janus press at sixty
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THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOK
FEBRUARY 14 THROUGH MAY 24, 2015
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOK
FEBRUARY 14 THROUGH MAY 24, 2015
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY in exhibition at the San Francisco Center for the Book February 14 – May 24, 2015
EXHIBITION COORDINATION FOR SFCB Mary K. Austin
CATALOGUE DESIGN Kathleen Burch
PHOTOGRAPHY Fletcher Manley
COPY EDITORS Samantha Hamady Terry Horrigan
PRINTING Inkworks Press Berkeley, Californiaisbn 978-1-929646-09-8
2015 by Claire Van Vliet and the San Francisco Center for the Book
375 Rhode Island Street San Francisco, California 94103
SFCB.ORG
This catalogue was designed using Tangent typefaces by Terminal Design. The SFCB logo was created by Studio Hinrichs.
A portion of the purchase price of this exhibition catalogue helps fund the operation of the San Francisco Center for the Book, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
THIS EXHIBITION MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OFKahle Austin FoundationSan Francisco FoundationSan Francisco Grants for the Arts
LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITIONMary K. AustinBarbara LuckThe St. Johnsbury Athenæum The Janus Press
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOKMary K. Austin, PresidentTim BelonaxKathleen Burch, Vice PresidentColeen Curry Alan Dye Wally Jansen Mary Laird Margaret Miller Brooks Roddan Kathleen Rydar Anne Smith Dorothy Yule Duff Axsom, Emeritus Curtiss Taylor, Emeritus
SFCB STAFFCheryl Itamura Chad Johnson Malgosia Kostecka Alex Lin Jeff Thomas
EXHIBITION COMMITTEEMary K. Austin, Kathleen Burch, Sas Colby, Samantha Hamady, Jennie Hinchcliff, Chad Johnson, Alyson Kuhn, Donna Seager; Marie Dern, honorary member
ABOUT THE SFCB The San Francisco Center for the Book, founded in 1996, is a center of inspiration for the book arts world, featuring the art and craft of letterpress printing, bookbinding, and artists’ book making. We are dedicated to the art of the book!
The SFCB was co-founded in 1996 by Mary K. Austin and Kathleen Burch, who recognized a growing need in San Francisco and the Bay Area for a facility specifically designed and equipped for the book arts. The first of its kind on the West Coast, the SFCB now offers over 300 workshops and many free events every year, including the annual street fair Roadworks: A Steamroller Printing Festival.
In addition to workshops and events, there is a thriving artist-in-residence program, producing numerous artists’ books every year, and collaborations with many local non-profits, museums, and libraries. The SFCB also hosts special visits & hands-on demonstrations for students of all ages, teachers, librarians, corporate team building, collectors, visiting printers, artists, writers and designers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECADE FOUR 64
Aunt Sallie’s Lament 66
Aunt Sallie’s Lament (Altered) 68
Designating Duet 70
Dido and Aeneas 72
Narcissus 76
Bone Songs 78
Night Street 80
DECADE FIVE 86
Praise Basted In 88
Batterers 90
Beauty in Use 92
(Compound Frame) 94 Seven Poems
Deep in the Territory 96
Circulus Sapientiae / 98 Circle of Wisdom
DECADE SIX 106
The Gospel of Mary 106
Waste Incant 110
Four Months / Four Seasons 114
HELIOS 120
TATATA 122
GREED 124
JANUS PRESS 128 1955–2014 AND COLLABORATORS
COLOPHON
COVERHayden Carruth
AURA1977
Pulp-painting by Claire Van Vliet with Kathryn and Howard Clark at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
Photography : Fletcher Manley
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY 4 Susan Allen
Razerol 7 Bare Elegy The Seekonk Woods
Four Women 9
Of Gravity and Grace 11
THIS IS 12
DECADE ONE 15
An Oxford Odyssey 16
Some Trees and Bushes 18
A Little Bestiary 20
Ein Landarzt / A Country Doctor 22
Parables and Paradoxes 26
Sun, Sky and Earth 28
DECADE TWO 30
Polyurethane Antibook 30
Conversation with the Supplicant 32
Der KÜbelreiter / The Bucket Rider 34
Sky and Earth: Variable Landscape 36
Romance de la Guardia Civil Española 38
The Tower of Babel: An Anthology 40
DECADE THREE 44
Aura 46
St. Francis Preaches to the Birds 48
Herball: 52 Dialogues of the Creatures Moralised
The Dream of the Dirty Woman 54
Lilac Wind 56
The Circus of Doctor Lao 60
SUSAN ALLEN: THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
6
I am a collector. I discovered the existence of the Janus Press in 1981 about halfway along the trajectory of its sixty-year history. And so, as the press founded by Claire Van Vliet in 1955 took as its namesake Janus, the Roman god of night and day, I, Janus-like, have come to know the productions of the Janus Press. The god looks through a gateway with two faces. One face looks east and one looks west; one is looking toward the new day, and one is looking toward the day that has been. This is the lens through which I view and understand the press. First, I collected what was new, and then in an effort to form a comprehensive collection for the next generation, I began collecting as many Janus Press titles as I could find from its earlier years. Finally, in the 1990s, I became a subscriber. Since then I have had the joy and pleasure of receiving every new book as it has been completed.
