Books at Iowa 7 (November 1967)
Pages 9-22, 24-25, 27-31
https://doi.org/10.17077/0006-7474.1298
The Cummington Press
Mary L. Richmond
The Cummington Press had its beginning in the impulsive enthusiasm of a group of students and teachers at The Cummington School of the Arts. Located near the village of Cummington, Massachusetts, in a rural setting, the School provided a small-scale but distinguished center for congenial creativity. A six-week summer session offered study and practice for writers, musicians, and painters under the guidance of visiting artists.
The imprint "The Cummington Press" was first set at the bottom of the title-page of Incident on the Bark Columbia, printed in 1941. This tangible evidence of an organization in operation reflects the courage and character of a remarkable woman, Katharine Frazier, founder and, until her death in 1944, Director of the School. Miss Frazier aroused and channeled the enthusiasm which led to the School's purchase of a hand printing press. Later she participated in all phases of editorial and printing activities. From the beginning she was assisted by Harry Duncan, who assumed management of The Cummington Press when her health failed early in 1943. Duncan has described Katharine Frazier as the "begetter" of The Cummington Press.1 He himself became the life string. His dedication, more than any other factor, has kept its imprint alive.
In spite of their almost total unawareness of the demands of handpress printing, a group of students and teachers abetted Miss Frazier's adroit maneuvering in the summer of 1939 by voting to expend the whole of the School's Acquisition Fund on a hand press. These enthusiasts, including Harry Duncan, later found it necessary to make up the deficit incurred by such an audacious enterprise. Not even Miss Frazier seemed to have any clear idea what purpose the press would serve, except, perhaps, to print the School's concert programs and exhibition handlists. She was determined, however, that the money be well invested and, as Duncan has written, "appealed to the highest oracles, The Messrs. Carl Rollins, Ward Ritchie, Dard Hunter, Will Ransom, and others who gave generously of advice . . . Frederic Goudy inspected a Taylor Press (aet. circ. 1880) and approved it."2
Before the press could be operated, however, it was necessary that the superannuated, shaky tympan, and the frisket be "expertly" replaced by the local cabinetmaker and welder, who followed Ringwalt's American Encyclopedia of Printing (Philadelphia, 1871) . The obstacle inherent in the resulting skin-tight interplay of the inner tympan and the sides of the platen went unheeded. This and a ten-pound frisket were not corrected until years later. The necessary accessories were acquired and a font of Centaur type was laid in the cases. Here progress lingered, until one day Harry Duncan began "to play with the type." Overlooking no opportunity to insert letter spaces and em-quads, and with plenty of leading, he conscientiously demonstrated the validity of the opening sentence of the pithy maxim from Ars Typographica, the first item to be printed with the new equipment:
Simplicity is the last thing learned. It comes from simple thinking, not from a conscious attempt to be simple.
Nevertheless, the beginning had been made. Miss Frazier's immediate and enthusiastic response precipitated a cooperative printing venture, although the hazards involved might well have baffled a master printer. After the close of the summer session, a group stayed on and somehow kept house, cooked, and in two weeks printed From This Hill 1940, a collection of eleven poems and a short story written by the students. Many things had been learned the hard way and critical appraisal condemned the pamphlet to be burned, but it had been fun. Katharine Frazier and Harry Duncan were captivated by printing as a way of life -- a captivity from which he has never escaped.
The next spring Duncan and Miss Frazier undertook the printing of a 64-page manuscript collection of whaler's letters, Incident on the Bark Columbia, which was issued in a hard cover edition of 300 copies. The successful cooperative printing of the second annual, From This Hill 1941, and a portfolio of original Christmas cards handsomely decorated with original drawings and cuts was completed by the end of the summer. The group of printers was encouraged, but it had become obvious that a commitment to excellence in this endeavor would require more of themselves and of their time than could be managed.
Allen Tate's Sonnets at Christmas, printed in the autumn by Miss Frazier and Harry Duncan, showed a developing mastery of materials and refractory problems. The paper was being dampened and other refinements were introduced. The printed poems balance the margins and present pleasing patterns on the pages. Typographical quality and the distinctive style that became the cachet of The Cummington Press are already evident.
Printing activities might easily have gravitated toward the production of local history items, Americana, Christmas cards or other ephemera. Fortunately, some of the foremost American writers associated with the School's 1941 writing session recognized the talent and serious intent of the printers and demonstrated their confidence by offering manuscripts, and through their good offices other manuscripts were obtained. That established men of letters should entrust their work to fledgling printers is indeed unusual evidence of support. Moreover, genuine involvement with the processes of printing and book production is confirmed by their letters of inquiry and approval which now form an enviable collection. R. P. Blackmur's The Second World was published in the spring of 1942; Wallace Stevens' Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction was issued in the autumn. Thus the publishing program was crystallized. Printing original material and the best of contemporary literature became the main purpose of the Cummington Press.
During this period, Katharine Frazier and Harry Duncan were among the "major correspondents" of Wallace Stevens,3 who showed a continued discriminating and personal interest in the design of his Cummington books. Letters written at the time that Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction was published show his great pleasure in its appearance.4 These remarks were delightfully amplified six months later in a letter to Harry Duncan:
. . . It [Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction] seems to me to be an extremely well-made book. I don't see how the design of it could be improved, and all the impressions that I have seen were beautifully done. The only thing that I have ever felt any doubt about; that is to say, the lines [of poetry] on the back [i.e., the back cover] are really all right in the sense that they relax the stiffness, and seem to me to be a pleasant kind of informality -- like the colored boy that comes in after everything is over in DER ROSENKAVALIER and picks up the handkerchief that was left on the floor . . .5
At this time war conditions caused the closing of the School, and Miss Frazier's illness prevented her further participation in printing activities. Harry Duncan, who had been rejected for military service, departed to serve a short apprenticeship with Edmund B. Thompson, and upon his return became Manager of the Press. Since a hand press should be served by two men, and since help was unavailable, a few items were printed on a Golding "kicker", or treadle press. The results were so discouraging that when it could be arranged, Gustav Wolf, a Karlsruhe painter and wood-engraver resident in a nearby German refugee camp, joined the Press to help with the printing and to handle the illustrations.
