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QTheU BoAok RCluTb Eof CRaliLforYnia NEWS- LETTER segessom ve” “ THE OUROBOROS: PRESSMARK, Black Stone Press Peter Koch, Printer CAROLEE CAMPBELL Found: A Complete Collection of Book Club Publications & Keepsakes! ROBERT D. HAINES, JR. The Closing of the University of Southern California Fine Arts Press EDWARD PETKO The Book Club 1995 Grants Competition Gifts and Acquisitions Exhibition Notes In Memoriam Book Reviews Founded in 1912, The Book Club of California is a non-profit organization of book lovers and collectors who have a special interest in Pacific Coast history, literature, and fine printing. Its chief aims are to further the interests of book collectors and to promote an understanding and appreciation of fine books. The Club is limited to 1,000 members. When vacancies exist, membership is open to all who are in sympathy with its aims and whose applications are approved by the Board of Directors. Regular membership involves no responsibilities beyond payment of the annual dues. Dues date from the month of the member’s election. Regular membership is $55; Sustaining $75; Patron $150. Members receive the Quarterly News-Letter and all parts of the current Keepsake series. They have the privilege, but not the obligation, of buying Club publications, which are limited, as a rule, to one copy per member. Members may purchase extra copies of Keepsakes or News-Letters, when available. Membership dues (less $17.50 in each membership category) and donations, including books, are deductible in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code. DIRECTORS & OFFICERS Paul E. Birkel, President Joanne Sonnichsen, Vice-President John Crichton, Secretary John W. Borden, Treasurer Ann Whipple, Executive Secretary James G. Nance, Membership Secretary Directors whose terms expire in 1995: Paul Birkel Robert Chandler Warren Heckrotte Harlan Kessel Karl Vollmayer Directors whose terms expire in 1996: Peter Hanff Michael Harrison Gary Kurutz Louise Moises Alfred Newman Directors whose terms expire in 1997: John Class David C. Weber Joanne Sonnichsen Peter Stansky Daniel G.Volkman, Jr. COMMITTEE CHAIRS Book Club Grants: Harold Wollenberg Exhibits: Jack Maclean House: Ethel Crockett Aldridge, Madeleine S. Rose Library: Albert Sperisen Membership: John F. Class, Harold Wollenberg Personnel: John P. Crichton Planning. Harry Goff Public Programs: Louise Moises, Hugh Tolford Publications: Gary Kurutz Quarterly News-Letter. Harlan Kessel, Editor The Oscar Lewis Award in Western History and Fine Printing. Harold Wollenberg Copyright 1995 by The Book Club of California, 312 Sutter Street, Suite 510, San Francisco, California 94108-4320. Hours: Monday 10-7, ‘Tuesday through Friday 10-5. Telephone (415) 781-7532 or toll-free (800) 869-7656; Fax (415) 781-7537; CompuServe 74503,22. ‘This issue of The Quarterly News-Letter was designed by Susan Acker at the Feathered Serpent Press and printed letterpress from photopolymer plates by Eric Johnson & Susan Acker at Okeanos Press PETER KOCH, CAROLEE CAMPBELL Just WHAT are we to make of a printer who publishes books designed with handsome classical restraint and who, at the time, produces oth- ers that have the look of objects recently disentombed? Do we give him the nod of approbation for the former while dismissing the latter as some sort of fleeting creative dyspepsia? Do we praise him for pro- ducing elegant books that, in many examples, emulate the venerable tradition of the best in the printing arts while ducking the chore of considering just exactly what he might be up to by making these offer things that we are expected to take with equal seriousness—just because 4e does? How shall we reconcile these seemingly disparate creative sensibilities? A clue might lie in a book by the eminent William Everson, On Printing, published by The Book Club of California in 1992. ‘The Introduction to the book was written by Peter Rutledge Koch, the bookmaker in question. In it he says, “It is Everson’s thoughtful self-examination that ultimately distinguishes the man as a printer, typographer, and a philosopher.” ‘The operative words are “thoughtful self-examination,” and a closer look at Peter Koch’s books will, in my opinion, reveal the unifying theme of self- scrutiny throughout his book work. Of all the books published—beginning in 1975 at his Black Stone Press in Missoula, Montana, and to the present day, publishing under the imprint of Peter Koch, Printer, in Berkeley, California—I would like to discuss two in particular which, to me, stand out as quintes- sential