Academic book art programs are important contributors to the study of historical printing methods. Founded ninety years ago, the Mills College Book Art Program has taken the lead in developing academic programming that became the model for other institutions. Renowned for developing undergraduate and MFA courses of study and hosting prominent practitioners and scholars in the field, Mills has been central to the establishment of this now respected area of study.
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr has introduced thousands of people worldwide to the historic traditions of printing by sharing hands-on activities celebrating wood type and antique presses. Using these historic tools he has brought groups together to explore their aspirations utilizing the power of the press to print ideas and then distribute and display them in their communities as handmade posters. His remarkable work has helped build community while sharing the history of this essential technology.
Nadirah Mansour, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
“An Intellectual History of the 19th Century Transition from Arabic Manuscript to Arabic Print” seeks to determine what intellectual trends shaped Arabic print across the Arabic-speaking world, from which books were printed and why they were printed to the advent of the Arabic-language newspaper. Mansour’s multidisciplinary approach will bring together Middle Eastern-North African history and Islamic studies as well as different genres of Arabic thought, from journalism to Muslim devotional texts, in an attempt to build a history of early Arabic mass print. The Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship will be used to support a month-long trip to Rabat, Morocco, where Mansour will conduct research using the Rare Books Collection at Muhammad V University and the National Archives of Morocco.
The Press and Letterfoundry of Michael and Winfred Bixler houses one of the most extensive collections of English Monotype type and ornaments in North America. Michael and Winfred Bixler have been involved in fine printing since the late 1960s and have built a reputation on their unparalleled attention to style and detail in the composition of beautiful books. Their client list has included almost every notable fine press of the late twentieth century. Their generous spirit and active support of young designers and printers has had a remarkable impact and is evidenced in their ongoing association with the educational programs of Wells College among other institutions.
Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, has been a remarkable industry leader in this era of revolutionary change in the graphics industry. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities at several universities, and work providing professional assistance to industry and government, he has researched and authored important books on the dynamic changes in the worlds of type and printing. He has served as founding editor and publisher for at least eight professional journals and continues to write monthly in the graphic industry’s most prominent publications. He has spoken at almost every industry conference for decades. He is President of the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a renowned repository for archives of metal and phototype and home to an impressive stable of historic presses and typesetting equipment.
8Since it was founded by Kenneth J. Carpenter over thirty years ago, the Black Rock Press at the University of Nevada, Reno has been dedicated to the practice and teaching of the arts and crafts associated with the creation of finely printed books. The press now has a national reputation for its outstanding work and has become a living museum of traditional printing technology, housing a variety of cabinets Filled with metal type, and a number of historically significant printing presses. Its centerpiece, a gilded 1837 super-royal Columbian iron handpress, is one of the finest examples of a nineteenth century iron handpress to be found anywhere in the country There is a link from the site to a Quicktime movie of the Columbian Press in action.
The Minnesota Center for the book arts has been an exceptional advocate for the field of book arts for 35 years. MCBA’s facilities, programs, and community stimulates and guides conversations across the breadth of the materials and traditions of the book arts, and between the craft of printing and emerging conceptualizations of the book.
From its position as one of three anchors of Open Book, MCBA creates community as a physical space in a historic area of Minneapolis, in collaboration with The Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Editions. MCBA’s studio and classes are essential to passing on to new practitioners in the art of printing and related skills and by challenging traditional notions of the book. MCBA’s awards, fellowships, mentorships, residencies, classes, and exhibitions cultivate learning at all levels—from the best-known book artists to young children. MCBA is extraordinary in its ability to expose new audiences to the printing, papermaking, bookbinding, and craft. The center is embedded deeply in its local community, even while its exhibitions and artist programs influence the field internationally.
