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Amphora | Books | Chapbooks | Broadsides | Posters | Updated 13 Sept. 08

Books back to top

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The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America in the Years 1820-1823.$75

By John West, late Chaplain to the Hon. Hudson's Bay Company. 1967.

(Originally published in 1824) Numbered and signed by printer, illustrator, designer & binder in 500 copies slip cased. Printed letterpress in black, red, blue & turquoise using Caslon Oldstyle type on deckle-edge Victorian Text paper. 204pp + colophon. One copy. Some sun fade.

The experiences of an Anglican minister who came to Canada in 1820 to do missionary work among the Indians and Esquimaux. It is the earliest connected narrative of the natives and the straggle of settlers at Red River.

 

Belinda, or the Rivals.$40

A.S.H. (Abraham S. Holmes). 1970. (Originally published in 1843)

With introduction by Prof. Carl F. Klinck. Sixteen period water colours of Chatham area from originals in the Public Archives of Canada. Numbered & signed by pressman, typesetter, designer & binder. 400 copies slip cased. Printed letterpress in Palatino on Strathmore Natural Art Parchment. Illustrations lithographed by four- colour process on Phototext. 154pp + colophon. 8 copies.

A tale of coquetry, set in Chatham, Ontario, of Miss Belinda Howard, her charms and her pursuers. Considered the first Canadian satirical novel, Belinda deals with Canadian life in the 1840's in Upper Canada.

 

In Praise of Scribes (De Laude Scriptorium).$60

Johannes Trithemius. 1977.

(Originally published in 1494) Translated by Elizabeth Bryson Bongie and edited with an introduction by Michael S. Batts. 485 numbered copies. Handset in Caslon by Cobblestone Press & printed by members of the Alcuin Society on Cortlea Cover. 62pp + colophon

John of Trittenheim, at the tender age of twenty-one, became abbot of the monastery of Sponheim in 1465 and began to build a library which reached 2000 volumes by 1505. During these years printing began to replace scribes. Trittenheim wrote his book as a gentle plea that the art of handwriting should not be neglected. His thoughts are as relevant in the computer age as they were 500 years ago.

 

In Praise of the Book, being a facsimile of important articles and pages about books taken from Amphora 1965 - 1990.$25

Edited by Barbara Hemphill and Jean MacDonald, designed by Gwen Murray with Don Atkins as printer and guiding spirit. 1992.

Printed in two colours on acid free Teton Text with a wrap around cover on indigo Teton Cover. 200 copies. Perfect bound. 100pp.

Silver anthology of articles and illustrations chosen from issues of Amphora. A treasury of interesting, humourous, scholarly, informative, opinionated articles on books and those who make them, buy them, love them and treasure them.

 

The Alcuin Society: A Compilation of its Publications from 1965 to 1998.$20

Compiled by Jim Rainer. 1999.

Text type is Minion and display type is Alcuin, designed for the Alcuin Society by Gudrun Zapf von Hesse. Paper is Fusion Cream printed & bound by Benwell-Atkins Ltd. Cover was typeset and printed letterpress by Stuart Isto. 300 unnumbered copies. 14 copies. 84pp + colophon.

A compilation of publications produced by the Alcuin Society from its founding in 1965 to November 1998, including books, chapbooks and pamphlets, keepsakes and broadsides, ephemera and Amphora, the Society's journal.

 

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Dorothy Burnett, Bookbinder. $185 to Alcuin Society members | $225 to non members.

Text by Norman Amor. Designed & produced by Robert R. Reid. 2007.

This book is the first in a series on the Book Arts. The edition is limited because interest in the subject is limited, but such strictures have allowed the Alcuin Society to lavish great care and attention on the preparation & production of the book, so that it is, in itself, a fine example of the book arts. Set in Fairfield Roman & Italic type. Printed on a laser colour printer on Classic Crest book paper & bound by Centennial Bookbindery, Vancouver. Marbled papered slip case. 80pp. 8 ½" x 11".Prospectus on request.

This volume is devoted to the work of Dorothy Burnett, English Canada's first fine Bookbinder in the modern genre of binding books to suit the individual book, rather than imposing traditional, decorative patterns, heavily tooled, into the book. Most of her work was done in the 1930's & 1940's.

Chapbooks and Pamphlets back to top

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A Typographical Bestiary. $10

Created by the students of Mrs. Barbara Shelley in the Fine Arts Department of Vancouver City College. 1976.

Eight unnumbered stapled pages 8 ½" x 5 ½". Using only Letraset press-on type and symbols, students were required to create some animal, bird, reptile or insect.

 

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Shovels, Shoes and the Slow Rotation of Letters. $15

By Robert Bringhurst. 1986.

A feuilleton about letters & typography composed in honour of John Dreyfus who spoke at Simon Fraser University in October, 1985. Typography by West Graphika The Typeworks. Printed at Benwell-Atkins in Aldus & designed by Herman Zapf. 8 ½" x 5 ½". 600 copies printed.

 

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The Riddle of Sophocles: A Tale of Learning & Wisdom. $15

1999. Reprint of an article in the Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1988.

Story of Eddie Lovett, son of a sharecropper,father of six children & a self educated erudite man who built a library of 40,000 books in Banks, Arkansas. He died on 12 June 2000. Only 3 copies!