It is important to say that the works produced at the Janus Press with rare exceptions have always been books and broadsides. Another characterization would be “artists’ books.” By “book” I mean the codex form, or leaves of paper folded, stacked, and bound in some way between covers or in a box that holds it all together. This package allows a reader to hold the work in his or her lap or to place it on a table to turn the individual leaves in order to examine the text and artwork simultaneously. A broad-side is a single sheet of paper usually with a printed text and/or images on one side only.
In the early days of the press, Janus Press books looked quite traditional. They had standard-looking title pages with the bibliographic information bibliophiles and librarians expect to find: author, title, illustrator, date of publication, etc. The pages as they were presented early on were generally two-dimensional. Later in the life of the press a three-dimensional quality emerged.
The earliest book I have seen and collected is Some Trees and Bushes which appeared in 1959. Ruth Fine in her catalogue raisonné, The Janus Press 1955–75 (1975), calls this a “picture book”
Above:
THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO
See also pages 60–63.
7
Estelle Leontief
RAZEROL1973
Xerox images printed by Ray K. Metzker using his silver print as the matrix
9½ x 6½ inches
32 pages
Edition 150
Margo Lockwood
BARE ELEGY1980
Color Xerox image printed by Ray K. Metzker at the Xerox Reproduction Center in Philadelphia using his black and white silver print as the matrix
10½ x 6½ inches
20 pages
Edition 150
Galway Kinnell
THE SEEKONK WOODS1985
Original photographs by Lotte Jacobi
Printed from her negatives by Gary Samson at the University of New Hampshire
10¼ x 8 inches
18 pages
Edition 170
8
with lithographs and wood cuts by Van Vliet. It was printed in New Jersey before the Janus Press moved to Newark, Vermont. However, even this book and the images were a foretaste of work to come once the press found its permanent home in Newark. Sun, Sky and Earth, created in Philadelphia in 1964, demonstrates that Van Vliet had no fear of experimentation early in her career. This book has a spiral binding and is made of plastic. The die-cut circles and rectangular pages of colored acetate provide an almost infinite combination of stunning sunrises and sunsets and seasons for the reader to manipulate.
These images and themes from nature – the sun, the full moon, the sky, mountains, rocks, earth, trees, the four seasons – made their appearance early in Janus Press history, and they come back again and again in fresh and exciting ways. The use of unusual materials such as plastics and wood, handmade papers pleasing to the hand and eye, unusual non-adhesive bindings and preci-sion boxes, and representations of every illustration technique imaginable all made their appearance in Janus Press books during its first twenty years. Woodcuts, wood engravings, lithographs, relief etchings, photographs, linoleum cuts, and Xerox images, many created by Van Vliet, are all here before 1975.
From coming to know the books and from getting to know the artist, I have learned of Claire Van Vliet’s desire for connected-ness and meaning in all that she creates and publishes. The text, the images, all the materials, the bindings, everything that makes the artifact must contribute to and reinforce the sense of its whole or its essential rightness. To paraphrase the first line of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book I: Each art, whether it be literary or artistic; each practice, such as letterpress printing, papermaking, and binding; and the pursuit of a common goal in collaboration with other creative people, all seem to be aimed at producing this rightness. In the words of William Morris, the founder of a private press in another era, the aim must be the creation of something “useful and beautiful.” It is hard to examine any product of the Janus Press without coming to the conclusion that Claire Van Vliet has successfully achieved this goal often involving many others (see the list of collaborators at the end of this catalogue).
In February 1982, I had the good fortune of attending a Goudy Lecture given by Claire at Scripps College. She was in the midst of completing The Circus of Doctor Lao (1984) and showed us slides. It was to be the seventy-fifth publication of the press. Printed by letterpress on handmade paper with relief etchings
9
James Hayford
FOUR WOMEN1981
Masonite cut by Claire Van Vliet on the endpapers with moon added on the endsheet
9 x 6¼ inches
20 pages
Edition 175
10
and pochoir throughout, it was a grand folio volume, with a fold-out of the circus train that spread to six pages all tipped together. I was stunned. I never knew that a book could be so interesting and beautiful, so beautiful I had to have one. It was beyond my means at the time, but I could order Four Women (1982) by James Hayford, and I was not disappointed. The slim little volume was spare poetry about hard life. The only luxury it contained was relief print endpapers of a rocky hillside in Vermont, capped by evergreen trees and a gray, winter sky. Another early acquisition that same year that fit my criteria was Sabina Thorne’s Of Gravity and Grace (1982). How evocative of India and the Ganges are the saffron ink title, the sparse margins, and the breathtaking double-page-spread landscape of river, sleeping city, night sky, and waning moon.