An elaborate edition of the Book of Job was printed in the inadequately heated dining hall of the School, intended only for spring and autumn use. This book, an implicit memorial to Katharine Frazier, is a resourceful and remarkable book printed in the most difficult circumstances. It stands with the best of other private press books of Job (except Blake's), and was the first Cummington book to be chosen by the American Institute of Graphic Arts for its Fifty Books recognition. The decision to print another Job, however, represented a break with the fixed purpose of the Press, and its édition de luxe treatment was an interruption of the developing Cummington style.
Wolf's departure at the end of the war left Harry Duncan without assistance, and with several manuscripts on hand. Paul Wightman Williams, Jr., a visiting painter (who usually signed his works, W.W.), was persuaded to undertake the book illustrations and to assist with press operations. One serious obstacle remainedthe School's facilities were never intended for winter use. Where could the printing be done? This problem was solved by converting part of the large kitchen into a pressroom. In this makeshift arrangement, they cut the wood to keep warm, learned to cook and keep house, and maintained outside communication and transportation on skis. Even with the daily chores, somehow time was found to print several books including Wallace Stevens' Esthétique du Mal(1945 ), chosen as one of the Fifty Books. Earlier, when Stevens received his author's copies, he had written to Duncan, "The books are marvelous . . . I am grateful to both of you. At the present time, when everything is in such a funk, this book has done more for my reconversion than anything else I can think of . . . ."6
A page, considerably reduced, from Five Prose Pieces by Rainer Maria Rilke, published by the Cummington Press in 1947. The actual page measures 8½ x 11¼ inches. Item 28 in the Richmond list.
The press, after having been shunted from one unsuitable location to another, was finally set up in a barn loft remodeled as a pressroom with living quarters for the printers when the School reopened in 1946. The books produced in this loft received highly favorable notices. Robert Penn Warren's Blackberry Winter (1946) and R. P. Blackmur's The Good European (1947) were praised for their freshness of conception. Several pages from Rilke's Five Prose Pieces (1947) have been reproduced in the U.S. and abroad as examples of imaginative book illustration,7 and also as highly unconventional book design in which unjustified lines (ragged margins) and off-center headings have been combined with vivacious but stylized illustrations interspersed through the text to effect a pleasing concord of illustrations and type.8
Technical problems were often solved with the generous guidance of Victor Hammer, superb craftsman and devotee of the hand press, then resident at the Wells College Press (Aurora, New York).9 Duncan and Williams enjoyed his warm friendship, and when it could be arranged, worked with him. They have often expressed their indebtedness to him. James Feibleman's Journey to a Coastal Marsh (1946) was printed at the Wells College Press for the Cummington Press, and The Clouds . . . (1948) by William Carlos Williams was issued jointly by the two presses. About this time they acquired a Washington Press.
Woodcut title-page portrait, by Wightman Williams, from Allen Tate’s The Hovering Fly and Other Essays, published by the Cummington Press in 1949. Item 37 in the Richmond list.
Allen Tate's The Hovering Fly (1949) was the most ambitious undertaking of the loft period. Williams designed and cut twenty-six illustrations and a superb woodcut portrait of the author for the title page. Less sensitive designers would have allowed the portrait to dominate the page. Artistic balance was successfully maintained by the skillful juxtaposition of type and woodcut and the use of white spaces to relax and compensate the density of the lines of the portrait. The illustrations are vigorous and arresting, but they have been handled subtly to avoid their dominating or distracting from the letterpress.
Inevitably, some critics complained that the Cummington hand-produced books were anachronistic, and added, even though the authors themselves had chosen to dignify their works in a Cummington format, that contemporary literature calls for contemporary processes of production. Duncan and Williams answered, "That power machines purvey more, and cheaper books is well known; nevertheless the standards of book-craftsmanship are based on a simpler instrument, the hand press, whose effects the machine was made to imitate. Therefore, hand printing is not displaced, but must remain the basic direct letterpress technique till traditional book-architecture itself submits to technology. For us, then, the hand press . . . provides the possibility to make books whose design is not applied, but structural, rising from good materials traditionally worked. Whatever originality they have comes through the demands and incentives of the texts themselves. So we try to select writings that are compelling, inventive and acute."10
The last book printed at Cummington was Genesis: The Seven Days of the Created World, the first edition of a manuscript poem attributed to William Blake and identified as no. 7 in Keynes' Bibliography (New York: Grolier Club, 1921). This reverent and exact rendition of the manuscript in print scrupulously omits the title page. Romanée type, whose color supports heavy leading, governs the typographical style, and the choice of brilliant white paper enhances the beauty of the type face. Sharp clean impressions complemented by a generous allowance of white space in the type area framed by wide white margins impart a buoyancy and dignity to each page. Type face, typography, binding, and abstract illustrations reinforce each other to effect an articulated aesthetic design.
Printing was temporarily suspended in 1952 when Duncan was called home because of the serious illness and death of his father. For some time Duncan and Williams had been concerned about the persistent uncertainty of the future role of the Press in the School. Soon after Duncan's return, they decided to close the Press until they could make their own plans for the future. Williams resumed his painting in New York, where his paintings were shown at the Bertha Schaeffer Gallery. Duncan lived in Rome where he had the leisure to pursue his writing and translating in a stimulating atmosphere.
Duncan and Williams returned to rural New England in 1954 to reestablish the Cummington Press in Rowe, Massachusetts, a village on the eastern slopes of the Hoosac Range. Here Lee Hoiby, the composer, joined the Press for a short time. The three men bought an early nineteenth-century house almost untouched by modern improvements. Printing had to be delayed until plumbing and heating had been installed and the press set up in a remodeled outbuilding. This tight little New England community, bypassed by the railroad nearly a century earlier, was normally chary of outsiders. But the genial informality of the new residents appealed to the townspeople, who received them cordially. An earnest expression of their warm reception was the request to print the annual town report required by law in Massachusetts. The letterpress printed by hand on a Washington Press and decorated with charming drawings of the town's public buildings is something of a curiosity, if not unique, among town reports of the twentieth century.
At this time the printers were hampered by the necessity, not of making a profit, but of making a living. Increased operating expenses demanded an extension of the publishing policy. In the announcement of the reopening of the Press, it was stated that the Press policy of printing first editions of the finest texts available was unchanged, but that commissions for custom work would be accepted. Terence Illustrated (1955) was printed for The Chapin Library (Williams College). The last item printed in Rowe, Dickens in Italy (1957), was commissioned by The Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. But before the Dickens was ready for delivery, Paul Wightman Williams was killed in an automobile accident.
