Contemporary fine printing, artists books, books on handmade paper, and letterpress editions are a particular specialty of the Harris Collection. Since the 1960s, a considerable amount of American poetry has been published by presses specializing in fine printing, and thus the Harris Collection has acquired a substantial portion of it.
Notable modern presses whose works are well represented in the collection include Walter Hamady’s Perishable Press (Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin), the Arion Press (San Francisco), Gary Young’s Greenhouse Press, William Everson’s Lime Kiln Press, Philip Gallo’s Hermetic Press (Minneapolis), and many others.
Women printers and bookmakers whose works are held in the collection include Johanna Drucker, Indigo Som (Bitchy Buddha Press), Julie Chen (Flying Fish Press), Claire Van Vliet (Janus Press), Debra Weier (Emanon Press), Heidi Kyle, Ruth Laxson, Susan Johanknecht, Carol Blinn (Warwick Press), Alisa Golden (Never Mind the Press), Ilse Schreiber, and Gloria Stuart, among others.
Rhode Island has long been a center for fine press activity; Burning Deck Press, operated by Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, was active for many years in Providence. Harry and Sandra Reese’s Turkey Press, now of Isla Vista, California, got its start in Cranston. Walter Feldman’s Ziggurat Press and Brown Ziggurat Press (titles issued in collaboration with Brown University Library) is a notable press of recent years. Angela Lorenz, a student of Professor Feldman, published her first books as an undergraduate and is now an internationally known book artist, living in Bologna; her works are well represented in the collection.
See also:
» Broadsides
» Small Press Publications
Illustration: Robinson Jeffers. Granite and cypress. Santa Cruz: Lime Kiln Press, 1975.
Other collections in Special Collections at the John Hay Library that support the study of printing and the book arts are the Koopman Collection, the Dard Hunter Collection, the Rollo Silver Collection, the bequest of John D. Crawford, Jr., and the general Starred Books Collection.
The Broadsides Collection includes many items illustrative of fine printing and graphics, such as specimen leaves, invitations, and announcements issued by private presses, booksellers, and book clubs. The contemporary small press and artists’ book communities are particularly well represented.
Illustration: John Ashbery. Self-portrait in a convex mirror. San Francisco: Arion Press, 1984.
Brown University Library Resources: Subject Collections
- American Literature
Holdings in Special Collections - Book Arts
Holdings in Special Collections - Children’s Literature
Holdings in Special Collections - Graphic Arts
Holdings in Special Collections - Printing and Publishing History
Holdings in Special Collections
Brown University Library Resources: Online Exhibitions
- 40 Years of Burning Deck Press
Brown University Library Online Exhibition - Leaves of an Hour: Developing Literary and Popular Culture Collections at Brown University Library
Brown University Library Online Exhibition - Teaching the Arts of the Book
Brown University Library Online Exhibition
Internet Resources:
- Arion Press
- Arts of the Book Collection
Yale University - Book Arts Web
- Center for Book Arts, Inc.
- Community of Literary Magazines and Presses
- Electronic Poetry Center
University of Pennsylvania - Umbrella: A Journal for the Book Arts
- University of Iowa Center for the Book
Exhibition Catalogs
The Altered page: selections from the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry: Book Arts Gallery, February 6 – March 26, 1988.
New York: Center for Book Arts, 1988.
The arts of the book: a project devoted to an appreciation of 20th century book arts: September 9 – October 15, 1988, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Haviland Hall and Arronson Gallery, Philadelphia College of Art & Design.
Philadelphia: The University of the Arts, 1988.
Books as art: August 30 – October 6, 1991: Boca Raton Museum of Art. Ed. by Timothy A. Eaton.
Boca Raton: The Museum, 1991.
Breaking the bindings: American book art now: an exhibition of creative bookmaking produced in the United States since 1980. Elvehjem Museum of Art, 6 May – 3 July 1983.
Madison, Wis.: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1983.
Specimens of fine printing by presses in California located in Brown University Library and the John Carter Brown Library and Providence Public Library.
Providence, R.I.: Brown University Library, 1946.
Center for Book Arts: the first decade: an exhibition at the New York Public Library, September 7 – November 29, 1984.
New York: The Center for Book Arts, 1984.
Dressing the text: the fine press artists’ book. Juried by Ruth McGurk … [et al.]