The high production quality and complexity of Janus Press pub lications cannot be overstated. Though Claire Van Vliet often works with collaborators to accomplish a project, she is the one who has the vision of the whole. She provides the oversight, always paying extraordinary attention to every detail of every work. In the years following the publication of The Circus of Doctor Lao, Janus Press publications in general become more sculptural and three-dimensional and less two-dimensional. A pulp-painting is incorporated in Aura as early as 1977. Then in the 1980s and later, this method for teasing an illustration out of a sheet of handmade paper is in other works, often in an accordion- fold format. Lilac Wind (1983) is three poems printed on top of a pulp-painting augmented by other printed elements, namely a sun/moon image. Narcissus (1990), another spectacular accordion fold work housed in a precisely-fitted wooden box can double as a wall hanging. Dido and Aeneas (1989), co-published with The Theodore Press, features pulp-painting and pop-up elements as does Batterers (1996) which features a folded pulp-painted land-scape. In the new century, Janus Press reached new heights of complexity and beauty with the pulp-painting/pop-up com -bination in Circulus Sapientiae/Circle of Wisdom (2001) and The Gospel of Mary (2006).
At the same time the Janus Press was bringing out these incredible works utilizing pulp-painted handmade papers, there were the books that were inspired by American quilts: Aunt Sallie’s Lament (1988), Designating Duet (1989), Beauty in Use (1997), Deep in the Territory (1999), and Aunt Sallie’s Lament (Altered) (2004). Each has its own aesthetic to suit the poem it embodies. Each is an extremely complicated piece of three-dimensional art. The design and construction of each is truly a wonder. I have a vivid memory
11
Sabina Thorne
OF GRAVITY AND GRACE1982
Masonite cut by Claire Van Vliet
9 x 7 inches
40 pages
Edition 220 . . .See pages 6 and 7 for detail of cover.
12
13
Peter Schumann Bread and Puppet
THIS IS1980
Drawings by Peter Schumann printed by offset lithography
Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C., a federal agency
11 x 8½ inches
40 pages, paper bound
Edition 3,500 · paper 100, casebound
14
of receiving Beauty in Use in the mail. I opened the package not knowing what I would find inside. The spine label on the box for the work announced itself. When I opened it and began to turn the pages, a full hour passed before I could put the poetry down and return to my other business at hand. The interaction of the texts and the “quilted” pages left me amazed and in wonder at the inventiveness in the way the papers were arranged and the complexity of the structure that held all the elements together.
In all the years of its existence, the Janus Press has never shied away from controversy or from difficult political and social issues. In the 1970s and 1980s it collaborated with the Bread and Puppet Theater of Vermont. THIS IS (1980), a four-act Bread and Puppet Theater play, tells the story of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The poetry and images of Night Street (1993) examine urban themes through city views presented in a concertina format. Batterers (1996) explores the subject of domestic violence with its blood-red pulp-paper painting. Waste Incant (2007), about toxic materials and hazardous waste, is interleaved with and bound and boxed with plastic. GREED (2013) takes on economic inequality, corrupt politicians, and America’s one percent in a collage of strong images and words.
In 1989 Claire Van Vliet received a fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This award, bestowed annually on unsuspecting, “exceptionally creative women and men,” is known as the MacArthur “Genius Award.” Claire Van Vliet is none other than a genius as this exhibition of her life’s work vividly gives evidence.
SUSAN M. ALLEN
October 29, 2014
Susan M. Allen became director of California Rare Book School in March 2011. From 1999 to her retirement in 2011, she was associate director and chief librarian of the Getty Research Institute.
She was head of the Department of Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA, from January 1997 to 1999 and director of Libraries and Media Services at Kalamazoo College from 1993 to 1997. Prior to 1993, she held several posts in the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, including head of Special Collections.
At right:
NARCISSUSSee also pages 76–77.
DECADE ONE
John Theobald
AN OXFORD ODYSSEY1955
Wood engravings by Claire Van Vliet
8½ x 5½ inches
56 pages, pamphlet
Edition 100
16
17
18
Claire Van Vliet
SOME TREES AND BUSHES1959
Woodcuts and paper plate offset prints with the cover printed by silk screen
9¾ x 6½ inches
20 pages, bound in paper wrapper
Edition 125 . . .
See page 15 for detail of cover.