examples of this self-examination: fragments of Herakleitos, translated by Guy Davenport, and Diogenes: Defictions, by ‘Thomas McEvilley. But first, there are possible misconceptions to be cleared away. Peter Koch was never a guileless cowboy riding the range astride ol’ Paint singing “Git along little doggies....” He grew up surrounded by 4 ‘THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA a great book collection. In his lineage are readers, writers, and histori- ans. His single nod to Western wildness and open space ts his love of fly-fishing. After receiving a degree in philosophy he left Missoula for Paris to investigate the Surrealist poets. Philosophy and poetry engaged him deeply, particularly the pre-Socratic philosophers. Back in Missoula he founded both al iterary journal, Montana Gothic, and his first private press, Black Stone Press. ‘The device he chose as a logo for the press has its roots in alchemy, as does his press name. It is the ouroboros—the snake that eats its own tail—first seen in the ancient Greek texts, symbolizing opposites which are secretly one. It is an ideal image that graphically sums up Peter’s personal bookmaking aesthetic. Like Peter Koch, I too am a bookmaker. Because I am the sole designer, printer, and binder at my press, I understand the serious implications inherent in selecting each new project and the time it takes to bring it to fruition. When I look at the work of my colleagues, | TOY AE AOPOY TOYA: EONTOZ2 AEI A=YNETOI FINONTAI ANOPQIMO! KAI MIPOZOEN H AKOY2AIl KA] AKOYZANTEZ TO MPOQTON TINOMENQN FAP NANTON KATA TON AOTON TONAE AMEIPOIZIN EOIKA2I NEIPQMENO! KAI ENEQON KAI EPFQN TOIOYTON OKOION EQ AIHTEYMAI KATA ®YZIN AIAIPEOQN EKAZTON KAI PPAZON OKQ2 EXE! TOY AE AAAOYZ ANOPQMOYZ AANGANE! OKOZA EF EPOENTE2 MOIOYZIN OKOZMEP OKOZA EYAONTE2 ENIAANOANONTAI Quarterly News-Letter 5 I assume that an intense and thoughtful consideration has been extended equally to each and every book and that, in the most successful of those books, every element in design and craftsmanship will be linked together with purposeful unity—book size, shape, materials, typography, artwork—becoming an amalgamate reflecting the organizing principle that overarches the bookmaker’s singular response to the text. By my measure, the best of books reveal them- selves at first sight, with the first touch. In that initial moment a book begins to prepare the reader for what it holds. The nature of the binding becomes as valuable to its contents as a reliquary is to the saintly bones within. And that is exactly what fragments of Herakleitos and Diogenes: Defictions do. They are both examples of that best kind of bookmaking, the successful union of word, image, and structure—although two more opposite books can scarcely be found. Some readers might be fooled into singling out fragments of The articulateness of the world is the same forever but people have not learned to hear it and people have heard it and not understood. Through this articulateness we can understand everything yet we have not understood as you shall see when you put acts and words to the test lam going to propose: We must talk about everything according to its nature, how it comes to be and how it grows. People have talked about the world without paying attention to it or to their own thoughts, as if they were asleep or absent-minded. SAMPLE TEXT, Greek on verso, English on recto from fragments of Herakleitos. 6 ‘THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA Herakleitos as a fine and serious book while dismissing Dzogenes: Defictions as a book-pun quickie, not to be approached with the same considered attention. After all, everything about Herak/eitos seems profound. Herakleitos (or Heraclitus) was in a real sense the founder of metaphysics. He arrived at the principle of relativity: harmony and unity consist in diversity and multiplicity. Guy Davenport, the translator, is a distinguished poet and literary essayist. ‘The book is accom- panied by another book (a book about a book in the guise of a prospectus) containing essays by both translator and typesetter, along with a description of the edition, quoted here in its entirety for the purposes of comparison: ‘This edition of the fragments was designed to reflect in the contempo- rary idiom a fifth-century Ionian manuscript, the earliest known Egyptian codex and the first Venetian printed translations of classical authors. A book of origins, an exemplary book of Western tradition meant to be read and contemplated repeatedly and at leisure. ‘The Greek, Monotype Gill Sans Light Upright 672, was cast in sorts