Press proofs of 16th-century herbal woodcuts

Allium fistulosum (Scallion) / Asparagus officinalis (Asparagus)

Two press proofs of actual woodcuts (worm holes and all) from Pierandrea Mattioli’s Commentaires on the Six Books of Dioscorides [1563/1565].

Produced under the direction of Gerald Lange in 1989, these proofs were never available to the public until now. Meticulously printed on archival Basingwerk Heavyweight esparto grass paper, these are numbered on their reverse and signed by Lange. Released by The Bieler Press in September of 2010.

The editions consist of only 32 copies for Asparagus officinalis and 42 copies for Allium fistulosum. 8.75 by 12 inches (pics shown are cropped, images measure 5.75 x 8.5 inches). $120 each.

Aaron Horkey Retrospective Letterpress Series

The Bieler Press printed the Aaron Horkey Retrospective Letterpress Series: Suites 1–2, a selection of eight limited edition art prints of Aaron Horkey’s ink drawn illustrations published by Dead Arts Publishing.

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 on a hand-operated Vandercook cylinder press using steel-backed photopolymer plates and dampened Somerset Velvet mouldmade paper.


Suite One consists of The Scavenger (Fantomas), Drifting Monument (Racebannon), Goatmeal (The Melvins), The Rook (chess piece).

Suite Two consists of Cecropia (Boris Smile), Megaloceros (Cable I), The Sentinel (Whale Bone Grove), The Pawn (chess piece).

Posters in both pieces are signed and numberd by Horkey and each includes an elaborate Certificate of Authority.

Price for each Suite is $895. State sale tax (where applicable) and shipping are extra.


Printers proofs of individual posters, indicated as such and signed by Lange, are also available for sale at their original pricing. Inquire.

Claudius Fraktur type specimen

Preliminary proof showing full character set of the metal foundry type in the 40-pt (Didot) size. This specimen was originally produced for a book on typography by Paul Shaw. Claudius Fraktur was designed by Rudolf Koch for the Klingspor foundry [1931–34].



Farida Sunada of Ophelia Press meticulously handset the foundry type specimen.

SPECIAL: This foundry type specimen (photo shows actual type and spacing on steel galley) and the as new remainder of the 40-pt type in clean typecase are available for purchase (type weighed in at 50+/- pounds).  $1,749.95 plus shipping and tax (where applicable). Includes a copy of broadside (see below) mailed separately w/o charge.


The Bieler Press has published a letterpress printed broadside of this specimen. The colophon for the piece premieres BigSpur, a digital font designed by Richard Bigus. The edition consists of 150 copies. Size is 10-1/4 by 14 inches. Printed by Gerald Lange on dampened Somerset mouldmade paper from both metal foundry type and steel-backed photopolymer plates. $49.95.

Aaron Horkey — Dead Man

Shown is a printers’ proof of the Aaron Horkey illustrated art print Dead Man produced for a showing of the Jim Jarmusch film by the same name.

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; includes gocco print on reverse indicating this as Horkey’s first collaboration with publisher Dead Arts Publishing.

We have two of these for sale at $1350 each plus state sales tax (if applicable) and shipping.

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

Offered is a letterpress print of Gerald Lange's Christmas story, "An Account of the Epiphany."

The visit of the Magi as told by a stable boy.

A non-traditional Christmas tale that magically captures the ethos of Christianity.

"I do not remember much of it, but these things I do remember. I was the stable boy and it was the winter of the bright star. The star that shown down as if on the town itself and lit up the night for those many months."

Set in LetterPerfect’s digital font Old Claude and letterpress printed on Giovanni, a mouldmade paper from the Fabriano mills. 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. $24.95

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.