19
20
Edward Topsell
A LITTLE BESTIARY1961
Woodcuts by Helen Siegl
Commissioned by The Print Club of Philadelphia
12¼ x 9¼ inches
8 broadsides in a wrapper
Edition 200
21
22
Franz Kafka
EIN LANDARZT / A COUNTRY DOCTOR1962
Relief etchings by Claire Van Vliet
Typographic design by James H. McWilliams
12¼ x 8¾ inches
32 pages, casebound
20 in special binding
Edition 250
23
24 EIN LANDARZT / A COUNTRY DOCTOR
25
26
Franz Kafka
PARABLES AND PARADOXES1963
Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet
15 x 11 inches
10 folios, boxed
Edition 50
27
28
Claire Van Vliet
SUN, SKY AND EARTH1964
Die-cut acetate and cinemoid gels
7¾ x 6 inches
67 pages in plastic binding
Edition 50
29
James H. McWilliams
POLYURETHANE ANTIBOOK 1965
12 x 12 inches
Black paper-covered slipcase
Edition 10
DECADE TWO
32
Franz Kafka
CONVERSATION WITH THE SUPPLICANT 1971
Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet
13 x 10½ inches
10 unbound folios, boxed
Edition 100
33
34
Franz Kafka
DER KÜBELREITER / THE BUCKET RIDER 1972
Relief etchings by Jerome Kaplan
12¾ x 11 inches
10 unbound folios, boxed
Edition 100
35
36
Claire Van Vliet
SKY AND EARTH: VARIABLE LANDSCAPE 1973
10 x 8 inches
39 pieces of die-cut papers in folder
Edition not limited
37
38
Federico García-Lorca
ROMANCE DE LA GUARDIA ESPAÑOLA / BALLAD OF THE SPANISH CIVIL GUARD 1974
Woodcuts by Jerome Kaplan
11½ x 6¾ inches
24 french-folded pages, casebound
Edition 300
39
40
THE TOWER OF BABEL: AN ANTHOLOGY1973–5
Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet
12½ x 10 inches
20 unbound folios, boxed
Edition 100
41
42 THE TOWER OF BABEL: AN ANTHOLOGY
43The Builders of Babel
DECADE THREE
46
Hayden Carruth
AURA1977
Pulp-painting by Claire Van Vliet made with Kathryn and Howard Clark at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C., a federal agency
15 x 48 inches folded panel with a wrapper 15 x 8 inches folded
Edition 50 . . .
See cover for larger photograph of Aura.
47
Following pages:
Peter Schumann
ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS Bread and Puppet
1978
Masonite relief cuts by Peter Schumann, hand colored
14¼ x 13 inches
28 pages, folded on the fore-edge, bound into boards with screw posts
Edition 100
48 ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS
49
50 ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS
51
52
W. R. Johnson and Sabina Thorne, editors
HERBALL: DIALOGUES OF THE CREATURES MORALISED1979
Woodcuts by Helen Siegl, hand colored
11¼ x 8½ inches
24 pages, casebound
Edition 150
53
54
Elka Schumann
THE DREAM OF THE DIRTY WOMAN Bread and Puppet
1980
Relief prints on pulp-painting by Claire Van Vliet on paper made by Kathryn Clark at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
Includes a 12-inch lp of the performance
Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C., a federal agency
12¼ x 12 inches
10-page accordion, boxed
Edition 85
55
56
W. R. Johnson
LILAC WIND1983
Co-published with Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill where the pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet was made with Kathryn Clark
12 x 7¾ inches
8-page accordion, boxed
Edition 150
57
58 LILAC WIND
59
60
Charles G. Finney THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO1984Relief etchings by Claire Van Vliet13¼ x 10¼ inches130 pages, bound with long stitch, boxedEdition 150
61
62 THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO
63
DECADE FOUR
66
Margaret Kaufman
AUNT SALLIE’S LAMENT1988
Structure design based on Hedi Kyle’s Kimono Dolls
Abaca binding strip made by MacGregor-Vinzani
11¼ x 9¼ inches
26 pages, boxed
Edition 120 . . .
Previous pages:
Detail of cover from
NARCISSUSshown on pages 76–77.
67
68
Margaret Kaufman
AUNT SALLIE’S LAMENT (ALTERED)1993–2004
Altered Chronicle Books edition
8 x 8 inches oriented as diamond
28 pages, boxed
Edition 120
69
70
Sandra McPherson
DESIGNATING DUET1989
Abaca binding strip made by MacGregor-Vinzani
7½ x 7½ inches
18 pages in boards, boxed
Edition 175
71
72
Nahum Tate
DIDO AND AENEAS1989
Co-published with The Theodore Press
Typography by Michael Alpert
Pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor and Bernie Vinzani
11¼ x 7¼ inches
10-page accordion with 40 pages in 5 attached pamphlets, boxed
Edition 150
73
74 DIDO AND AENEAS
75
76
77
W. R. Johnson
NARCISSUS1990
Digital images by Claire Van Vliet
Abaca binding strip and papers made by Katie MacGregor
9 x 11½ inches
14 pages, boxed
Edition 120 . . .
See also page 14. See pages 64–65 for detail of cover paper.
Clifford Burke
BONE SONGS 1992
Relief prints by Ruth Fine
8 x 10 inches
40 french-folded pages, double slipcased
Edition 150 . . .
Following pages:
Barbara Luck
NIGHT STREET1993
Offset lithographs with silkscreen by Lois Johnson
Abaca binding strip made at MacGregor-Vinzani
13½ x 8½ inches
18 pages in paper over thin boards wrapper, double slipcased
Edition 90
78
79
p118-119 – DELETEp120-121 - make black pages move book pages toward fore edge
80 NIGHT STREET
81
82 NIGHT STREET
83
84 NIGHT STREET
85
DECADE FIVE
88
Margaret Kaufman
PRAISE BASTED IN1995
22 pages with 9 attached cards in quilted cover, boxed
Edition 100
. . .