by Dan Carr at the Golgonooza Letter Foundry, Ashuelot, New Hampshire and hand set by Mark C. Livingston. The translation and Latin fragment 103 were composed in Monotype Bembo 270 and Bembo Condensed Italic 294 by the Mackenzie & Harris typefoundry in San Francisco and Patrick Reagh in Los Angeles. ‘The edition is limited to 113 copies, each signed by the translator, 100 of which have been printed on Nideggen, an unusually rich German mouldmade paper and 13 of which have been printed on Robert Serpa handmade paper, bound and encased ina special wrapper constructed of PC4, a handmade paper-case paper developed by ‘Timothy Barrett at the University of lowa Center for the Book. The non-adhesive visible structure binding was designed by Shelly Hoyt and consists of terra cotta paste grained paper over boards, the sig- nature sewn with a Coptic stitch employed by Egyptian bookbinders by the Third Century A.D. The Coptic stitch is a series of chain or link- ing stitches that attach the signatures one to another and to the front and back covers in such a fashion that the binding opens easily and when open, lies perfectly flat. 31x16.2 cm, 48 pages. Between the two essays and the description of the edition, the bookmaker has prepared us thoroughly for fragments of Herakleitos, a splendid example of restraint and a beautifully integrated book. ‘Then there is Diogenes: Defictions. How to describe it? Is it a book at allP What we are presented with is a roughly fashioned glazed ceram- Quarterly News-Letter 7 ic box whose lid rasps uncomfortably when touched. Each box in the edition of fifty has its own wildly different glaze and color combina- tions, its various pock marks and fissures. Being a box, it naturally invites examination but, once open, all we see are eleven playing- card-sized lead panels incised with mannered lettering. There is no titling or introduction; no colophon or essay to introduce us in any way to the nature of these inscriptions on lead. (In fact, it is only because I have seen a copy from the second paper edition of this work, which is titled and which has a Foreword, that I know that the text is asso- ciated with another Greek philosopher [although technically, not a pre-Socratic.]) Because there are no textual clues to rely on in this first fragile edition of Diogenes: Defictions, one’s inclination might be to carefully close the lid, write off this effort as haphazardly coy, and turn to another one of Koch’s productions like Tze Handbook of Ornament, a suavely elegant, very white book containing spare, concentrated poems by Michael Poage. But wait. Don’t close the lid on Diogenes. Pick up the lead panels. Let them begin to sag as the lead warms in your hand. Or bend them and stand them up on the table. Don’t worry about what you don’t know about the life and philosophy of Diogenes. Don’t feel cheated by the lack of textual information offered. Just read the lead. Read, for instance: “DIOGENES SAT IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE ONE AFTERNOON GLUEING SHUT THE PAGES OF A BOOK.” “TO SOMEONE WHO WISHED TO BE HIS STUDENT, AND ASKED FOR INSTRUCTIONS, HE GAVE A FISH, AND INSTRUCTED HIM TO CARRY IT WHEREVER HE WENT.” “ONE DAY, OBSERVING A CHILD DRINKING FROM HIS HANDS, HE CAST AWAY THE CUP FROM HIS SACK SAYING ‘A CHILD HAS BEATEN ME IN PLAINNESS OF LIVING.” Accept the inscriptions at face value for the sportive, irreverent things they appear to be. Later, if you have a mind to, you will learn that those “defictions” are actually anecdotal stories of Diogenes’ life; that he was a leader of the Cynics and has been credited with going to extremes of impropriety in pursuance of his ideas; that, living in the streets, his absurdist public acts were the embodiment ofa life devot- ed to the performance of philosophy designed to subvert the daily habits of the citizenry. Now take another look at the structure of Diogenes: Defictions. This 8 ‘THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA book or “book object” (Peter Koch calls it a “text-transmission object,” which is the most accurate) is amplifying the text it holds perfectly. It is a subversionary tactic. It undermines our preconcep- tions of “bookness.” It is being rude to us. It is organically resonating the bookmaker’s comprehension of the essence of Diogenes of Sinope. Further, looking back into the history of the book in embryo, many texts were found to be incised on a variety of metal panels. WAS. SUNNING. HIMSELF IN:T HE. 2 QUATRE 7 ALEXANDER. CAME. AND » “STOOD. OVER HIM AND~ ~ SAID; “ASK: OF ME ANY © BOON YOULIKE STO | WHICH DIOGENES REPLIED, © OT: