THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
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 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, California isbn 978-1-929646-09-8
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.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOK Mary K. Austin, President Tim Belonax Kathleen Burch, Vice President Coleen Curry Alan Dye Wally Jansen Mary Laird Margaret Miller Brooks Roddan Kathleen Rydar Anne Smith Dorothy Yule Duff Axsom, Emeritus Curtiss Taylor, Emeritus
THIS EXHIBITION MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF Kahle Austin Foundation San Francisco Foundation San Francisco Grants for the Arts
SFCB STAFF Cheryl Itamura Chad Johnson Malgosia Kostecka Alex Lin Jeff Thomas
LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION Mary K. Austin Barbara Luck The St. Johnsbury Athenæum The Janus Press
EXHIBITION COMMITTEE Mary K. Austin, Kathleen Burch, Sas Colby, Samantha Hamady, Jennie Hinchcliff, Chad Johnson, Alyson Kuhn, Donna Seager; Marie Dern, honorary member
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.
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’ bookmaking. 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
THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY 4
Susan Allen
DECADE FOUR 64
Razerol 7 Aunt Sallie’s Lament 66 Bare Elegy The Seekonk Woods Aunt Sallie’s Lament (Altered) 68
Four Women 9
Designating Duet 70
Of Gravity and Grace 11
Dido and Aeneas 72
THIS IS Narcissus 12 76
DECADE ONE 15
An Oxford Odyssey 16
Night Street 80
Some Trees and Bushes 18
DECADE FIVE 86
A Little Bestiary 20
Praise Basted In 88
Ein Landarzt / A Country Doctor Batterers 22 90
Parables and Paradoxes 26
Beauty in Use 92
Sun, Sky and Earth 28
(Compound Frame) 94 Seven Poems
DECADE TWO 30
Deep in the Territory 96
Polyurethane Antibook 30 Conversation with the Supplicant 32
Circulus Sapientiae / 98 Circle of Wisdom
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
COVER
Bone Songs 78
DECADE SIX 106 The Gospel of Mary 106 Waste Incant 110 Four Months / Four Seasons 114
HELIOS 120
Hayden Carruth
AURA
TATATA 122 Aura 46 GREED 124 St. Francis Preaches to the Birds 48
1977 Pulp-painting by Claire Van Vliet with Kathryn and Howard Clark at Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill Photography : Fletcher Manley
DECADE THREE 44
Herball: 52 JANUS PRESS 128 Dialogues of the Creatures Moralised
1955–2014 AND COLLABORATORS
The Dream of the Dirty Woman 54
Lilac Wind 56
The Circus of Doctor Lao 60
COLOPHON
SUSAN ALLEN: THE JANUS PRESS AT SIXTY
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 broadside 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”
6
Above: THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO See also pages 60–63.
Estelle Leontief RAZEROL 1973 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 ELEGY 1980 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 WOODS 1985 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
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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 precision 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 connectedness 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
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James Hayford FOUR WOMEN 1981 Masonite cut by Claire Van Vliet on the endpapers with moon added on the endsheet 9 x 6Âź inches 20 pages Edition 175
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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 publications 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 accordionfold 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 landscape. 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
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Sabina Thorne OF GRAVITY AND GRACE 1982 Masonite cut by Claire Van Vliet 9 x 7 inches 40 pages Edition 220 ... See pages 6 and 7 for detail of cover.
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Peter Schumann Bread and Puppet THIS IS 1980 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 8陆 inches 40 pages, paper bound Edition 3,500 路 paper 100, casebound
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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: NARCISSUS See also pages 76–77.
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DECADE ONE
John Theobald AN OXFORD ODYSSEY 1955 Wood engravings by Claire Van Vliet 8½ x 5½ inches 56 pages, pamphlet Edition 100
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17
Claire Van Vliet SOME TREES AND BUSHES 1959 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.
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Edward Topsell A LITTLE BESTIARY 1961 Woodcuts by Helen Siegl Commissioned by The Print Club of Philadelphia 12¼ x 9¼ inches 8 broadsides in a wrapper Edition 200
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21
Franz Kafka EIN LANDARZT / A COUNTRY DOCTOR 1962 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
22
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24
EIN LANDARZT / A COUNTRY DOCTOR
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Franz Kafka PARABLES AND PARADOXES 1963 Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet 15 x 11 inches 10 folios, boxed Edition 50
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27
Claire Van Vliet SUN, SKY AND EARTH 1964 Die-cut acetate and cinemoid gels 7他 x 6 inches 67 pages in plastic binding Edition 50
28
29
DECADE TWO
James H. McWilliams POLYURETHANE ANTIBOOK 1965 12 x 12 inches Black paper-covered slipcase Edition 10
Franz Kafka CONVERSATION WITH THE SUPPLICANT 1971 Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet 13 x 10½ inches 10 unbound folios, boxed Edition 100
32
33
Franz Kafka DER KÜBELREITER / THE BUCKET RIDER 1972 Relief etchings by Jerome Kaplan 12¾ x 11 inches 10 unbound folios, boxed Edition 100
34
35
Claire Van Vliet SKY AND EARTH: VARIABLE LANDSCAPE 1973 10 x 8 inches 39 pieces of die-cut papers in folder Edition not limited
36
37
Federico Garcﾃｭa-Lorca ROMANCE DE LA GUARDIA ESPAﾃ前LA / BALLAD OF THE SPANISH CIVIL GUARD 1974 Woodcuts by Jerome Kaplan 11ﾂｽ x 6ﾂｾ inches 24 french-folded pages, casebound Edition 300
38
39
THE TOWER OF BABEL: AN ANTHOLOGY 1973–5 Lithographs by Claire Van Vliet 12½ x 10 inches 20 unbound folios, boxed Edition 100
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41
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THE TOWER OF BABEL: AN ANTHOLOGY
The Builders of Babel
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DECADE THREE
Hayden Carruth AURA 1977 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.