See previous pages for cover detail.
89
90
Denise Levertov
BATTERERS1996
Cover paperwork by Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa
Pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor and Bernie Vinzani
12 x 15 inches
12 pages in cradle with wood cover, slipcased
Edition 100
91
Sandra McPherson
BEAUTY IN USE1997
8 x 9 inches
38 pages, boxed
Edition 150
92
93
94
Emily Dickinson
(COMPOUND FRAME) SEVEN POEMS1998Co-published with Gefn Press, London, and Elizabeth Steiner, Auckland
Relief prints by Susan Johanknecht
Binding structure by Elizabeth Steiner
7½ x 10½ inches
20 pages in polyethylene needlepoint canvas cover, polyethylene envelope
Edition 120
95
Margaret Kaufman
DEEP IN THE TERRITORY1999
8 x 9 inches
26 pages, boxed
Edition 120
96
97
Hildegard von Bingen
CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM2001
Pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor
12 x 5½ inches · 28 pages accordion folded with pop-ups double slipcased
Edition 120
98
99
100 CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
101
102 CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
103
104 CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
105
Karen King, translator Commentary by Rosemary Radford Ruether
THE GOSPEL OF MARY2006
Cover and pop-up paper pulp painted by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor
11½ x 9¾ inches
50 pages strip bound into paper covers, boxed
Edition 150
DECADE SIX
108 THE GOSPEL OF MARY
109
110
Susan Johanknecht
WASTE INCANT2007
Images and text by Susan Johanknecht
7½ x 11½ inches
48 pages strip bound into polycarbonate covers with chemise, plexi slipcase
Edition 150
111
112 WASTE INCANT
113
Ruth Fine
FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS2009–10
Reduction linocuts by Ruth Fine
7½ x 4½ inches
Four 28-page 2-sided accordions with wrapper and slipcase
Wooden slipcase
Edition 150
114
115
FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS116
117
FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS118
119
Peter Schumann
HELIOS2010
Drawing by Peter Schumann printed duotone, offset lithography
11 x 5¾ inches
20-page accordion, casebound
Edition 150
120
121
Peter Schumann
TATATA2011
Drawings and text by Peter Schumann printed digitally
11 x 10 inches
Twenty-four 8-page pamphlets with covers in bi-fold case, slipcased
Edition 120
122
123
124
Claire Van Vliet
GREED2013
Text and lithographs by Claire Van Vliet
7¼ x 6½ inches
16-page accordion in paper over boards, slipcased
Edition 120
125
JANUS PRESS PUBLICATIONS
1955–2014 AND
COLLABORATORS Books made at Janus Press have most often been a group effort.
Along with this chronological list of projects are the names of the people
whose hands have contributed so much over the years.
Unless otherwise noted, all the titles were worked on and designed by Claire Van Vliet (she is listed only
when the visual material is by her). Jim McWilliams designed and
produced his own books.
note: Authors and artists are in italic and collaborators are in roman.
1955 An Oxford Odyssey John Theobald
1957 Messenger of Satan W.R. Johnson
1959 Some Trees and Bushes Claire Van Vliet · John Anderson
1960 Adoration of the Magi Lancelot Andrews
1961 A Little Bestiary Edward Topsell · Helen Siegl
Commissioned by The Print Club, Philadelphia
1962 Ein Landarzt / A Country Doctor Franz Kafka, Claire Van Vliet · James H. McWilliams, typographic design · Ruth Fine
Ein Landarzt / A Country Doctor Ruth Fine
1963 Parables and Paradoxes Franz Kafka, Claire Van Vliet · Robert Franco, Kai Milsted, Carl Urwald
Romance de la Guardia Civil Española Federico García-Lorca, Jerome Kaplan · Jerome Kaplan
Six Monograms James H. McWilliams
1964 Almost a Book Antonin Artaud · James H. McWilliams
Almost a Book August 9 James H. McWilliams
Disintegration of a Concept James H. McWilliams
Four Letter Word Book James H. McWilliams
N Book James H. McWilliams
Vietnam on a Stick James H. McWilliams
A Book of Prayers Helen Siegl · Frederick James
Commissioned by Christ Church, Philadelphia
Sun, Sky and Earth Claire Van Vliet
1965 Polyurethane Antibook James H. McWilliams
1966 The Poetry of Demetrios Capetanakis1967 A Selfish Giant Oscar Wilde, Helen Siegl
1968 A New Herball Nancy Willard, Helen Siegl Commissioned by Ferdinand Roten Galleries, Baltimore
1969 Easter W.R. Johnson, Claire Van Vliet
1970 Anno Domini W.R. Johnson
Felicity of Carols Helen Siegl · Tina Rose
Published by Barre Publishers
1971 Conversation with the Supplicant Franz Kafka, Claire Van Vliet · Eystein Hanche-Olsen, Annette Hollander
130
1965 Above: Jim McWilliams at the Kalle Offset Proofing Press, University of the Arts
1975 At right: Claire Van Vliet setting type in the old shop (1966-1981)
1976 Previous pages: Kathryn Clark and Claire Van Vliet laying the pressed sheets of Aura at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
131
1972 Der KÜbelreiter / The Bucket Rider Franz Kafka, Jerome Kaplan · Jerome Kaplan, Susan Kronfeld, Joanne Haynes
Mother Goose Helen Siegl · Serena Naeve, Nancy Southworth
1973 Razerol Estelle Leontief, Ray K. Metzker · Ray K. Metzker, Jim Bicknell
Sky and Earth: Variable Landscape Claire Van Vliet
1974 A Fable of Bidpai Helen Siegl · Nancy Reid, Jim Bicknell
Romance de la Guardia Civil Española Federico García-Lorca, Jerome Kaplan · hardcover edition · Nancy Reid, Jim Bicknell
1975 The Tower of Babel: An Anthology Claire Van Vliet · Eystein Hanche-Olsen, Nancy Southworth, Jim Bicknell Publication assistance from the Vermont Council on the Arts, Inc.
