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Books Arts in Special Collections

Manuscript and archival resources

MSS 358 Archive of the Press of A. Colish, 1913-1990 (bulk dates 1930s -1950s); 5 linear ft. with oversize material

American fine printer and publisher Abraham Colish (1882-1963) began his career in printing at age twelve in a small printing shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. By 1907, in New York City, Colish opened his own composing office and specialized in advertising typography. The Press of A. Colish produced work for the Limited Editions Club, the Grolier Club, the Typophiles, Colophon, the Pforzheimer Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, publisher Henry Schuman, and others. In addition to business records, advertising, print jobs, and reference materials, the collection includes Colish's correspondence and design work with T.M. Cleland, Bruce Rogers, and Rockwell Kent. Abraham Colish's son Louis assumed management of the Press upon his father's death in 1963. In the late 1980s, the Press of A. Colish, also known as A. Colish, Inc., merged with Laurel Printing of Elmsford, New York.

MSS 312 John Anderson papers, 1949-1994 (bulk dates 1978-1994); 5 linear ft.

Typographer, book designer, and printer John Anderson (1915- ) was born in New Jersey and based in Philadelphia for much of his work. Anderson founded Pickering Press in 1946, reviving the imprint in Philadelphia in 1963 after a brief stint designing for Paul Wheeler's Northland Press in Flagstaff, Arizona. Anderson's papers include material related to his career as a printer, especially as proprietor of Pickering Press. The collection includes personal and business correspondence with clients, fellow printers, and print enthusiasts; books designed and printed by Anderson; sample books and type specimens; and broadsides, advertisements, bookplates, engraved printing blocks, and other ephemera. A number of Pickering imprints are cataloged separately in the printed holdings of Special Collections.

MSS 447 Archives of the Angelica and Amity Presses, 1967-1983 (bulk dates 1974-1979); 3 linear ft. and oversize

Third-generation New York printer Dennis Grastorf established Angelica Press in Brooklyn, New York, in 1974, with his wife Marilyn Grastorf, a designer and illustrator. The press relocated to New York City, where the Grastorfs continued producing fine press books until about 1980. In 1975, Dennis Grastorf purchased his father's press in Belmont, New York, and renamed it Amity Press with the goal of becoming a high quality commerical printer. The archive of both presses includes published books, printing samples, production materials, artwork, printing plates, photographs, paper and cloth samples, correspondence, financial records, and ephemera related to the presses and its owners. The archive documents the products, operations, and distribution projects of the presses.

Bird and Bull Press Archive, ca. 1958-1993, 22 linear feet.

Printer and papermaker Henry Morris established a private press near Philadelphia under the imprint Bird & Bull in 1958. Since that time, Morris has produced books, broadsides, ephemera, and other printed materials that are an important part of the contemporary American private press scene and significant documents in the art, craft, and history of hand papermaking. The Bird & Bull Press Archive contains correspondence, publications of the press, ephemera, paper samples, business records, manuscripts and editorial matter pertaining to the Press' publications, and a host of related materials. The Bird & Bull Press is a significant resource for the study of fine printing and hand papermaking in America, as well as a tribute to these arts.

MSS 316 Black Stone Press Archive, 1974-1984; 5 linear ft.

Poet, designer, publisher, and printer Peter Koch (b. 1943) established the Black Stone Press in his native Missoula, Montana, as a forum for his own work and that of fellow surrealist poets. Between 1974 and 1977, he published Montana Gothic, a poetry journal. He bought his first handpress in 1978, and in 1979 apprenticed under Adrian Wilson at the press in Tuscany Alley in San Francisco. He operated Black Stone Press in the Bay Area and printed a number of books with his wife, Shelley Hoyt-Koch. Following the dissolution of Black Stone Press in 1984, Koch has printed under the name Peter Rutledge Koch, Typographic Design, and Peter Koch, Printer. The Black Stone Press Archive provides a thorough history of the press, and includes correspondence, galleys, negatives, broadsides, books, literary journals, ephemera, and business records of the press. Books published by Black Stone Press are cataloged and available in Special Collections.