Williams' death left Duncan in the disheartening situation of having lost a like-minded and congenial partner. All work on hand was finished without any assistance. Dickens in Italy had been printed, but had to be sewed, wrappered, and labeled. Only fifty copies of another Chapin Library commission, Brief Account, had been printed. The remaining 400 copies were taken to the Lane Press (Burlington, Vt.) and printed with its equipment, then taken back to Rowe to be completed for delivery. Finally, Duncan had to give up plans to print the Italian text, along with his own English translation of Dante's L'Inferno, a fine fifteenth-century Florentine manuscript in the Chapin Library (De Ricci-Chapin 23).11
The partnership of Duncan and Williams built on intelligence, enthusiasm, and reciprocity of taste was a fruitful one. Both were motivated by an uncommon idealism. Both were artists of demonstrated ability in other fields -- one in poetry, the other in painting. Williams designed and executed the illustrations and handled the paper. Duncan was the designer, compositor, and attended to the skilled work of make-ready. They worked in close collaboration and operated the press together.
The books they produced showed the finish of long and careful thought. Because they lacked the discipline inherent in a traditional apprenticeship, it was necessary for them to adapt themselves and their art to the stern requirements of sound workmanship. They worked with honesty and directness, not straining for effect. Revivals and adaptations were shunned, and no "modernistic" item was issued by this Press. With few exceptions, type was set and printed by hand on dampened papers. They recognized that good paper is fundamental to fine printing and used only rag papers. Neither the illustrations nor the typographical personality of a book was allowed to intrude upon the spirit of the text. In many cases Williams made the hand-decorated binding papers. Often the hand sewing was done at the Press. They devised an ingenious way of wrappering and tying the signatures rather than sewing them. Some items were issued in appropriate wrappers; others were bound by the foremost binders in the country. Sometimes the results failed to measure up to the high standards of the designers, but their painstaking efforts to weld the components of the book into a single coherent design were notably successful.
For a while the future of the Cummington Press became complicated by tempting offers to join commercial concerns, but Duncan hesitated. He had taught English and poetry, and had some experience teaching printing. Through the generous cooperation of the Cummington Press, students in The History of Printing and Book Arts, a class conducted in the Chapin Library, were given an opportunity to gain a first-hand understanding of the demands of hand printing. Duncan always conducted a three- to four-hour combination lecture and laboratory session in a relaxed, articulate, and intelligent manner. It was evident that he was, as they say, "a born teacher." Consequently, since he was obviously governed by motives other than profit, sharing his skills and teaching would bring him more satisfactions and would give more benefit to others than could be enjoyed in commercial printing. Moreover, if he were lucky, teaching demands might allow enough time to print a book on his own occasionally and thus provide a sporadic continuity for the Cummington Press imprint. Duncan decided to accept an invitation to teach typography in the School of Journalism at The University of Iowa. When he headed west, the Washington Press, type, and other equipment followed close behind -- on a U-Haul Trailer.
Duncan's journey was rugged, and slow. The hazards of attempting to move the heavy press (19"x24" platen), type, and accessories on a trailer became alarmingly obvious after a few miles on the road. The trailer had been improperly loaded and overloaded. As the car's speed approached thirty miles per hour, the trailer would begin to zigzag dangerously, imprinting sinister tread patterns on the warm asphalt. Duncan would not be intimidated and refused all appeals to disconnect the trailer and proceed without the press. Even at the slow speed he was forced to travel, the motor rebelled against its heavy load by boiling over intermittently. Along the way the tow hitch (trailer tongue) broke. His arrival in Iowa City was somewhat miraculous. Moreover, he arrived in time to meet his teaching commitment.
The search for living quarters which would serve to accommodate the press took months. The search for a new partner was unsuccessful. Early in 1957 when the press was being set up in the basement at 428 Fifth Avenue, Iowa City, essential parts were found to be missing -- stolen in transit? When the parts could be replaced and a dehumidifier installed, the first item printed was Requiescat in Pace, a memorial to an irreplaceable partner, Paul Wightman Williams, Jr.
Underground printing proved to be psychologically handicapping. Another hindrance was Duncan's dependence on several persons for help with the press. Artificial light made it necessary to inspect the printed sheets in daylight with the result that high standards of excellence often demanded re-runs which consumed too much time, labor and material.
Duncan worked with K. Kimber Merker of the Stone Wall Press during the next few years at 1819 G Street in Iowa City. Helen Pinkerton's Error Pursued (1959) was issued jointly by the two Presses. The Washington press of the perilous westward journey was later operated by Merker to print some of the Stone Wall Press books. At present this press is owned by Gerald Stevenson of the Qara Press.
In 1964 Duncan moved his recently acquired family into a Victorian house in West Branch, Iowa. The remodeled front porch became the pressroom, and a stronger, heavier Ostrander Seymour hand press (with a smaller platen) was installed. Four Early Stories, by James Agee, illustrated by Keith Achepohl, the first book printed in West Branch, gives off a beautiful light to the eye.
In addition to directing the Typographic Laboratory and teaching printing since 1956 (including summer sessions), in 1959 Duncan introduced a class in the History of Books and Printing. Good teaching requires singleminded attention; printing requires not only singleminded attention, but brooks interruption scarcely at all. In combining these two highly demanding vocations, Duncan has chosen to slight his printing. Cummington imprints have been fewer in Iowa. If the last decade has produced an enthusiastic group of Typographic Laboratory alumni printers, Duncan may have made the right choice.
The list below -- a truly remarkable showing of first editions of the best American literature in the mid-twentieth century-shows the Cummington Press to be without parallel among private presses as a patron of contemporary American literature.
The form used in this list does not permit a complete description of the variants of some Cummington books; e.g., binding colors that have been keyed to the colored illustrations, or decorations, are not indicated; no distinction is made between "cased" and "bound." A full bibliographical description is required to indicate such distinctions.
* Denotes item selected for inclusion in American Institute of Graphic Arts' Fifty Books of the Year.
** Denotes item selected for inclusion in Midwest Books Exhibition.]
1939
1. FIVE CUMMINGTON POEMS 1939, by Samuel French Morse, William Bronk, Jr., Harry Duncan, and Jane Ward. 6 1/8 x 8 1/2; 8 unnumb. pp.; Caslon Linotype; 300 copies (110 for sale) on Hurlbut; wrapper. Printed by The Kraushar Press, Northampton, Massachusetts.