Birthcords Susan Johanknecht · Susan Johanknecht, William Hunt
Old Mistresses Apologue Benjamin Franklin, Claire Van Vliet · special and paper edition · Susan Johanknecht
Spring Clay Susan Johanknecht · Susan Johanknecht
Whatever Happens Estelle Leontief, Claire Van Vliet · Nancy Southworth, Susan Johanknecht, Jim Bicknell
1976 Flowering Time W.R. Johnson, Claire Van Vliet · Eystein Hanche-Olsen
The Fireproof Floors of Whitley Court James Schuyler · Jim Bicknell Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
The Guest Helen Siegl · special and regular editions · Jim Bicknell
Loneliness Hayden Carruth, Claire Van Vliet · Susan Johanknecht, Jim Bicknell
The Missed Beat Thom Gunn, Simon Brett · Susan Johanknecht, Jim Bicknell Co-published with Gruffyground Press, England
Sky and Earth: Variable Landscape Claire Van Vliet · hardcover edition · Jim Bicknell
Spaghettiana Susan Kronfeld · Jim Bicknell
1977 Aura Hayden Carruth, Claire Van Vliet · Howard Clark, Kathryn Clark, Susan Hostetler, Bill Hodson, Jim Bicknell Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
1976 At left: Claire Van Vliet fixing edge of Aura on mould before couching at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
1977 Above: Susan Johanknecht and Claire Van Vliet at the Vandercook sp15
1977 Midi / Noon Leconte de Lisle/John Theobald, Claire Van Vliet · Howard(con’t) Clark, Kathryn Clark, Susan Hostetler, Bill Hodson, Susan Johanknecht,
Victoria Fraser Co-published with Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
Chiasmadon Ted Hughes, Claire Van Vliet · Susan Johanknecht Published with Charles Seluzicki, Baltimore
The Closed Door James Reeves, Richard Shirley Smith · Susan Johanknecht, Jim Bicknell Co-published with Gruffyground Press and Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
From Actium W.R. Johnson · Susan Johanknecht
A Second Light John Theobald, Claire Van Vliet · Susan Johanknecht
Bread and Puppet: The White Horse Butcher Peter Schumann · Susan Johanknecht, Jim Bicknell
1978 From a Housewife’s Diary Janet Nyholm, Jerome Kaplan · James Houle, Victoria Fraser, Jim Bicknell Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
Bread and Puppet: St. Francis Preaches to the Birds Peter Schumann · Kaja McGowan, Solveig Schumann, Jim Bicknell
132
1977 Above right: Susan Johanknecht and Claire Van Vliet binding From Actium
1982 At right: The new and current shop
Traditional Hungarian Songs W. D. Snodgrass, Dorian McGowan · James Houle, Victoria Fraser Published with Charles Seluzicki, Baltimore
1979 Fergus Falling Galway Kinnell, Claire Van Vliet · Eystein Hanche-Olsen, Jim Bicknell
Hedge School Seamus Heaney, Claire Van Vliet · Kaja McGowan, Ursula Hofer Published with Charles Seluzicki, Salem, Oregon
Herball: Dialogues of the Creatures Moralised Helen Siegl · Kaja McGowan, Nancy Reid, Jim Bicknell
Two Poems Galway Kinnell, Claire Van Vliet · Lois Johnson, Jim Bicknell
What the Owl Said James Cortese, Claire Van Vliet · Jim Bicknell Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Art and the Wisconsin Arts Board
Winter Wind Elizabeth Jennings, Monica Poole · Barbara Luck, Jim Bicknell Co-published with Gruffyground Press, England
1980 Bare Elegy Margo Lockwood, Ray K. Metzker · Ray K. Metzker, Barbara Luck, Jim Bicknell
The Town at Dusk W.R. Johnson, Claire Van Vliet
Bread and Puppet: THIS IS Peter Schumann · Nancy Reid, James H. McWilliams Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
Bread and Puppet: The Dream of the Dirty Woman Elka Schumann, Claire Van Vliet · Kathryn Clark, Nancy Southworth, Tamar Schumann, Jim Bicknell Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
1981 The Seasons Kenneth Lohf, Claire Van Vliet · Nancy Reid, Catherine Hall, Nancy Southworth Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
Four Women James Hayford, Claire Van Vliet · Nancy Reid, Nancy Southworth, Tamar Schumann, Jim Bicknell, Susan Johanknecht Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
133
1983
Above: Kathryn Clark draining a sheet of before couching
At left: Claire Van Vliet pouring clouds on a Lilac Wind sheet at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
134
1984
Top right: Barbara Luck and Claire Van Vliet printing the box cover for The Circus of Doctor Lao
Middle right: Claire Van Vliet, Nancy Southworth, and Laura Pizzo sewing The Circus of Doctor Lao
Bottom right: Jim Bicknell making boxes for The Circus of Doctor Lao
