Carolee Campbell
There were no books in my home growing up in Los Angeles. By my arrival in college, I had become an actress. Studying the history and literature of the theatre then turned into enchantment. By the time I moved to New York City to continue my studies, I had shelves of theatre and theatre-related books. I acted in out-of-town plays—and then on a television soap opera for nine years. During those years, I photographed. I had a darkroom. I learned to work in nineteenth-century photographic techniques. My burgeoning shelves now included photography.
When I quit acting, it was to pursue a more solitary craft—making books by hand. And now I have been the proprietor of Ninja Press for thirty-eight years. I design books of primarily poetry, set them in metal type, print letterpress, and then bind the edition.
My shelves are now burgeoning with finely printed private press books and artist’s books, forming a rich collection. It is thrilling to hold these books in my hand. They are alive with the resonance of the artists whose hands made each one—with skill, mastery, and intuition. It is investigative bookmaking at its very best.
Ken Campbell.
Father’s Garden.
Written, illustrated, and printed letterpress by Ken Campbell, United Kingdom, 1989.
Number 26 of 50 signed copies.
Slipcased. Multiple inks, some metallic, some tints by handwiping, some pages varnished.
My father, despite his rigour, found everything that he planted in the ground spontaneously blossomed, intentionally or no. The lead rules as staves are shown at the end as Aaron’s rod all aflowering. Long may it be so.
– Ken Campbell
Reginald Farrer
Mimpish Squinnies. Reginald Farrer’s Short Guide to Worthless Plants.
The Lone Oak Press, Petersham, MA, 2007.
Number 2 of 40 signed copies with 10 deluxe.
Boxed. Engravings by Abigail Rorer of The Lone Oak Press. Letterpress by Michael Russem at Kat Ran Press. Binding by Mark Tomlinson, Easthampton, MA.
Farrer wrote about untrustworthy seeds, plants ‘not much of a muchness,’ and plants so ugly, squinny, and poor that they were only good for the rubbish heap. Farrer could be peevish, he could be a snob, and he could love plants with abandon.
– From Introduction
Rollin Milroy.
Types Paper Print.
Written, hand set, and printed on a handpress by Rollin Milroy at Heavenly Monkey, 2012.
Number 23 of 40 copies with 10 deluxe.
Boards covered in hand-marbled paper. Text is Spanish 1960s handmade paper.
I have to actually print a typeface, on my handpress, before I can develop a sense of how to work with it during the stages that must precede printing. I do not really see a type until I have printed it.
– Rollin Milroy
Yusef Komunyakaa.
Love in the Time of War.
Robin Price, Publisher, Middletown, CT, 2013.
Number 7 of 70 signed copies.
In paper-case. Printed with silver ink onto individually painted, hand-dyed silk pages by Robin Price. Etched aluminum covers with pattern derived from camouflage fabric. Bound by Daniel E. Kelm. Cover design by Price and Kelm.
The jawbone of an ass. A shank
braided with shark teeth. A garrote.
A shepherd’s sling. A jagged stone
that catches light & makes warriors
dance to a bull-roarer’s lamentation.
An obsidian axe. A lion-skin drum
& reed flute. A nightlong prayer
to gods stopped at the mouth of a cave.
– Yusef Komunyakka
Karl Young, translator.
The Seafarer.
From the Anglo-Saxon Exeter Book. Tatlin Books, Bangor, ME, 1990.
Signed, unnumbered in edition of 85 copies.
Slipcased. Manuscript pages lettered by Nancy Leavitt. Printed letterpress using hand set types & photo-engraved plates at Tatlin Books. Binding designed and assembled by Daniel E. Kelm.
The survival of this book seems miraculous, suggesting a riddle or a pilgrimage. The book apparently transcribed in the tenth century and given to Exeter Cathedral in the eleventh. Round stains on its cover suggest that it was used as a coaster for beer mugs; gouges show it was used as a cutting board. It has been through a fire and several soakings.
– Karl Young