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Following pages: Peter Schumann ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS Bread and Puppet 1978 Masonite relief cuts by Peter Schumann, hand colored 14Âź x 13 inches 28 pages, folded on the fore-edge, bound into boards with screw posts Edition 100
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48
ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS
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50
ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS
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W. R. Johnson and Sabina Thorne, editors HERBALL: DIALOGUES OF THE CREATURES MORALISED 1979 Woodcuts by Helen Siegl, hand colored 11¼ x 8½ inches 24 pages, casebound Edition 150
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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 12Âź x 12 inches 10-page accordion, boxed Edition 85
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55
W. R. Johnson LILAC WIND 1983 Co-published with Twinrocker Handmade Paper Mill where the pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet was made with Kathryn Clark 12 x 7他 inches 8-page accordion, boxed Edition 150
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57
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LILAC WIND
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Charles G. Finney THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO 1984 Relief etchings by Claire Van Vliet 13¼ x 10¼ inches 130 pages, bound with long stitch, boxed Edition 150
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THE CIRCUS OF DOCTOR LAO
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DECADE FOUR
Margaret Kaufman AUNT SALLIE’S LAMENT 1988 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 NARCISSUS shown on pages 76–77.
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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
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Sandra McPherson DESIGNATING DUET 1989 Abaca binding strip made by MacGregor-Vinzani 7½ x 7½ inches 18 pages in boards, boxed Edition 175
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Nahum Tate DIDO AND AENEAS 1989 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
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DIDO AND AENEAS
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W. R. Johnson NARCISSUS 1990 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.
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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 STREET 1993 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
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p118-119 – DELETE p120-121 - make black pages move book pages toward fore edge
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NIGHT STREET
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NIGHT STREET
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NIGHT STREET
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DECADE FIVE
Margaret Kaufman PRAISE BASTED IN 1995 22 pages with 9 attached cards in quilted cover, boxed Edition 100 ... See previous pages for cover detail.
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Denise Levertov BATTERERS 1996 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
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Sandra McPherson BEAUTY IN USE 1997 8 x 9 inches 38 pages, boxed Edition 150
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Emily Dickinson (COMPOUND FRAME) SEVEN POEMS
1998 Co-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
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Margaret Kaufman DEEP IN THE TERRITORY 1999 8 x 9 inches 26 pages, boxed Edition 120
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Hildegard von Bingen CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM 2001 Pulp-painted paper by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor 12 x 5陆 inches 路 28 pages accordion folded with pop-ups double slipcased Edition 120
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CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
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CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
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CIRCULUS SAPIENTIAE / CIRCLE OF WISDOM
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Karen King, translator Commentary by Rosemary Radford Ruether THE GOSPEL OF MARY 2006 Cover and pop-up paper pulp painted by Claire Van Vliet made with Katie MacGregor 11½ x 9ž inches 50 pages strip bound into paper covers, boxed Edition 150
DECADE SIX
108
THE GOSPEL OF MARY
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Susan Johanknecht WASTE INCANT 2007 Images and text by Susan Johanknecht 7½ x 11½ inches 48 pages strip bound into polycarbonate covers with chemise, plexi slipcase Edition 150
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WASTE INCANT
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Ruth Fine FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS 2009–10 Reduction linocuts by Ruth Fine 7½ x 4½ inches Four 28-page 2-sided accordions with wrapper and slipcase Wooden slipcase Edition 150
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FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS
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FOUR MONTHS / FOUR SEASONS
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Peter Schumann HELIOS 2010 Drawing by Peter Schumann printed duotone, offset lithography 11 x 5他 inches 20-page accordion, casebound Edition 150
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Peter Schumann TATATA 2011 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
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Claire Van Vliet GREED 2013 Text and lithographs by Claire Van Vliet 7¼ x 6½ inches 16-page accordion in paper over boards, slipcased Edition 120
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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 Capetanakis
1967
A Selfish Giant Oscar Wilde, Helen Siegl
A New Herball Nancy Willard, Helen Siegl 1968 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
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
130
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 HancheOlsen, 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
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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
1977 Above right: Susan Johanknecht and Claire Van Vliet binding From Actium 1982 At right: The new and current shop
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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 H erball: 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
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
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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
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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
1988 At left: Linda Wray and Tamar Schumann working on Aunt Sallie’s Lament
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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
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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
1996 Above: Bernie Vinzani pulling a sheet for Batterers 1997 At left: Lulie Larus and Audrey Holden making paste papers for Beauty in Use
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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 Waste Incant Susan Johanknecht · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey 2007 Holden, Ellen Dorn Levitt Papermaking at Hayle Mill 1808–1987 Maureen Green · Andrew Miller2008 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 H ELIOS Peter Schumann · Ellen Dorn Levitt, Andrew Miller-Brown, 2010 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 ABC Judy Fairclough Sgantas · Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden, 2012 Mary Richardson 2013
GREED Claire Van Vliet · Audrey Holden
2014 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
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
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BROADSIDES 1982 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 MillerBrown, Audrey Holden 2006
U. S. Constitution George W. Bush · Ellen Dorn Levitt
Aristotle on War Andrew Miller-Brown
2014 At left: Audrey Holden checking it was like that in the bindery
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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 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 AT SIXTY