1982 Of Gravity and Grace Sabina Thorne, Claire Van Vliet · Nancy Southworth, Tamar Schumann, Barbara Luck, Susan Johanknecht Published with assistance from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts
The Janus Press Miscellany · Many participants made their own contributions
1983 Lilac Wind W.R. Johnson, Claire Van Vliet · Kathryn Clark, Jim Bicknell, Nancy Southworth, Judi Conant Co-published with Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill
1984 The Circus of Doctor Lao Charles G. Finney, Claire Van Vliet · Susan Johanknecht, Barbara Luck, Tamar Schumann, Jim Bicknell, Nancy Southworth, Laura Pizzo
1985 The Seekonk Woods Galway Kinnell, Lotte Jacobi · Gary Samson, Christy Bertelson
1986 Floralia Sandra McPherson, Claire Van Vliet · Susan Johanknecht, Tamar Schumann Co-published with Trace Edition, Portland, Oregon
The Clandestine Muse John le Carré · Ottmar Peters, Pam Smith, Linda Wray Co-published with Charles Seluzicki, Portland, Oregon
1987 A Landscape With Cows In It Clifford Burke, Ruth Fine · Barbara Luck, Linda Wray
1988 Aunt Sallie’s Lament Margaret Kaufman · Hedi Kyle structure · Tamar Schumann, Linda Wray, Judi Conant
1989 Designating Duet Sandra McPherson · Tamar Schumann, Linda Wray, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson, Anna Hepler
Dido and Aeneas Nahum Tate, Henry Purcell, Claire Van Vliet · Typography by Michael Alpert · Katie MacGregor, Bernie Vinzani, Linda Wray, Tamar Schumann, Judi Conant Co-published with Theodore Press
1990 Eat Book Katherine Meynell, Susan Johanknecht · Susan Johanknecht, Linda Wray Co-published with Gefn Press, London
135
1988
At left: Linda Wray and Tamar Schumann working on Aunt Sallie’s Lament
136
1992
Above: Stephanie Westnedge preparing a Bone Songs sheet for binding
1993
Top right: Stephanie Westnedge collaging poem onto Night Street page
Middle right: Lois Johnson and Claire Van Vliet working on design for Night Street
1994
Bottom right: Ruth Fine working on Summer Day/Winter Night
1990 Narcissus W.R .Johnson, Claire Van Vliet · Katie MacGregor, Bernie(con’t) Vinzani, Joe Marc Freedman, Linda Wray, Shawn and Judi Conant,
Mary Richardson
1992 Bone Songs Clifford Burke, Ruth Fine · Audrey Holden, Linda Wray, Stephanie Westnedge
1993 Night Street Barbara Luck, Lois Johnson · Lois Johnson, Stephanie Westnedge, Audrey Holden, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
1994 Summer Day/ Winter Night Ruth Fine · Stephanie Westnedge, Audrey Holden, Tamar Schumann
Lady Freedom Among Us Rita Dove, Claire Van Vliet · Audrey Holden, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson Published as the four millionth volume of The University of Virginia
1995 Praise Basted In Margaret Kaufman · Audrey Holden, Jo Marc Freedman, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson, Lulie Larus, Stephanie Westnedge, Ariel Conant, Lucy Gratwick, Ruth Johanknecht, Anne Stannard, Lillian Avery, Rachel Somers, Kathy Norris, Helen Hayford
1996 Batterers Denise Levertov, Claire Van Vliet, Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa · Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa, Katie MacGregor, Bernie Vinzani, Jack Sumberg, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
Tumbling Blocks Claire Van Vliet · Audrey Holden
1997 Beauty in Use Sandra McPherson · Audrey Holden, Lulie Larus, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
1998 (Compound Frame) Seven Poems Emily Dickinson, Susan Johanknecht · Susan Johanknecht · structure by Elizabeth Steiner · Audrey Holden
1999 Deep in the Territory Margaret Kaufman · Audrey Holden, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
137
1996
Above: Bernie Vinzani pulling a sheet for Batterers
1997
At left: Lulie Larus and Audrey Holden making paste papers for Beauty in Use
2000 The Sixth Mass Extinction (for volumes of vulnerability) Claire Van Vliet · Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
2001 Circulus Sapientiae / Circle of Wisdom Hildegard von Bingen, Claire Van Vliet · Katie MacGregor, Stephanie Westnedge, Lulie Larus, Audrey Holden, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
2002 Woven and Interlocking Book Structures Elizabeth Steiner, Claire Van Vliet special and trade edition · Margery Cantor, Linda Lembke, Audrey Holden, Lulie Larus, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
2003 RISE Alan Loney, Claire Van Vliet · Bernie Vinzani, Fletcher Manley, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Audrey Holden, Judi Conant, Mary Richardson