1940
2. FROM THIS HILL 1940. Contributions by Margaret Currier, Harry Duncan, Samuel French Morse, and Harriet Anderson. Title-page linoleum cut. 6 3/8 x 9 3/8; 24 unnumb. pp.; Centaur, hand-set; 217 copies (200 for sale); silk screened wrapper. This cooperative first attempt at printing was withdrawn and burned because "the result fell short of the intention."
1941
3. INCIDENT ON THE BARK COLUMBIA. Being Letters Received & Sent by Captain McCorkle and the Crew of His Whaler, 1860-1862. Edited with a preface by Helen Halsey. 5 x 6 1/2; 64 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; black and blue; 300 copies on Worthy Georgian; natural linen over boards. Bound by The National Library Bindery.
4. WHITE CHRISTMAS YARN, a Poem, by Helen Halsey. Wood engravings by Zola Marcus. 5 3/4 x 7 7/8; 14 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus, hand-set; black and green; 100 copies on Worthy Charta; wrapper.
5. FROM THIS HILL 1941. Contributions by Jane Ward, Harry Duncan, Milton Klonsky, Barbara Howes, Elaine Gottlieb, Angelo Bruno, and David Newton. Woodcuts by Zola Marcus and Frederick Marantz. Cover design by Ralph Pendleton. 6 1/4 x 9 1/4; 20 unnumb. pp.; Centaur, hand-set; wrapper.
6. SONNETS AT CHRISTMAS, by Allen Tate. Drawings by Ralph Pendleton. 5 x 7 1/2; 8 unnumb. pp.; Centaur, hand-set; black, tan, and green; 150 copies (100 numbered copies on Worthy Sterling Laid; 50 lettered copies on Worthy Hand and Arrows); wrapper.
7. TEN GOOD OLD POEMS WITH TRUE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, a portfolio of Samples of Christmas Cards. Includes plain song, excerpts from a Medieval mystery play and from Christ Church Missal, Poems by Clement Paman, Jeremy Taylor, Robert Herrick . . . With drawings, woodcuts, and linoleum cuts by Adolph Conrad, Harry Duncan, Katharine Frazier, Zola Marcus, David Newton, William Salzman . . . 5 x 7 1/2; 1 and 2 leaves; Centaur and Poliphilus, hand-set; various combinations of color with black, green, brown, red, blue, purple, and white; various hand-made papers. Available an special order.
1942
8. THE SECOND WORLD, by R. P. Blackmur. Title-page decoration drawn by Eugene Canade. 6 1/8 x 9; 29 pp.; Centaur and Arrighi, hand-set; black, gray, and blue; 300 copies on Worthy Sterling Laid; cloth. Bound by John Marchi. Type set by Katharine Frazier. Printed by Harry Duncan and David Newton.
9. NOTES TOWARD A SUPREME FICTION, by Wallace Stevens. Title and sub-title pages set from designs by Alessandro Giampietro. 5 3/4 x 8 5/8; 45 pp.; Centaur, hand-set; black, gray, and yellow; 273 numbered copies (I-LXXX, signed, on Worthy Hand and Arrows; 1-190 on Dutch Charcoal, A-C on Highclere); cloth. Bound by John Marchi. A few unique gift copies bound in leather by Arno Werner for the author. Stevens' personal copy was bound in leather by Gerhard Gerlach.
1943
10. PRIMAL SOUND & OTHER PROSE PIECES, by Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated with an introduction by Carl Niemeyer. Illustrated with wood engravings by Paul Wieghardt. 5 7/8 x 9; 48 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; 175 numbered copies on Worthy Aurelian; cloth. Bound by John Marchi.
11. AMERICAN DECADE: 68 POEMS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AN ANTHOLOGY, edited by Tom Boggs. 6 1/2 x 9 3/8; 93 pp.; Baskerville Linotype; 475 copies (450 copies, including 50 not for sale, on Andria in cloth; 25 numbered copies on Sterling Laid, especially bound by hand with linen spine and St. Albans decorative side papers). Bound by John Marchi. Designed and published by the Cummington Press. Printed at the Southworth-Anthoensen Press, Portland, Maine.
12. THE VIGIL OF VENUS: PERVIGILIUM VENERIS. Latin text with an introduction and English translation by Allen Tate. 6 1/4 x 9 1/4; 28 unnumb. pp.; Centaur, hand-set; black and red; 430 copies (400 numbered copies on Worthy Signature; 30 lettered copies, A-DD, on Worthy Charta); cloth. Bound by John Marchi.
13. NOTES TOWARD A SUPREME FICTION, by Wallace Stevens. 5 1/2 x 8 5/8; 45 pp.; Centaur, hand-set; black and yellow; 330 copies on Andria. Boards with cloth spine. Bound by John Marchi. This is a second edition of No. 9, completely reset.
14. TIME OF THE YEAR: A FIRST BOOK OF POEMS, by Samuel French Morse. With an introduction by Wallace Stevens. Title-page decoration drawn by Eugene Canade. 5 3/4 x 9; 53 pp.; Centaur and Arrighi, hand-set; black and red; 275 copies on Andria; boards with decorated front cover. Bound by John Marchi.
1944
*15. THE BOOK OF JOB, from the King James Bible. Note by Alfred Young Fisher. Wood engravings by Gustav Wolf. 8 1/2 x 10 3/4; 74 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, set by hand and on the Monotype; black and brown; 300 numbered copies on Worthy Dacian; boards with calf spine and decorative side papers. Bound by John Marchi.
16. LAND OF UNLIKENESS, Poems, by Robert Lowell. Introduction by Allen Tate. Title-page woodcut by Gustav Wolf. 5 7/8 x 8 7/8; 42 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, handset; black, red, and blue; 250 copies (26 numbered and signed, on Worthy Dacian; 224 copies on Brooke); boards. Bound by John Marchi.
17. THE WEDGE, by William Carlos Williams. Vignette drawn by Wightman Williams. 4 1/4 x 5 3/8; 109 pp.; Centaur and Arrighi, hand-set; 380 copies on Worthy Dacian; boards with paste paper sides, and front cover vignette. Bound by John Marchi. The green on the tide-page vignette was printed from cork board; the red applied by hand.