MSS 153 Cuala Press collection, 1903-1943; 1 linear ft. (ca. 265 items)

Elizabeth and Lily Yeats, sisters of William Butler Yeats and Jack B. Yeats, founded Cuala Press in 1908 in Dublin. Under the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the cottage industry aimed to employ women and educate working class girls, producing embroidery and works from a small fine press. Cards and broadsides from Cuala Press included poetry and artwork by contemporary Irish writers and artists, including the Yeats brothers. This collection includes correspondence related to orders from Cuala Press, advertisements, ephemera, photographs, and hand-colored cards and broadsides from the Cuala Press.

MSS 297 John De Pol collection, 1837-2004 (bulk dates 1935-2001); 51 linear ft.

Artist, printmaker, and wood engraver John De Pol was born in 1913 in Greenwich Village in New York City. After service in World War II, De Pol worked as a typographer and graphic designer for Lewis White, The Thistle Press, and Bernard Brussel-Smith. By the early 1950s, De Pol began to spend more time designing and engraving for The Stone House Press, John Anderson's Pickering Press, and Pandick Press. The collection comprises the personal papers and an additional extensive book collection, tracing the evolution of John DePol’s craft from his early experiments in lithography during his military service, to his apprentice years with Lewis White, on through his prolific career as a wood engraver for commercial firms and fine press printers which continued into the twenty-first century. Most of the John De Pol Collection consists of examples of his work created for keepsakes, private presses, books, businesses, and corporations. The work includes greeting cards, books, pamphlets, brochures, proofs, clippings, flyers, broadsides, and programs, as well as illustrations for books and other publications. The collection also includes personal correspondence, and material related to De Pol's personal history, career, art, and many achievements.

MSS 236 Press of Kells collection, 1916- c. 1981; 37 items

The Press of Kells was founded in Newark, Delaware, around 1916 by Everett C. Johnson (d. 1926). Johnson, founding editor of the Newark Post, was also a devotee of fine printing and the ideal of craftsmanship espoused by William Morris. Johnson's venture with the Press of Kells was influenced by his American contemporary, Elbert Hubbard, who established the Roycrofters in East Aurora, New York. The collection includes a number of documents, ephemera, and clippings related to the press. Many of the fine press works from the Press of Kells are cataloged and available in the printed holdings of Special Collections.

MSS 452 Pentagram Press Archives, ca. 1974-1994, ca. 13 linear feet.

Founded in 1974 by the Milwaukee-based poet Michael Tarachow as a publishing outlet for poetry and other new literature, the Pentagram Press originally contracted its printing to local Milwaukee houses. By 1978, Tarachow had acquired his own press and over the past two decades he has gained recognition as both a respected printer and as a publisher of poetry and other literature. Since 1974 the Pentagram Press has produced more than seventy books and a host of broadsides and other ephemera. The Archives include correspondence, manuscripts, editorial materials, business records, and other material pertaining to the work of the Pentagram Press.

Plough Press Archives, ca. 1959-1991, 12 linear ft.

During his career as a scholar of printing history, Geoffrey Wakeman established himself as one of the most important historians of papermaking, binding, and color printing of his time. In 1967, Wakeman established the Plough Press as a medium for presenting his research. The Archives of the Plough Press consist of manuscripts, correspondence, and editorial matter for publications, business records, research files, ephemera, and a variety of other materials pertaining to the work of the Plough Press. Accompanying the Archive is a substantial portion of Geoffrey Wakeman's library on the history and technology of printing.

MSS 501 University of Georgia Press collection, 1934-1999; 10 linear ft. and oversize

The University of Georgia Press collection contains trade materials published between 1934 and 1999 that were used by the production office at the press. Founded in 1938, the University of Georgia Press is the oldest and largest publishing house in the state and one of the largest publishing houses in the South. Included are typeface catalogs; book material catalogs, particularly cover materials, paper samples, headband samples, and foil samples; periodicals relating to visual arts and communication, and the font index for the press itself.