The Winners of the First Annual TBAS Letterpress Excellence Awards have been announced!

Last year letterpress printers and book artists were invited to submit work published during the 2009 and 2010 calendar years, to the First Annual TBAS Letterpress Excellence Awards. Private presses, independent publishers, and individual artists as well as trade and university presses were eligible to enter the competition in five general categories: hardback book, paperback book, artist's book, broadside, and ephemera. To be eligible, all entries had to be printed via letterpress and completed during the designated calendar years. Awards were selected on the basis of design, typography, materials, craftsmanship, creativity, and overall achievement by the associates of the Tampa Book Arts Studio. 

The winning entries will be featured in an exhibit opening at the University of Tampa in February and will be available for tour to libraries, book arts studios, and other venues for one year following the award.

These awards recognize excellence and achievement in contemporary letterpress printing and design: 

Abigail Rorer stops by the TBAS

Abigail Rorer stopped by the TBAS on Monday, February 6, on her way to Venice to see family. She escaped freezing temperatures at her home in Northampton, Mass., and came to Florida just in time for the start of what seemed like an early summer! After touring the 1891 hotel building at the heart of the UT campus, she browsed through the special collections and wound up her visit at the printing studio. Abigail talked about her work as a wood engraver with TBAS associates Richard Mathews, Sean Donnelly, Kendra Frorup, and Mike Massaro. Among other secrets of her craft, she praised the qualities of Corian as a substitute for traditional boxwood.

 Since 1989 Abigail has been proprietor of The Lone Oak Press. Under that imprint she has published many fine press books and broadsides. She has also done work on commission for small presses and trade publishers, like HarperCollins, The Folio Society, Norton, Houghton Mifflin, David R. Godine, and various university presses. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Huntington Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and many others. Her recent work includes "Christmas Trees" by Robert Frost (in collaboration with Pat Alger) and "On the Hunt for the King of the Alps: A Plant Deemed Worthy" by Reginald Farrer.

Abigail ready to work on the Vandercook 4.

Abigail with J. J. Lankes' 1848 Hoe Washington hand press.