2018  

November 14, 2018 – Denker Fellow Symposium.

November 3 – Chris and Pat Manson hosted the Chesapeake Chapter’s annual Wayzgoose at the Crooked Crow Press in Rockville, MD.

November 2 – Former Chesapeake Chapter Denker Fellow (2015) Na’ama Zussman delivered a talk entitled “The Liminal Experience of the Artist’s Book” to the Chesapeake Chapter and the Washington Area Group for Print Culture Studies. 

October 25 – Nick Wilding gave a talk on early modern printed materials that have taken the rare book world by surprise: the accurate replication of paper, binding, ink and impression has generally been considered all but impossible. But in fact, such forgery has a long, continuous and complex history, originating in the development of mechanical reproduction itself. This talk described the technologies of print forgery, and techniques of deathentication, while sketching the problematic outlines of this history.

October 16 – Don Starr of Glyph in Havre de Grace sponsored a talk by Paul Moxon on Vandercook Presses.

October  6-7 – Oak Knoll Fest XX was held. Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher of Lead Graffiti sponsored a tour of Lead Graffiti and offered a free H.N. Werkman workshop. Ray & Jill along with Steve Heaver staffed a table showing the work at the Fest.

September 15, 2018 – The Lancaster Printers Fair, led by Ken Kulakowsky of the .918 Club, had tables sponsored by Val Lucas of Bowerbox Press, Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher of Lead Graffiti, and Casey Smith & Chris Sweterlitsch of the Chesapeake Chapter.

September 4, 2018 –  Chesapeake Chapter and the Baltimore Bibliophiles met at the Johns Hopkins Club in Baltimore for a buffet dinner, and subsequently to hear chapter member Dianne L. Roman give a presentation entitled “Unseen, Unnoticed, and Overlooked: American Women in the Early Nineteenth Century Printing Industry.”

May 31, 2018 – Chesapeake Chapter member Caroline Duroselle-Melish, curator of the exhibition Beyond Words: Book Illustration in the Age of Shakespeare at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s, guided a group of chapter members on a tour of the exhibition. 

May 15, 2018 – Chesapeake Chapter members and friends enjoyed an excellent presentation at the Library of Congress by Rosenwald Collection Curator, Stephanie Stillo “On William Blake.”

April 26-27 – The Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress hosting Paul Holbrook, Director for the King Library Press of the University of Kentucky and friend of Victor and Carolyn Hammer, for a two-day event regarding the Austrian-born American painter, sculptor, printer, and typographer Victor Hammer, and the Hammer Collection at the Library of Congress. In addition, in preparation for these events library staff members Eric Frazier, Amanda Zimmerman, and Marianna Stell gathered at chapter member Chris Manson‘s Crooked Crow Press to help design and typeset the printed keepsake that will be given out at each lecture.

March 15 – Sarah Craf, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, GWU; Layla Saad, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, GWU; and Cassandra Vanatta, Kutztown University, have been awarded 2018 Mike Denker Fellowships and are members of the Chesapeake Chapter for the next year.

February 17 – Ray Nichols and Jill Cypher of Lead Graffiti celebrated its Tenth Anniversary with a gatherhing highlight work from their beginning in letterpress along with a number of letterpress printing opportunities.

February 13 – Leslie K. Overstreet, Curator of Natural History Rare Books, Smithsonian Libraries, spoke on “The Books on The Beagle,” at the University of Delaware Library as part of the University of Delaware’s annual celebration of International Darwin Day. This lecture examined the remarkable library Charles Darwin and Captain Fitzroy took with them on the famous round-the-world voyage of HMS Beagle in 1831 – 1836.

January 16 – The Chesapeake Chapter joined with the Washington Rare Book Group for a talk by Sylvia R. Albro, Senior Paper Conservator at the Library of Congress on Fabriano Italy and its papermaking history. Albro is the author of Fabriano: City of Medieval and Renaissance Papermaking, recently published by Oak Knoll Press and the Library of Congress.

 2017

Denker Fellows talks – 2017 Denker Symposium Videos are online. We are happy to announce that videos of most of the 2017 Denker Fellows Symposium presentations are now available:  Juss DiSciullo, “The Printed Press;” Sierra Fry, “Incunabula: Beginnings in Letterpress;” Alice Keith, “Stories and Histories from Abroad: The Adventures of a Curious Mind;” Brianna Martin, “Erotic, Decadent, and Dramatic: Aubrey Beardsley and 19th Century Printing;” Maeve McCool, “Methods of Memory: Contemporary Artist Books that Address the Past.” 