Santa Cruz, Calif.: Printers’ Chappel of Santa Cruz, 1995
An exhibit of visual & concrete poetry from the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive: August 29 – September 8, 1983, Konglomerati Florida Foundation for Literature and the Book Arts.
Gulfport, Fla.: Konglomerati Press, 1983.
Experimenting with the book : the Janus Press.
London: Victoria and Albert Museum, [1994].
Hamady, Walter
Two decades of Hamady and the Perishable Press Limited :an anecdotally annotated check list for an exhibition at Gallery 210, University of Missouri/St. Louis, 3 October 1984 to 4 November 1984 entitled: Hamady’s Perishable Press, a 20th anniversary sampling of handcrafted books
Mt. Horeb, Wis.: Perishable Press, 1984.
Made in the Midwest : Walter Hamady’s 6451 students.
Racine, Wis.: Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, [1993].
Periodicals
Bookways.
Austin, Texas: W. Thomas Taylor, Inc., 1992-
Fine Print.
San Francisco: 1977-
The journal of artists’ books : JAB
New York: Interplanetary Productions, 1994-
Matrix.
Gloucstershire: The Whittington Press, 1988-
Reference Works
Artists’ books: a critical anthology and sourcebook, edited by Joan Lyons.
Rochester, N.Y.: The Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1989.
The Blueprint handbook of print & production. Michael Barnard, John Peacock and Charlotte Berrill.
London: Blueprint, 1994
Bradbury, Maureen
Fine printing by Canadian private presses : a descriptive listing of the holdings of Special Collections.
Edmonton, Alta. : Special Collections, D.E. Cameron Library, University of Alberta, 1978-1980.
Burke, Clifford
Printing poetry: a workbook in typographic reification.
San Francisco: Scarab Press, 1980.
CORE : a symposium on contemporary visual poetry. Edited by John Byrum & Crag Hill.
Mentor, Ohio: Generatorscore Press, c1993.
Courtney, Cathy
Speaking of book art : interviews with British and American book artists .
Los Altos Hills, Calif.: Anderson-Lovelace, c1999.
Drucker, Johanna
The century of artists’ books.
New York: Granary Books, 1995.
Drucker, Johanna
Figuring the word: essays on books, writing, and visual poetics.
New York: Granary Books, 1998.
Drucker, Johanna
Letterpress language: typography as a medium for the visual representation of language.
New York: Pergamon Press, 1984.
Drucker, Johanna
Luminous volumes: Granary’s new vision of the book : an essay.
New York: Granary Books, 1993.
Experimental – visual – concrete : avant-garde poetry since the 1960s. Edited by K. David Jackson, Eric Vos & Johanna Drucker.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Atlanta, Ga.: Rodopi, 1996.
Fine print references: a selected bibliography of print-related literature / compiled by Joan Ludman and Lauris Mason ; assisted by Carol Sirefman.
Millwood, N.Y.: Kraus International Publications, c1982.
Fine printers finely bound: finely made books in exceptional edition bindings. Selected by Ken Botnick & Steve Miller of Red Ozier Press for the Guild of BookWorkers ; the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 2 December 1986-2 January 1987.
New York: The Guild of Book Workers, [1986?].
Fine Printing Conference at Columbia University, 1982. Proceedings of the Fine Printing Conference at Columbia University, held May 19 – 22, 1982. Organized by Terry Belanger.
New York: Columbia University School of Library Service, 1983.
Guest, Tim
Books by artists. Tim Guest, Germano Celant.
Toronto: Art Metropole, 1981.
Hamady, Walter
Paper-making by hand: a book of suspicions.
Minor Confluence [i.e. Mt. Horeb] Perry Township, Dane County, Wis.: The Perishable Press Limited, 1982
Klima, Stefan
Artists books: a critical survey of the literature .
New York: Granary Books, 1998.
Ritchie, Ward
Fine printing: the Los Angeles tradition.
Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1987.
St. Armand, Barton Levi
Books & covers : the bibliographic art of Walter Feldman.
Providence, R.I.: Brown University, 1997.
Smith, Keith A.
Structure of the visual book
Rochester, N.Y.: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1984.
Tanselle, G. Thomas
Introduction to bibliography: seminar syllabus. 19th revision
Charlottesville, Va.: Book Arts Press, University of Virginia, 2002.
Women’s Studio Workshop
Handmade artists’ books : WSW 1994 catalog.
Rosendale, N.Y.: Women’s Studio Workshop, [1994].
