With Great Thanks To Leland Hawes

The Tampa Books Arts studio would like to thank retired Tampa Tribune columnist and longtime hobby printer Leland Hawes for his recent donation of his collection of letterpress equipment.

Studio of Leland Hawes

Included in the gift is an 8 x 12-inch Chandler and Price New Series Press, four type case cabinets, more than 80 type cases filled with foundry type of various faces in several sizes, more than 100 old graphic engravings mounted on wood or metal bases, several sets of decorative initials, galleys, leads and slugs, and miscellaneous auxiliary supplies for letterpress printing.

Leland has been editing and printing seriously since he joined the Florida Boy Editors in 1940, when he was twelve years old.  He produced the "Flint Lake Diver" on a mimeograph about twice a month for the next two years, selling subscriptions to neighbors and relatives in Thonotasassa for five cents a month. In 1942 he joined the American Amateur Press Association (AAPA), a national group of printing enthusiasts who publish and circulate journals among themselves. That year Leland also founded his own journal, "The Gator Growl," and it recently passed the 150-issue milestone.

He took the plunge into letterpress printing in the early 1960s with a Sigwalt tabletop press, and in 1966, when he heard that Gene Hancock had a Chandler and Price press for sale, he bought it.  He remembers the day that Gene moved it into his garage using a combination of pry bars and pipes.  

Though Leland sometimes referred to the press as “that monster in my garage," he seemed to have tamed it. Two young local printing enthusiasts, Dave Tribby and Jerry Thomas, gave him tips and coached him on how to operate the press. He used it to print “Only On Sunday,” the journal of the Suncoast Amateur Press Society (or “SAPS”). Local members included Fred Liddle, Jack Bond, Picot Floyd, and Frank Spear. Friends from other parts of Florida, like Sheldon and Helen Wesson and J. Ed Newman, would attend meetings when they could. 

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.

Moving Days: Part Three

Photograph by Alina Ryabovolova. Carl Mario Nudi (left), TBAS Letterpress Coordinator, at the Vandercook 4 with Nathan Deuel (right).

It was a sticky summer day not that long ago when the necessity of moving the Tampa Book Arts Studio became apparent. The nuances of the move had seemed daunting when laid out on blueprint paper and tiny measuring-tape-markings blocked out on an empty stone floor. And for weeks, as this move progressed, it was the slog of many to endure – and many to whom we are all grateful. Though now on a grey Florida winter afternoon and after at least a hundred-tons of precise pushes, pulls, and slight nudges – it is safe to say that the new Tampa Books Arts Studio has been reborn at 214 North Boulevard, Tampa, Florida.

Tested already during an inaugural MFA event, the new studio surpassed expectations as it handled a class load of over 30 creative writing students, all drawn for a taste of the mechanical lore of the letterpress crafts. The goal of the visit was to create an original keepsake for each student, which featured a fitting quote from a guest-MFA author, Francine Prose. The production process tied together several kinds of printing and techniques. For example, the deep green palms as seen below were printed on an 1848 Hoe Washington hand press that once belonged to J.J.Lankes (Lankes is the noted American woodcut artist who illustrated books by Robert Frost and other literary figures). The large type was hand-set and cast on a Ludlow Typograph and printed in black ink on a hand-turned Vandercook 4 press. The small type was handset in Kennerley Italic,  cast as individual letters on our Monotype sorts caster.

Colophon: This keepsake in celebration of the first residency of the University of Tampa MFA in Creative Writing, with Francine Prose as a guest author, was printed by students in the inaugural class during their visit to the Tampa Book Arts Studio, January 11, 2012.

To describe the event, it would be right to say simply that it was as it should have been: An event filled with fellowship and promise. New writers. Old writers. Old machines. Fresh ink.

Moving Days: Part Two

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH CAN MAKE. We’ve packed and we’ve lifted and we’ve hauled and we’ve leveraged and we’ve blocked, and we’ve lowered and we’ve pushed, and finally the new home of the Tampa Book Arts Studio is starting to look like — well — home.

Or, at least almost a home! We’re still a long way from being fully set up and operational. One major advance is that we’ve gotten all the equipment into one building, instead of having it spread out in the two. And as you will see in the pictures below, all the machinery has found its place in the new studio floor plan, but what’s left to do is the process of organizing and unpacking.