 

Thoreau MacDonald: Canada's Foremost Book Illustrator. $15

Terry Stillman. 2005.

A tribute to Thoreau MacDonald with a checklist of the Woodchuck Press & select works by Thoreau MacDonald. Printed letterpress at Blackstone Press on Mohawk Superfine Text. 350 copies, 100 stitched (all sold) & balance stapled. 32pp of which 14 are woodcut examples. 6" x 9".

Keepsakes & Broadsides back to top

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A Selection of Old Canadian Bookplates. $30

1966.

Selected & researched by Neil Brearley from the collection at the UBC. The 21 bookplates were all produced between 1867 & 1967. Selected from books of noted Canadians, choices reveal tastes in bookplates ranging from the simple to the extravagant, from mild to macabre. 12pp bound in orange-textured cover stock. 11" x 8 ½".

 

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Americae Pars Borealis: Florida, Baccalaos, Canada, Corterealis. $15

1968.

Begun by Gerard de Jode in 1578 & completed in 1591 by his son Cornelis. Printed letterpress by the Graphic Arts Department of Vancouver Vocational Institute. 8pp in stapled cover. 7 7/8" x 4 7/8".

 

Alcuin's Epitaph. $10

Geoffrey Spencer. 1969.

To give a flavour the first four lines read: "O tarry for a moment here / and on my message ponder: / My destiny your own reflects, / all beautys doomed to fading." Calligraphy by Ann Tresize. Lithographed on Curtis Tweedweave Text in two colours. 20" x 13".

 

Song of the Queen Bee. $10

Written by E.B.W., who is presumed to by E. B. White, & originally published in the New Yorker. 1969.

A sense of the lilt and humour can be felt in the first verse of eight: "When the air is wine & the wind is free / and the morning sits on the lovely lea / and sunlight ripples on every tree / then love in the air / is the thing for me / I'm a bee / I'm a ravishing, rollicking young queen bee / that's me." Scripsit by Ann Tresize. Lithographed on Curtis Tweedweave in two colours. 20" x 13".

 

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The Joy of Printing: Samuel Clemens Talk to the United Typothetae of America In 1886. $15

1969.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) became a printer's apprentice at age twelve. Four decades later, in 1886, he cast a glimpse into the past to recapture what it felt like to be a printer in the 1850's. Printed letterpress & lithography on white Byronic Text & teal blue Byronic Cover with title word "Joy" in silver on the cover. 16pp. 5 7/8" x 7".

 

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What I Have Lived For. $15

Bertrand Russell. 1970.

The prologue from his three-volume autobiography published in 1967-1969. Printed on pale-green paper with rust title & green decorated borders. 15" x 10". One copy left!

 

Some Observations on the Colophon. $40

Geoffrey Spencer. 1972.

A monograph on the history of the colophon. Included are specimens colophons in five categories. Compiled and annotated by Geoffrey Spencer. Designed by Martin Jackson. Lithographed in two colours on assorted coloured papers. 21 loose sheets in wrap around folder forming a booklet. 7 ¼" x 7 ¼". One copy left!

 

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Customs of the Chappel. $10

By Randall Holme. 1973.

Every printing house is called a Chappel in which there are laws & customs for the good order of the Chappel. Designed & printed letterpress in three colours by E. A. Fletcher using Plantin & Old English type on ivory Cortlea Text. 12" x 10". 16 copies of 500.

 

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Self Portrait of a Bookseller. $15

By Ben Abramson. 1973.

A well-loved Chicago bookseller, Ben Abramson (1898 - 1955) wrote fifteen editorials & one advertisement for his magazine Reading and Collecting which he published, at his own expense, between December 1936 & February/March 1938. His wisdom, straight talk and humour shine in these words. 500 numbered copies. Set in Linotype Granjon, lithographed & bound in deep red covers. 20 unnumbered pages. 11" x 8 ½". 25 copies of 500.

 

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The Typesetting Machine. $8

1976.

A poem about the new machines replacing hand-set type. From the Inland Printer of July 1889. Typeset on a Mergenthaler V-I-P in Palatino Roman and Italic, with head set in Caslon on a Phototypositor. Lithographed on Americana Text Cover. 13" x 7 ½". 14 copies of 500.

 

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A Cooke. $8

1976.

The woes of a cook - "The kitchen is his Hell and hee the Divell in it, Where his meate & he fry together." Selected, designed & printed letterpress in Baskerville by W. Craig Ferguson at The Basement Cage Press, Queen's University,Kingston, Ontario. 13" x 8 ¼". 60 copies of 500.

 

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The Silent Sleep. $15

1977.

Two lines of words written by Richard Doiron are printed beneath four music scores arranged by Gerard Brender a Brandis for Tenor, Bassus, Altus and Cantus. Selected, designed & printed letterpress by Gerard Brender a Brandis at the Branstead Press, Carlisle, Ontario on Certificate Royale using Kennerly Kennerley Italic. 4 pages. 13" x 10".