June 24, 2017 – Casey Smith, former chapter vice-president, gave a lecture to the Chesapeake Chapter and the Baltimore Bibliophiles entitled “William Joseph Ibbett Did It: Piquerism, Poetry, and Letterpress Printing” at the Johns Hopkins Club, in Baltimore.

April 29, 2017 – Seth Gottlieb and Josef Beery discussed the impact of the screw press on the history of printing, at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 4318 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, MD.

April 13, 2017 – Introduced to literature and art of the science fiction and fantasy genres by his father Erle Korshak, a founder of the sci-fi imprint Shasta Publishers, collector Stephen Korshak discussed the history and context of sci-fi and fantasy illustration, and shared insights about the world class collection he has thoughtfully built over several decades.

April 13, 2017 – Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, discussed the importance of the Library of Congress in the 21st century, especially in the digital age. The Library houses more than 162 million items that include historical documents and artifacts, photographs, books, manuscripts, sheet music, and so much more. Her monumental goal is to share all these items online with the public from coast to coast.

April 12, 2017 – The Chesapeake Chapter visited the Folger Shakespeare Library for a tour of their exhibit 500 Years of Treasures from Oxford, on Wednesday, April 12th, at 12:00 noon. The tour was led by Chesapeake Chapter member Caroline Duroselle-Melish, who is also the Curatorial Advisor, and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Early Modern Books and Prints at the Folger.

March 22, 2017 – Visit to the Library of Congress to see their collection of “block books” and a talk by Stephanie Stillo, the new Rosenwald curator. They had 10 of the block books on display for us to look at.  You can see photos here.

March 22, 2017 – There was a second part about visiting the Rare Book Reading Room following to the event above that you might find interesting. For that story click here.

March 18, 2017 – The Mark Samuels Lasner Collection at the University of Delaware Libraries held a symposium celebrating the donation of the collection. There was a long list of speakers. See the story and list of speakers here. 

March 15 – 2017 – Frank Romano, President of the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Mass., returned to the Government Publishing Office in Washington to transport an 1873 U.S. patent model of a G.P. Gordon platen press, which GPO is lending to the museum. Check out the photo.

2016

October 29, 2016 – The annual Chapter Waysgoose was held at Crooked Crow Press. You can see photos and a bit of the story by clicking here.

October 6, 2016 – Pyramid Atlantic showed off their new space at a book, print and paper gathering of five DC area print and book related groups at their new location at 4318 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, MD. The groups include APHA / Chesapeake Chapter, GW Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Potomac Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, and the Washington Rare Book Group. Chris Sweteterlitsch presented the story of the Chesapeake Chapter.

September 30 – October 2 – The biannual Oak Knoll Fest was attended by several chapter members. Threats of severe rain lessened participation. Ray Nichols and Jill Cypher, chapter members from Lead Graffiti, had a table to show their wares to prospective buyers.September 18, 2016 – Field trip to Charlottesville, VA.

August 18, 2016 – Frank Romano, author, professor, and noted printing industry pundit, spoke about his recent book History of the Linotype Company at the U. S. Government Publishing Office. At 480 pages History of the Linotype Company is considered by some as the most complete Linotype history available.

June 11, 2016 – Eleven Chesapeake Chapter members had visited the library of the Society of the Cincinnati, the nation’s oldest patriotic organization, founded in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army and their French counterparts who served together in the American Revolution. Its mission is to promote knowledge and appreciation of the achievement of American independence and the history of the War for Independence.

May 11, 2016 – Chapter members gathered at the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection at the University of Delaware Library to celebrate the edition of the “William Morris – Robert Catterson-Smith” copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer to Mark’s collection. This is one of only 14 copies signed by William Morris. Robert Catterson-Smith was involved in the book production as he took the 87 Edward Burne-Jones pencil drawings and converted them to an ink drawing that could be used for the final wood engravings.

May 4, 2016 – Chris Manson, Stan Nelson, Rich Hopkins, Jill Cypher, & Ray Nichols traveled to Honey Brook, PA, to spend two days talking with Bill Reiss, proprietor of Quaker City Type about his life in metal type casting.