"Slowly but surely,” TBAS Letterpress Coordinator Carl Mario Nudi says when referring to cleaning the workshop up for the premiere incoming MFA class of creative writers. “What’s also great,” he says is that, “[TBAS] is going to be organized better now and everything will have its own place. There's going to be a place for casting and composing, for presses, and a bindery/multipurpose room, while the office and library will have their own separate area. It’s overall a better use of space, compared to the old setup, and will have a very clean and inviting look to it.”

Harold Sterne Letterpress Collection Takes Center Stage at Ringling College of Art and Design

Some of the 600 cases of foundry type the estate of Hal Sterne donated to the Letterpress and Book Arts Studio at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota.

The late Harold Sterne had a life-long affection for letterpress printing, starting as a hobby printer at the age of 14 and continuing with a career in the graphic arts industry in Cincinnati.

During this time Hal, a friend of the Tampa Book Arts Studio, accumulated a collection of type, engravings and equipment that he eventually moved with him and his wife, Judi, to Sarasota upon his retirement.

Over the years, Hal became familiar with faculty of the printmaking classes at Ringling College of Art and Design and had always wanted to leave his collection to the institution as a legacy.

That wish was fulfilled just over a year after Hal’s death with the opening of the Letterpress and Book Arts Center at the Sarasota arts college.

A reception to honor Hal's contribution and love of letterpress was held at Ringling on Thursday, Nov. 17.

A placard on the wall tells the story of Hal Sterne, whose collection of letterpress equipment makes up the Letterpress and Book Arts Studio at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota.

The evening began with Ringling Vice President for Academic Affairs Melody Weiler introducing Judi Sterne, who spoke of her late husband's involvement with letterpress over a 60-year period. According to his obituary, Hal bought his first printing press at the age of 14, graduated from West Virginia Tech with a degree in printing management, and retired as vice president of manufacturing at the printing firm of S. Rosenthal Co. in Cincinnati. He also purchased the remaining stock and records of the Vandercook Press/Vandersons Company, saving the brand from extinction. The Ringling Letterpress and Book Arts Center has Hal’s Vandercook Model SP15 cylinder press, his Chandler and Price platen press, about 600 cases of foundry type with cabinets, and a vast collection of sorts, cuts and engravings, as well as a library of books on printing and publishing.

Mrs. Judi Sterne, left, accepts a plaque of appreciation from Jill Lerner.

Moving Days: Part One

 

EXPECTED TO BE READY THIS JANUARY for the start of the first residency of UT’s new Low-Res MFA in Creative Writing program, The Tampa Book Arts Studio (TBAS) has begun the transition to its new home on campus in the Edison Building, across the street from the Art Department studios and the Scarfone-Hartley Gallery. Transplanting the Book Arts Studio will be the result of several tedious months of planning between the University of Tampa, Dr. Richard Mathews, and Letterpress Coordinator Carl Mario Nudi. 

The Tampa Book Arts Studio, which has been located temporarily in the Library Annex building for the past few years, has served as a hands-on museum paying homage to the history of letterpress and has played a unique part of the publishing work for the University of Tampa Press.  It's a one-of-a-kind place that is as special as it is integral to UT.  Even by definition, TBAS is described not as a workshop, but as a letterpress laboratory, where the refinement and mastery of typography and the letterpress crafts can be practiced and celebrated. Its storied collection includes myriad foundry types, typecasting machines, and printing presses from the 19th and early 20th century. One highlight of the shop is the 1848 Hoe Washington Hand Press of American woodcut artist J. J. Lankes, on which he printed illustrations for books by Robert Frost, Sherwood Anderson, and others.

To arrange for this move, expert planning and attention was needed due to that of the special needs of these century-plus-old machines, which though wrought of iron and steel (weighing in at many tons) are also very delicate and require experienced riggers to move and set up. Most of the moving time involved so far, though, has been in the organizing and packing of TBAS's extensive library, which totals over 7,000 items— divided between important reference manuals, typographic samples, and other letterpress tools. Not to mention, its rare archive of books about bookmaking that are located in the McDonald Kelce Library’s Special Collections area, and which includes the  Peter Pauper Press Collection, the Lee J. Harrer Collection of Books about Books and the J. B. Dobkin Collection of Nineteenth Century Letter Writing. 

In an age where they say traditional publishing is dying—or digitally evolving to say the least—there is really no price that can be put on preserving what is left of the historical understanding and hands-on practice of the art of letterpress printing. The Studio’s new home is a welcome change, and with better lighting, better airflow, and Spackle still wet, we look forward to the continued celebration of this craft . . .

Click through for more pictures of the move.