 

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The Passionate Printer to His Love (Whose Name is Amanda). $10

1977.

Originally written by Austin Dobson and taken from his book De Libris published by MacMillan in 1908. Verse one of six - "Come live with me & be my Dear / And till that happy Bond shall lapse, / I'll set your Poutings in Brevier, / Your Praises in the largest CAPS." Selected, designed & printed letterpress by Philip Metzger at the Crabgrass Press, Kansas, on Neenah Classic Laid. 11" x 7 ¾".

 

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In Nootka Sound. $10

1978.

Three excerpts about Captain Cook's voyages taken from A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 1785, from the Memoir of Admiral Sir Charles Penrose & from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1776. Photosetin Times Roman & lithographed on Curtis Tweedweave. Reproduced on the cover is a watercolour of The Anchorage in Nootka Sound. 4 pages. 11" x 8 ½".

 

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A Christmas Gift for the Emperor. $10

1979.

A light-hearted look at Christmas Day, 800 A.D. when Charlemagne received gifts from great men, among them Alcuin of York. Calligraphed by Irene Alexander with a reproduction of a Carolingian art page from the Fine Arts Library of the University of British Columbia. Set in Helvetica and lithographed. 9 ¼" x 6 ¼" folded twice.

 

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Aldus Manutius Basianas Romanus Gives His Most Devoted Greeting to All Students. $5

1981.

From Aldus Manutius and his Thesaurus Cornucopiae translated by Antje Lemke, Syracuse University, 1958. Lithographed in two colours on Beckett Laid Text. 16 ½" x 9". 4 copies of 500.

 

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The Ruffed Grouse. $10

1981.

Reproduction of an illustrated page from Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada, 1866, consisting of a large engraving with four grouse in the woods, followed by a poem. Lithographed. 20" x 13". 7 copies.

 

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Books and Writers. $8

1981.

Brief quotations by John Wesley and Norman Cousins. Printed letterpress in two colours by Vernon Bender using Goudy types on a Chandler & Price press. 4 page folder. 7 ¾" x 5". 2 copies left.

 

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Vernal Equinox - Snowfall. $20

1982.

A poem by Tristram Beresford from The Ungainsayable Presence. Printed letterpress at Stanbrook Abbey Press, England with Jan van Frimpen's Cancelleresca Bastarda on white deckle-edge paper and tipped into a green folder. 9 ½" x 6 ¼".

 

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Santa Claus. $10

1982.

An engraving from the 1 January 1848 issue of Howitt's Journal of Literature and Popular Progress, London. Printed in England on beige paper. Folder 8 ½" x 5 ½". 10 copies.

 

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Book Lover Profile No 1 - Abdul Kassem Ismael. $10

1986.

Designed and printed by Ted Staunton, Sherwood Letterpress, Vancouver in two colours on Gainsborough Text with Ballerina typeface. Card. 8 ½" x 5 3/8". 1 copy remains!

 

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Hospitality. $10

1987.

Saint Benedict on Hospitality. Scripsit by Vera Ibbett. Lithographed in two colours, all courtesy of Geoff Spencer, who irreverently added the final sentence undreamed of by Saint Benedict but accepted with good humour by the nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. 12 ¾" x 9 ½".

 

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Wesley Bates wood engraving. $10

Signed by Bates.

"To sit in the shade on a fine day, and Look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment." From Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Printed for workshop by Wesley Bates in Vancouver 2003.

 

On Making a Library. $10

Roderick Haig-Brown. 2004.

Essay from Haig-Brown's book Measure of the Year published in 1950. Introduced at the Haig-Brown book Fair, Campbell River. Printed by Black Stone Press on Mohawk Superfine Text & Grandee Cover. 5 ¼" x 7 ½". 12 pp.

Posters back to top

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Arts of the Book. $5 per set

1986.

Issued for the Vancouver Arts of the Book Exhibition held March 16 - April 20, 1986. Magnificent photographs printed by Hemlock Printers on Phoenix Imperial paper. Set of four depicting the arts of papermaking, binding, typefounding and hand printing. Large posters (11 ½" x 17 ½") and small (5 ½" x 8 ½"). Same images on both. Multi colour.

 

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Books That Shaped Our Minds. $5 per set

1999.

Issued in conjunction with an exhibition of books celebrating the publication of Books That Shaped Our Minds: a biliographical catalogue of selections chiefly from The Arkley Collection of Early & Historical Children's Literature in the Special Collections & University Archives Division, The University of British Columbia Library. Exhibition was held October 22, 1998 - February 5, 1999. Poster is multi colour with a Kate Greenaway illustration of a young seated girl in a garden. 13" x 18".

 

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Decorated Book Papers and Hand-Coloured Books in England. $5 per set

2002.

Issued for a lecture & workshop presented by Incline Press, Oldham, England on September 27 and 28, 2002 & sponsored by the Alcuin Society, the Vancouver Museum & the Graphic Designers of Canada, BC Chapter. The poster backdrop is a stunning reproduction of marbled paper from Harvesting Colour: The Year in a Marbler's Workshop by Ann Muir. Published by Incline Press. 1999. 14" x 25 ½".