18. THE WINTER SEA, a Book of Poems, by Allen Tate. 5 3/8 x 8; 51 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; black and blue; 330 numbered copies (i-xxx, signed, on Dutch Charcoal, in boards each covered with an original Williams' watercolor on paper; 1-300 on Sterling Laid, in cloth with front cover panel printed from a Williams' cut). Bound by Arno Werner. Printing completed in December 1944; published early in 1945.
19. A GARLAND OF SNOW FOR CHRISTMAS, by Samuel French Morse. Cover vignette by Wightman Williams. 4 7/8 x 5 7/8; 4 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus, hand-set; black and blue; English rag. Printed for private distribution.
1945
20. A PENETENTIAL [sic] PRIMER, Poems, by Katherine Hoskins. 5 1/2 x 8 1/8; 35 unnumb. pp.; Centaur and Arrighi, hand-set; black and red; 330 copies on Worthy Dacian; wrapper with label. Sewed and cased at the Press.
*21. ESTHÉTIQUE DU MAL, a Poem, by Wallace Stevens. With 16 pen and ink drawings by Wightman Williams. 6 1/4 x 9 5/8; 21 unnumb. pp.; Centaur and Arrighi, hand-set; black and brown; 340 numbered copies (i-xl, signed, on Van Gelder, with cuts printed in black and handcolored, in boards with leather spine and Williams' hand-decorated paper sides; 1-300 on Pace, with cuts printed in brown, in boards covered with hand-decorated paper.) Bound by Arno Werner. Some of the unsigned copies were in boards covered with green straw paper. See, Letters of Wallace Stevens (New York: Knopf, 1966 ), p. 503 n.
22. A BLEAR BALL, by Wightman Williams. With frontispiece and front cover drawings by the author. 5 1/8 x 7 5/8; 21 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; 85 numbered and signed copies on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre; boards. Bound by John Marchi.
23. A POEM: CHRISTMAS 1945, by Harry Duncan. Linoleum cut by Wightman Williams. 3 1/2 x 6 3/8; 2 l.; Poliphilus, hand-set; black and red; Sterling Laid. Printed for private distribution.
1946
24. THE MEDITATIONS OF DANIEL DEFOE, NOW FIRST PRINTED, discovered and edited by George Harris Healey. 6 5/8 x l0 1/8; ix, 26 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; black and red; 280 copies (250, numbered, on Tuscany in cloth, bound by John Marchi; 30, not for sale, on Worthy Georgian, in wrappers). The first use of the Cummington method of wrappering and tying signatures (rather than sewing them).
*25. BLACKBERRY WINTER: A STORY, by Robert Penn Warren. Illustrated with 8 linoleum cuts by Wightman Williams. 5 x 7 3/4; 49 pp.; Poliphilus, hand-set; black, blue, and red; 280 (not 330 as stated in the colophon) numbered copies (i-l, signed, on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre, in boards with leather spine and hand-decorated paper sides; 1-230 on Arches in cloth). Bound by John Marchi.
26. JOURNEY TO THE COASTAL MARSH, a Spenserian Sequence, by James Feibleman. 7 1/8 x 10 5/8; 22 unnumb. pp.; American Uncial, hand-set; black and red; 300 (not 250 as stated in the colophon) numbered copies on Worthy Hand and Arrows; boards covered with Italian paper. Bound by John Marchi. Printed by Victor and Jacob Hammer in Aurora, New York, for the Cummington Press.
27. ANNOUNCING FIVE PROSE PIECES . . . of Rainer Maria Rilke. A Prospectus. Colored woodcut by Wightman Williams. 4 1/4 x 5 1/2; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Blado and Poliphilus; hand-set; various imported papers.
1947
*28. FIVE PROSE PIECES, by Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by Carl Niemeyer from Volume Four of Rilke's Gesammelte Werke. With 11 woodcut illustrations by Wightman Williams. 8 1/2 x 11 1/4; 23 pp.; Blado and Poliphilus, hand-set; black and brown; 271 numbered copies (I-VI on Curfew, with an original Williams' drawing tipped in, hand-bound in full calf; vii-xxxvii on Tunbridge, with hand-colored woodcuts, in boards with white pigskin spine and Williams' hand-decorated side papers; 1-203 on Van Gelder Oxhead, in boards with calf spine and marbled paper sides; 204-234 on various papers). Marbled paper, bindings, and tooling by Arno Werner, copies I-VI, vii-xxxvii, 1-203. Copies 204-234 bound at the National Bindery, West Springfield, Massachusetts. This is a second edition o f No. 10, with additional material.
29. FIVE PROSE PIECES . . . of Rainer Maria Rilke. Woodcut by Wightman Williams. An Announcement. 7 x 11; 1 p.; Blado and Poliphilus, hand-set; Hamilton. Printed for the Gotham Book Mart.
*30. THE GOOD EUROPEAN AND OTHER POEMS, by R. P. Blackmur. 6 1/8 x 9 1/8; 39 pp.; American Uncial, hand-set; 310 numbered copies (I-XL, signed, on Arches, in full linen with leather label; 1-270 on Etruria, in boards with linen spine and Werner paste paper sides). Bound and tooled by Arno Werner.
Williams' A.L.S., October 3, 1947, to Arno Werner acknowledges receipt of "two pigskin T.G.E." in slip cases. Presumably these are two of the signed copies, I-XL, above.
31. THREE ACADEMIC PIECES, an Essay and Two Poems, by Wallace Stevens. With 3 woodcut initials by Wightrnan Williams. 5 1/4 x 7 3/4; 37 pp.; Blado and Poliphilus, hand-set; 246 numbered copies (I-LII, signed, on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre, with hand-colored initials, in boards with cloth spine and paste paper sides, bound by Peter Franck; i-xcii on Arches Beauvais, with hand-colored initials, in boards covered with English paper, bound by Arno Werner; 1-102 on Worthy Dacian, with initials printed in purple, green, and orange respectively, in boards covered with Japanese paper, bound by Arno Werner).
32. FRAGMENT OF A MEDITATION: CHRISTMAS MCMXXXXVII, by Allen Tate. Title-page woodcut by Wightman Williams. 5 3/4 x 9; 7 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; 236 copies (230 on Tunbridge in wrappers with labels; 6 copies on Charing, with hand-colored woodcut, specially bound by Arno Werner with leather spine and corners, and the side papers specially made by Harrison Elliott).