ouT OF MY LIGHT.”i e HE PRAISED. POPLE. a WHO INTENDED- nic. Cri . MARRIED; GO ON’ A - _ JOURNEY, OR, EMBARK. -QN-A- CAREER AND,’ BEING JUST ABOUT To. DO 90%, DECIDED: Nor To. Diogenes Defictions: Thomas McEvilley, text; Christopher Stinehour, lettering. Quarterly News-Letter 9 Pliny cites the existence of ancient books carved entirely on leaden plates. And from the beginning of recorded history clay vessels have been used to house texts. Thus, looking at this work once more, the structure could scarcely be anything o/#er than what we see. Both books, then, fragments of Herakleitos and Diogenes: Defictions, have equally inherent, within their design, a philosophical intention that slowly developed from Koch’s first encounters with the pre- Socratics and matured over time by the process of self-evaluation and reexamination, to finally arrive at a set of fully developed organizing design principals. The difference between the books is the difference between the men—Herakleitos with his resonant sensibility on the one hand and Diogenes, the “performance philosopher,” on the other. Both books bespeak their contents. ‘They can be equated with alembics, alchemical test tubes distilling elements that Koch is con- tinually interested in: the very nature of thought, together with /ogos, the word, which has been brought forward in time through the history of mark-making and record-keeping. These books are both tangi- ble expressions of the ideas they hold and therefore achieve that stan- dard by which I measure the best of books. A final example of Peter Koch’s approach to bookmaking through self-scrutiny lies in a statement he made some years ago in an essay on typography which appeared in the literary quarterly Zyzzyva (Volume III, Number 2): “Long ago I had a dream in which I was reading a book. It was the mirror of my innermost self, all that I had ever wished for in a book. The event was so disturbing that I awoke before I had finished reading the first page. I could only remember the form and not the content. Now, whenever I design a book, I am always designing “at book and it is always the same book, she original book.” Actress, publisher, photographer, and river-rafter Carolee Campbell ts the proprietor of Ninja Press, Sherman Oaks, founded in 1984 and specializing in limited editions of hand-printed, hand-bound books. Her books, both in edition and one-of-a-kind, have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe. Editor’s Note: One might say that 1995 is a “Peter Koch, Printer” year. His books will be exhibited in a joint New York Public Library/San Francisco Public Library exhibition titled “Peter Koch, Printer: Cowboy Surrealists, Maverick Poets, & Pre-Socratic Philosophers,” 10 ‘THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA January 21 to March 28, 1995. The New York Opening Reception is January 19, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The San Francisco Opening Reception is January 24, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Then, from May 2 to May 30, 1995, “Peter Koch, Printer: recent work 1989-1994” will be on exhibit at the Widener Library at Harvard University. The exhibition is sponsored by the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, ‘The Houghton Library. FOUND: A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF BOOK CLUB PUBLICATIONS AND KEEPSAKES! ROBERT D. HAINES, JR. San FRANCISCO boasts many avid book collectors. ‘Twenty years ago, one such collector, a medical doctor practicing in the Bay Area, hand- ed me a long list of books he wanted to add to his collection. They were all titles published by The Book Club of California. A complete collection of the publications of The Club was his goal. Not an easy task, for although many are easy to find, there are those that are very obscure and, of course, some that are very sought after. ‘The Club’s first book (Cowan’s important A Bibhography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510-1906) was published in 1914. During the last eighty years, over two hundred titles have been published, including numerous leaf books, Powell’s Santa Fe Trail, Harlow’s Maps of San Francisco Bay, the Valenti Angelo Bibliography, Leighly’s Cahfornia as an Island, Robinson Jeffers’ Poems (with the signed Ansel Adams photograph), the Japanese Print series, and many other fine works. The doctor realized the importance of acquiring a complete collection of The Club’s titles. He therefore wished to acquire not only every book published by The Book Club, but also every Keepsake. Interestingly, he was not a member of ‘The Club! After a