2004 Aunt Sallie’s Lament (Altered) Margaret Kaufman · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Audrey Holden, Mary Richardson
2006 The Gospel of Mary Karen King, Rosemary Radford Reuther, Claire Van Vliet · Katie MacGregor, Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Margery Cantor, Richard Holmquist, Dan Carr, Julia Ferrari
2007 Waste Incant Susan Johanknecht · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Ellen Dorn Levitt
2008 Papermaking at Hayle Mill 1808–1987 Maureen Green · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Mary Richardson, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Emily Corrow
2009–10 Four Months / Four Seasons Ruth Fine · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Mario Messina
2010 HELIOS Peter Schumann · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Judy Bourque, Ken Poach
GONE Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Claire Van Vliet · Eystein Hanche-Olsen, Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden
2011 TATATA Peter Schumann · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Fletcher Manley, Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Judy Bourque
2012 ABC Judy Fairclough Sgantas · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, Mary Richardson
2013 GREED Claire Van Vliet · Audrey Holden2014 Eclipses Leland Kinsey, Claire Van Vliet · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Eystein
Hanche-Olsen, Audrey Holden IT WAS LIKE THAT Judith Haswell · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Audrey Holden
138
2012
At right: Katie MacGregor in Janus paper studio with sheets for The Silences Between, forthcoming in 2015
2014
Above: Andrew Miller-Brown printing The Silences Between
BROADSIDES1982 Fresh Wind in Venice James Wright , Claire Van Vliet · Kathryn Clark
The Color of Night W.R. Johnson , Claire Van Vliet · Kathryn Clark
“When I write . . .” John Updike , Claire Van Vliet Commissioned by Beverly Lynch for the American Library Association
1984 Death of the Horses by Fire Tess Gallagher, Peter Schumann Co-published with Charles Seluzicki, Portland, Oregon
1985 The Geese Galway Kinnell , Claire Van Vliet · Katie MacGregor, Bernie Vinzani
For Tess Ray Carver, Claire Van Vliet · Bernie Vinzani Co-published with William B. Ewert, Concord, New Hampshire
1986 Brockport Sunflowers William Heyen , Peter Schumann Co-published with William B. Ewert, Concord, New Hampshire
1989 Old Quilts Margaret Kaufman , Claire Van Vliet · Amanda Degener, Barb Schubring Co-published with Minnesota Center for the Book Arts
1991 Pandora’s Box Margaret Kaufman , Claire Van Vliet · Stephanie Westnedge Co-published with Dartmouth College Library Graphic Arts Workshop
Sappho Johanna Prins , Peter Schumann · Catherine Hall
1992 From Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez , Claire Van Vliet · Amanda Degener, Mary Lyn Nutting, Stephanie Westnedge
The Sound Barbara Luck · John Risseeuw, Jeanne Plo
Contribution to A Dance of Death Cabbagehead Press
1997 From Finland Judith Haswell · Audrey Holden, Lulie Larus
2005 A Scribe of Kloster Eibingen W. R. Johnson , Claire Van Vliet · Katie MacGregor, Andrew Miller-Brown, Ellen Dorn Levitt
Handmade Definition of Obsurity Sandra McPherson · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden
2006 U. S. Constitution George W. Bush · Ellen Dorn Levitt
Aristotle on War Andrew Miller-Brown
139
2014
At left: Audrey Holden checking it was like that in the bindery
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
This catalogue was produced by the San Francisco Center for the Book with an essay by Susan M. Allen, photography by Fletcher Manley,printed by Inkworks, and designed using Terminal Design’s Tangent type by Kathleen Burch and Claire Van Vliet.
FEBRUARY 14, 2015
The Janus Press was started in Monterey in 1954 by Claire Van Vliet with the first publication on Valentine’s Day 1955 in San Diego.
The Janus Press prints limited editions of (mostly) contemporary poets with original images in paper and all the printmaking media.
The exhibition at the San Francisco Center for the Book was coordinated by Mary K. Austin to celebrate the Sixtieth Anniversary with the selection of six books from each of the six decades.
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
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