33. THE MESSIAH: ISAIAH VIII 19-22 & IX 1-6, MICAH IV 3-5, ZECHARIAH XIV 20-21. Christmas 1947. 6 x 9 1/2; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); American Uncial, hand-set; black, red, and blue; 250 copies on Arches; wrapper. 150 printed for Arno Werner; 100 printed for private distribution.
1948
34. THE CLOUDS, AIGELTINGER, RUSSIA, &C: Poems, by William Carlos Williams. 5 1/2 x 9 1/8; 64 pp.; Emerson, hand-set; 310 numbered copies (I-LX, signed, on English handmade, in boards with slip case; 1-250 on all-rag in boards). Bound by Peter and Cornelia Franck. Issued jointly with the Wells College Press where Harry Duncan and Wightman Williams printed this book "through the good offices" of Victor Hammer.
35. A PROSPECTUS AND SPECIMEN PAGES OF THE HOVERING FLY, by Allen Tate. With a woodcut by Wightman Williams. 9 3/4 x 6 5/8; 6 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; black and brown; 500 copies on Nuremberg and Glaslan; wrapper. Each prospectus contains 4 specimen pages from the book, including one woodcut illustration.
36. A UNE RAISON: TO A REASON. From Les Illuminations of Rimbaud. Christmas 1948. Title woodcut by Wightman Williams. 4 5/8 x 6; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Blado and Poliphilus, hand-set; black with the cut printed in brown in some copies, and red, orange, or green in others; 125 copies on various rag papers. Printed for private distribution.
1949
37. THE HOVERING FLY & OTHER ESSAYS, by Allen Tate. With woodcut title-page portrait and 25 illustrations by Wightman Williams. 6 3/8 x 9 1/2; 102 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; nos. 13-105 infra black, blue, red, and nos. 106-245 black and brown; 245 numbered copies (1-12, signed by the author and illustrator, on Van Gelder hand-made wove, with an original Williams' pen and ink watercolored drawing and the woodcuts colored by hand, in sheets with binding to order; 13-105, signed by the author and illustrator, on Van Gelder laid, printed in black, blue, and red, in boards with calf spine, bound by Peter Franck; 106-245 on Arches or Nuremberg in boards with leather spine and Italian paper sides, bound by the National Library Bindery, West Springfield, Massachusetts).
38. POEMS 1943-1949, by Francis Golffing. 5 1/8 x 6 3/4; 42 pp. Poliphilus and Arrighi, Garamond open capitals, hand-set; 250 numbered copies (1-14, signed, on Halle, with handcolored initials, in boards with parchment spine and Italian block-paper sides; 15-250 on Winterbourne in French bristol boards). Bound by Duncan and Williams at the Press.
39. THE FACE, a Poem, by Marianne Craig Moore. With hand-colored woodcut ornament by Wightman Williams. 8 x 5 3/8; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Romanée, hand-set; 2500 copies on Worthy Hand and Arrows. Printed as an insert in The New Colophon, Vol. II, pt. 7 (September, 1949), between pp. 224-25, to accompany an article by Harry Duncan, "The Cummington Press," pp. 221-236. A few copies were printed for private distribution in wrappers.
40. A LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. With a woodcut by Wightman Williams, from The Hovering Fly. 4 1/8 x 6 1/4; 9 unnumb. pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; 500 copies on domestic wove; wrapper. Printed at The Kraushar Press, Northampton, Massachusetts.
41. ARTILLERIE, by George Herbert. Christmas 1949. 4 1/8 x 5 1/4; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Lutetia Italic, Romanée, and Arrighi, hand-set; black and red; 65 copies on Italian paper. Printed for private distribution.
1950
42. TWO CONCEITS FOR THE EYE TO SING IF POSSIBLE, by Allen Tate. Woodcut by Wightman Williams. 4 3/8 x 7 1/4; 7 unnumb. pp.; Romanée, hand-set; black and red; 300 copies on Rives; wrapper with label.
43. THREE POEMS, by Yvor Winters. Title-page woodcut by Wightman Williams. 4 1/8 x 6 1/4; 7 unnumb. pp.; Romanée, hand-set; 300 copies on English hand-made; marbled paper wrapper.
44. MY COUNTRY DREAMS: POEMS 1945-1950, by Wightman Williams. 6 3/8 x 10 1/4; 8 unnumb. pp.; Romanée, hand-set; 75 copies on Fabriano; wrapper. Thirty-three copies not accounted for in the colophon were on Rives with an intaglio drypoint by Williams.
45. AN HERB BASKET, by Richard Eberhart. Relief etching by Wightman Williams. 5 3/4 x 8 1/8; 8 unnumb. pp.; American Uncial; black and red; 155 copies on Rives; St. Albans decorative paper wrapper.
46. DOCTOR DRINK, Poems, by J. V. Cunningham. Intaglio etching-engraving-drypoint by Wightman Williams. 5 3/4 x 6 3/4; 6 unnumb. pp. Romanée, hand-set; 200 copies on Rives; Japanese paper wrapper.
47. THE FIRS, Translated from Apollinaire, by Harry Duncan, Hand-colored woodcut by Wightman Williams. Christmas 1950. 4 4/8 x 5 7/8; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Lutetia Italic and Romanée, hand-set; Tervakoski, a Finnish hand-made paper; self wrapper. Printed for private distribution.
48. THE CRICKET, by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman. Text taken literally from the pencil draft in the author's working notebook. Woodcut by Wightman Williams. 7 1/8 x 11; 8 unnumb. pp.; Romanée and Lutetia Italic, hand-set; black and brown; 290 copies on Duca d'Este and on a special wove; wrapper. A few copies were bound by Arno Werner in boards with calf spine and paste paper sides.
49. I RISE IN FLAME, CRIED THE PHOENIX, A Play about D. H. Lawrence, by Tennessee Williams. With a note by Frieda Lawrence. 8 x 11 1/2; 42 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; black and red; 310 numbered and signed copies (I-X on Umbria; 11-310 on Rives); boards with linen spine and decorated side papers, in sliding case. Printed for New Directions. Wightman Williams cut a phoenix in wood intending to have it printed opposite the first page of the play. The woodcut was eliminated because of Tennessee Williams' objection to it.