February 10, 2016 – a dozen letterpress printing chapter members gathered at Crooked Crow Press and traveled to El Mariachi for lunch and talk of metal type.

February 5, 2016 – Chapter visit to an exhibition, Printmakers: Hidden Treasures, at Special Collections at Georgetown University.

January 23, 2016 – Folger Library exhibition tour of “Shakespeare: Life of an Icon”

2015

December  5, 2015 – August Imholtz, Jr. spoke on His Master’s Voice and Alice: Eldridge Johnson’s Adventure with Lewis Carroll’s Alice Manuscript, Morris Library, University of Delaware

November 5, 2015 – Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History offsite visit to see “printing patent models,” Washington, DC

October 31, 2015 – Annual APHA Chesapeake Chapter Wayzgoose, Crooked Crow Press, Rockville, MD

October 22 – 24, 2015 – Annual APHA National Conference, Printing on the Iron Handpress, RIT, Rochester, NY

October 3, 2015 – Paul Shaw, “Strathmore Paper and Its Paper Promotions 1898 – 1934,” at the George Washington University, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design

September 30, 2015 – Chapter treasurer, Jackie Coleburn talks on “Isaiah Thomas: From Printer’s Apprentice to Patriot Printer,” South Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, DC.

September 30, 2015 – Paul Shaw and Gordon Pfeiffer speaking at the exhibition, Will Bradley, an American Artist: Selections from the Gordon Pfeiffer Collection, University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE

September 17, 2015 – Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, Associate Curator, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Cary Graphic Arts Collection, “Design & Beauty in Printing: Celebrating the Frederic W. Goudy Sesquicentennial,” Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC

July 11, 2015 – Visit to the Kelmscott Bookshop & the artist book collection of Betty & Edgar Sweren Baltimore, MD

June 29, 2015 – Paul Moxon, Noted Vandercook press expert and author, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

June 22, 2015 – “First of many: The Bay Psalm Book and Early Moments in American Printing“

June 11, 2015 – Alice Austin discusses “Structural Books: Book Structures from the Medieval to the Modern,” Rosenwald Room / Jefferson Building, Washington, DC

May  21, 2015 – Tour of the Washington Post newspaper printing plant

March 6, 2015 – Chesapeake Chapter president George Barnum presented his APHA 2014 conference paper, Forest/Trees/ Paper/Documents: Proposals for Papermaking at the Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

January 12, 2015 – Dr. Earle Havens, Curator of “Fakes, Lies, & Forgeries” at the George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (cancelled due to weather)

2014

November 14, 2014 – Annual APHA Chesapeake Chapter Wayzgoose, Crooked Crow Press, Rockville, MD

November 5, 2014 – Presentations by 2014 Mike Denker fellows | LoC video 58:00

November  1, 2014 – Annual Chapter Wayzgoose at Crooked Crow Press

October 5, 2014 – Oak Knoll Fest / New Castle, DE

September 10, 2014 – Krystyna Wasserman, Curator of Book Arts, National Museum of Women in the Arts, books from the collection, 1250 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC

August 2, 2014 – Washington Print Club panel discussion: “Reflections on the World of Prints: Past, Present and Future,” Washington, DC

July 19, 2014 – Hornbake Library, University of Maryland

June 24, 2014 – Reception for Erik Delfino, retiring from the Library of Congress, West Dining Room, Madison Building, Washington, DC

June 21, 2014 – Special exhibition tour of “An American In London: Whistler and the Thames,” Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC

May 3, 2014 – Dennis O’Neil, “Hand-Print Workshop International,” a collaborative fine art screenprinting operation, Alexandria, VA

May 2, 2014 – Corcoran College of Art and Design Master of Arts in Art and the Book  Spring 2014 Thesis Exhibition, Washington, DC

April 19, 2014 – The Museum of Industry, Baltimore

February 28, 2014 – Illustration work of José Guadalupe Posada at the Library of Congress

February 28, 2014 – The letterpress books of Ken Campbell at the Library of Congress

January 30, 2014 – Sarah Denslow, “A discussion of Early Toy and Movable Books” at the Library of Congress, Rosenwald Room

2013

April 18, 2013 – A visit to the Library of the National Gallery of Art to look at books related to the teaching or explanation of perspective drawing.