hand set in ATF Caslon 540 and letterpress printed in three colors on Magnani Incisioni White mouldmade acid-free paper.

Issued from the USC Fine Arts Press, Los Angeles, 1989. 13-1/2 by 21-1/2 inches. This is one of 200 copies from the edition. $125.

Selected Modern Illustrated Books, is a limited edition broadside printed for an exhibition of books selected from the Irene and Paul Beigelman Collection held at Doheny Memorial Library. Illustrated with a hand-colored replication of a linoleum engraving by Henri Matisse originally cut for Martin Fabiani’s edition of Henri de Montherlant’s Pasiphae.

Designed by Gerald Lange. Hand set in Ludwig & Mayer’s very rare foundry metal typeface Domino and letterpress printed in two colors of black on Magnani Incisioni White mouldmade acid-free paper. Issued from the USC Fine Arts Press, Los Angeles, 1991.

10-1/2 by 16-3/4 inches. This is one of 75 copies from the edition. $125.

Rabbits do not know what they are / Jack Spicer

A 19th-century wood engraving paired with the footnote from Jack Spicer’s poem, “White Rabbit.”

Here a disarmingly simple aphorism is combined with a wood engraving of two of the most perfectly astonished rabbits conceivable. The effect is priceless. Words assert, images respond. The broadside’s elements congeal, calling up the multifaceted incongruities that lie at the heart of all humor.—Fine Print

The broadside was handset in Weiss Series I Initials and printed in two colors on mouldmade Rives Heavyweight paper. Issued in an edition of 200 copies [second printing, 1986]. 11 by 13 inches. $34.95.

Murder in the Printshop

I have used the text of this uncompleted story for several years as a specimen sheet for beta testing fonts from various digital foundries. While this piece is only an interrupted beginning to a faux detective story that goes no further, several folks suggested that I “print it up as a broadside.” So, I did. “Murder in the printshop” is an old newspaper shop phrase referring to a disaster during production.

This production is an examination of the letterpress printing characteristics of Caslon Oldstyle No. 337 (digitized from Lanston Monotype Company’s original masters by Lanston Type Co. Ltd.).

The broadside was letterpress printed in two colors (titling and very tiny Adobe Poetica ornaments in red) from photopolymer plates on dampened Campersand (a “vintage” English handmade paper from the mill of J. Barcham Green, watermarked 1979).

Produced in 1996, in an edition of 135 numbered copies. 11 by 15-3/4 inches. $49.95

Grace in Typography / Jan Tschichold

A quotation by Tschichold on the proper attitude to be brought to typographic composition.

Handset in Rhapsodie and Sistina and letterpress printed in three colors on Magnani Incisioni White mouldmade acid-free paper.

Designed and printed by Gerald Lange in an edition of 200 copies. 1989. 9 by 12 inches. $39.95.

O my love is like a red red rose / Robert Burns

A bit of typographic hyperbole taken from ‘A Red, Red Rose,’ a poem by the legendary Scotsman Robert Burns (1796). Designed by Gerald Lange and letterpress printed from photopolymer plates on white Magnani Pescia acid-free moldmade paper. Digitally composed in a letterpress-configured version of 124-pt Letraset Papyrus (with alternates). Water coloring was applied within the counters of selective characters.

Issued in an edition limited to 120 numbered copies. 1997. 11 by 14-3/4 inches. $39.95.