50. GENESIS: THE SEVEN DAYS OF THE CREATED WORLD, from the holograph of William Blake. A prospectus and order blank. Woodcut by Wightman Williams. 8 x 11; 4 unnumb. pp. 1 p.; Romanée and Lutetia, hand-set; black and brown. Set at the Cummington Press. Printed offset for Philip C. Duschnes.
51. THE GREAT ANTIPHONS FOR THE CANTICLE MAGNIFICAT OF OUR LADY. Christmas 1951. 8 1/2 x 11; 1 p.; Romanée, hand-set; black, blue, and red; rag paper. Printed for private distribution.
1952
52. GENESIS: THE SEVEN DAYS OF THE CREATED WORLD. Verses from a manuscript, by William Blake. Woodcuts by Wightman Williams. 8 1/4 x 11 1/2; 28 pp.; Romanée and Lutetia, hand-set; black, red, and blue; 170 numbered copies (I-XII with woodcuts handcolored, on Umbria, in full vellum in slip cases; 13-170 on linen paper specially made in Finland by Tervakoski Osakeyhtiö, bound with morocco spine and corners, and sides covered with Italian hand-made paper). Bindings and tooling by Peter Franck.
1954
53. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE REOPENING OF THE CUMMINGTON PRESS IN ROWE, MASSACHUSETTS, after a Recess of More than Two Years. 8 1/2 x 7 5/8; 1 p.; Romanée and Lutetia, hand-set; 500 copies on various rag papers.
54. THE PROPER PREFACE OF CHRISTMAS FROM THE ROMAN MISSAL. English and Latin Text. Type ornaments and initial letters colored by hand. 7 1/8 x 5 1/4; 4 unnumb. pp. (French fold); Romanée, hand-set; various rag papers. Printed for private distribution.
1955
55. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OFFICERS OF THE TOWN OF ROWE, MASSACHUSETTS. For the Year Ending December 31, 1954. Drawings of Rowe's public buildings by Wightman Williams. 6 x 9 1/4; 72 pp.; Poliphilus, hand-set, and Caslon Monotype; 300 (?) copies on domestic paper; wrapper. Printed for the Town of Rowe.
56. THE TRAVELER: ALLEGORICAL LYRICS, by Don Stanford. Title-page copperplate by Wightman Williams. 6 1/2 x 10; 15 pp.; Romanée, handset; black and blue; 200 copies on Worthy Georgian; Japanese paper wrapper.
57. TERENCE ILLUSTRATED: AN EXHIBITION IN HONOR OF KARL EPHRAIM WESTON. With an Essay by Mary L. Richmond. Foreword by S. Lane Faison, Jr. Four-color illustrations are reproduced from three Weston water-colored replicas of miniature paintings in 9th and 10th century manuscripts, and 15 illustrations are reproduced from Incunabula and other early books in the Chapin Library. 6 1/8 x 9 1/4; 43 pp.; Bembo and Romanée, set on the Monotype and re-set by hand; black and red; 400 copies on Weimar; Apta paper wrapper. Printed for The Chapin Library, Williams College. Plates made by Greylock Photo Engraving Company.
58. THE BOOK, and Other Poems, by Harvey Shapiro. Title-page woodcut by Wightman Williams. 7 x 9 5/8; 8 pp.; American Uncial, hand-set; some copies in black, others in brown; 200 copies on imported rag; various handmade paper wrappers with labels.
59. GLORY TO GOD IN HIGH HEAVEN. Christmas 1955. Woodcuts by Wightman Williams. 3 1/4 x 8 3/8; 1 p.; American Uncial, hand-set; black, red, and green; 100 (?) copies on Apta. Printed for private distribution.
1956
60. OFFICIAL BALLOT FOR THE TOWN OF ROWE, Monday, February 6, 1956. 4 1/2 x 8 1/2; 3 unnumb pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, Garamond open capitals, hand-set; 250 (?) copies on Strathmore Bond. Printed for the Town of Rowe, Massachusetts.
61. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN & PURPOSE OF THE CHAPIN LIBRARY AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, [by Thomas R. Adams]. 5 3/8 x 7 1/2; 19 pp.; Poliphilus, hand-set; black and brown; 450 copies on rag paper (50 copies hand-printed in honor of the visit of the Hroswitha Club, May 10th, 1956, in St. Albans decorative wrappers; 400 copies printed at the Lane Press, Burlington, Vermont, in Italian paper wrappers-each with appropriate label). Printed for The Chapin Library, Williams College.
62. THE HIDDEN AIRDROME, and Uncollected Poems, by Robert Price. Title-page plate from a water-color portrait by Theodorus Stamos. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2; 53 pp.; Poliphilus and Blado, hand-set; 170 copies on imported rag; cloth.
63. DICKENS IN ITALY: A LETTER TO THOMAS MITTON. Now published for the first time. Introduction by Edward Johnson. Facsimile insert of the original holograph. 7 1/2 x 10 5/8; 16 pp.; Romanée, hand-set; 400 copies on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre; wrapper. Collotype facsimile by The Meriden Gravure Company. Printed for the Fellows of The Pierpont Morgan Library.
1957
64. HOMAGE TO BAUDELAIRE ON THE CENTENNIAL OF LES FLEURS DU MAL, from the Poets at the State University of Iowa. Edited with a foreword by Paul Engle. Preface by Alexandre Aspel. 7 1/8 x 11 3/8; 25 pp.; Romanée and Hadriano Stone Cut open capitals, hand-set. 475 copies on Japanese Shogun; wrapper with label. Designed, set, and printed by Harry Duncan at the Typographic Laboratory in the State University of Iowa School of Journalism.
65. REQUIESCAT IN PACE -- PAUL WIGHTMAN WILLIAMS, JR., MCMXX-MCMLVI. Towards an Anniversary, an Elegy, by Barbara Gibbs. Foreword by Allen Tate. With a silverpoint portrait by Ben Perlin, printed in collotype. 7 1/2 x 11; 8 pp.; Romanée, handset; 190 copies on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre; wrapper with label. Collotype printed by E. Harold Hugo, Meriden Gravure Company. Printed for private distribution, at 428 Fifth Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa.
1958
66. VALENTINES TO THE WIDE WORLD, Poems, by Mona Van Duyn. With engravings, woodcuts, etc., by Fred Becker. 8 5/8 x 11 1/8; 55 pp.; Romanée and Lutetia Italic, hand-set; black and red; 180 numbered copies on Curtis Rag; cloth with label. Bound by Elizabeth Kner. Printed by Harry Duncan, K. Kimber Merker, and Raeburn Miller at 428 Fifth Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa.
1959
67. ERROR PURSUED, Poems, by Helen Pinkerton. 5 1/8 x 7 3/4; 21 unnumb. pp.; Romanée and Lutetia Italic, hand-set; 190 numbered copies (I-XL on various imported papers, bound with leather spine and Laga paper sides; 41-190 on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre, in boards covered with Fabriano papers). Bindings by Elizabeth Kner. Published jointly with the Stone Wall Press. Printed at 1819 G Street, Iowa City, Iowa.
68. THERE IS NO ROSE OF SUCH VIRTUE . . . Christmas 1959. Linoleum cut by Jim McClelland from a design by James Lechay. 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 (folded twice); 2 unnumb. pp.; American Uncial, hand-set. Printed for private distribution.
1961
69. THE LOVEMAKER, Poems, by Robert Mezey. Title-page portrait from a charcoal drawing by Mary Sims. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 72 pp.; Plantin set on the Monotype and reset by hand, Mistral hand-set; 2500 copies on Corsican; cloth, with book jacket. Bound by The Hart Press. Printed lithographically by Wagner's Printers, Davenport, Iowa. The 1960 Lamont Poetry Selection chosen by The Academy of American Poetry, Inc. One thousand copies of this edition were printed for The Academy.
70. JOURNEY TO A KNOWN PLACE, a Poem, by Hayden Carruth. Linoleum cuts by Harry Duncan. 7 5/8 x 10 1/8; 29 pp.; Romanée, hand-set; 4 cuts printed in brown, green, chartreuse, and red, respectively; 300 numbered copies on Hayle hand-made; boards with cloth spine and Moriki paper sides. Printed at 1819 G Street, Iowa City, Iowa, by Harry Duncan and Kim Merker for New Directions.
1962
71. THE CORPUS CHRISTI CAROL. Christmas 1962. 6 5/8 x 7 3/4 (folded); 1 p.; Arrighi, hand-set; black and red; 100 copies on Tovil. Printed for private distribution.
1963
72. BEARING WEAPONS, Poems, by Stephen Berg. 5 1/4 x 8; 69 pp.; Cloister Old Style, hand-set; 250 numbered copies on Tovil; cloth. Bound by the Board of Publications, Lutheran Church of America.
73. A SONG: ALCALA MCLVII Christmas 1963. 3 x 8; 3 unnumb. pp.; Cloister Old Style, hand-set; 100 copies on Japanese paper. Printed for private distribution.
1964
74. FOUR EARLY STORIES, by James Agee. Collected by Elena Harap. Illustrated with intaglio etchings by Keith Achepohl, who etched and wiped the plates. 8 x 11 3/4; 43 pp.; Cloister Old Style, hand-set; 285 numbered copies on Rives, signed by the illustrator; boards with morocco spine and hand-decorated Swedish paper sides. Bound by the Board of Publications, Lutheran Church of America. Printed at West Branch, Iowa.
A limited number of specimen pages were issued in various wrappers. Each set included at least one leaf of text and one etching.
75. FOUR EARLY STORIES, by James Agee. Collected by Elena Harap and illustrated with etchings by Keith Achepohl. An Announcement. 7 5/8 x 3 1/8; 4 unnumb. pp.; Cloister Old Style, hand-set; black and blue; 400 copies on Rives. Printed at West Branch, Iowa.
1965
76. THE POETS GO ALONG, by John Crowe Ransom. 4 1/2 x 7; 7 unnumb. pp.; Cloister Old Style, hand-set; black and red; Rives. This is one signature, printed by request, of a volume issued in celebration o f Alfred A. Knopf's 50th year in publishing.
**77. WHITE BLOSSOMS, Poems, by Robert Mezey. 5 1/8 x 7; 51 pp.; Plantin, Joanna Italic, Harlequin initials; 520 copies on Sinsetu (50 copies in full morocco; 470 copies in Japanese paper wrappers). Bound by the Board of Publications, Lutheran Church of America.
78. NOEL. From Ange aux Entrailles, by Jacques Audiberti. With an English translation by Harry Duncan. Christmas 1965. 5 3/4 x 4 1/2; 3 pp., (French fold); Cloister Old Style and Romanée Italic, hand-set; black and blue. Printed for private distribution.
1966
79. CHRIST AND THE UNICORN, An Address, by Allen Tate. 5 x 8 7/8; 10 pp.; Cloister Old Style, Joanna Italic, Arrighi Plantin, Hadriano Stone Cut, hand-set. 125 copies on Curtis Rag; wrapper with label. Printed in 1966, but not yet published.
NOTES:
1. "The Cummington Press," The New Colophon, Vol. 11 pt. 7 (September; 1949), p. 221. I have depended upon this article, pages 221-234 (and personal interviews) for information about the early circumstances of the Press. The credo of the young printers is modestly, but eloquently, stated here.
2. Duncan, op. cit., p. 222.
3. Letters of Wallace Stevens, Selected and Edited by Holly Stevens (New York: Knopf, 1966 ), pp. 257, [397].
4. Ibid., no. 453, p. 419; no. 458, p. 422. See also no. 464, p. 428. Similar comments made by other Cummington authors about their books can be quoted when their letters become available.
5. Stevens, op. cit., no. 477, p. 442; no. 442, p. 408.
6. Stevens, op. cit., no. 560, pp. 515-16.
7. Pp. 8-9 accompany Peter Beilenson, "The Amateur Printer," in Graphic Forms; The Arts as Related to the Book, by Gyӧrgy Kepes, and others (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949), pp. 89-94.
8. Hugh Williamson, Methods of Book Design (London: Oxford University Press, 1956 ), pp. 10-11.
9. Victor Hammer later established the Anvil Press in Lexington, Kentucky. His death in July 1967, at the age of 88, was an inexpressible loss to fine printing.
10. A List of Publications (1949), no. 40 above [Foreword], p. [1].
11. M. L. Richmond, "Personal Observations on the Cummington Press," Printing and Graphic Arts, Vol. V (February, 1957), p. 9.
Copyright: © 1967 The University of Iowa