MCBA’s mission is “to lead the advancement of the book as an evolving art form.” Its lifelong learning approach enables practitioners and enthusiasts to take part in shaping the future of the book and to gain a deep appreciation for the traditional printing crafts. I would like to nominate the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts for the American Printing History Association’s 2019 Institutional Award, in recognition of its past and present leadership in the field of book arts, and for its substantial contributions to creating greater appreciation for traditional and emerging strengths of the field.
Rich is a former professor at West Virginia University, Morgantown and the author of “Origin of the American Point System for Printers’ Type Measurement”, the standard reference on that subject. It is clearly written, well-illustrated, and easily understood by the general reader. More recently, he wrote “Tolbert Lanston and the Monotype—The Origin of Digital Typesetting”, published by the University of Tampa Press. This very thorough history of the invention and development of this essential American typesetting system fills a gaping void in the history of machine composition, providing an in-depth look both into the rich history of the Philadelphia company that created the Monotype system, and even at some of the people who have made use of Monotype equipment in the 21st century. I cannot overstate the value and significance of this book. And don’t miss the appendices which contain wonderful extra detail.
As if two essential books are not enough, Richard L. Hopkins was the driving force behind the establishment of the American Typecasting Fellowship in 1978, as well as helping to ensure its continued existence through his regular publication of the ATF Newsletter—usually printed letterpress in whole, or in part. Richard (Rich to his friends, who are legion) edits this deluxe document, often writing the bulk of its contents. The ATF meets biannually and its members strive to keep alive the traditions of metal type and its manufacture. This organization is unique in the world, and it is the direct offspring of the ideas and inspiration of Richard L. Hopkins.
In concert with the ATF Rich opened up his home and foundry yearly to conduct weeklong sessions of hands-on instruction in the operation of typecasting machinery. His Monotype University provided essential training in the use of complex equipment and has been the springboard for a wide range of type-making wannabes. A new generation has found inspiration through this instruction.
In his own words, “My goal through writing, typecasting, and printing is the preservation of the equipment and the technology associated with letterpress printing and the making of printers’ metal type.” He has accomplished all of this and more. Richard L. Hopkins life’s work embodies everything that the American Printing History Association strives for, thus this nomination for this prestigious individual Laureate Award.
Richard Minsky obtained his first printing press at the age of 13 to replace rubber stamps he had been using. In 1968, he graduated cum laude in economics from Brooklyn College. Minsky was awarded a fellowship at Brown University, where he received his master’s degree in economics. He pursued a Ph.D. at The New School for Social Research, but left after two years to pursue bookbinding, art and music. He studied bookbinding in Providence, Rhode Island with master bookbinder Daniel Gibson Knowlton, whom he met at the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at Brown University. In 1974, Minsky founded the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan, the first organization of its kind in the United States dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the book as an art object while preserving traditional practices of the art of the book. In 1978, he was named a US/UK Bicentennial Fellow in Visual Art by the National Endowment for the Arts and the British Council. In 2004, Yale University Library acquired Minsky’s archive of published fine art editions and other works. The Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library at Yale University hosted an exhibition of 50 years of Minsky’s work from August to November 2010 in the book trades and related arts.
Wei Jin Darryl Lim is a professional graphic designer and emerging book historian from the Republic of Singapore. As a master’s student at the University of Reading, he studied typographic history from a non-Western, postcolonial perspective. His current doctoral research focuses on the transnational history of books, graphic design, visual communications, and print technologies. With degrees from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore and the University of Reading, UK, Lim has close to a decade of professional experience working as a graphic designer and more than two years of experience in teaching design, including as an adjunct lecturer for the storied and prestigious Glasgow School of Art. At present, he is earning his PhD in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication from the University of Reading under the supervision of professors Rob Banham and Fiona Ross. In addition to the 2019 Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship, Lim won the Ernest Hoch Award and the Design History Society’s student travel grant in 2018, as well as a Bibliographical Society grant in 2017. His project, “Constellations of Printing: Muslim-Malay Lithography in the Straits Settlements, Sumatra, and Riau Archipelago, 1848–1900,” is really among the first of its kind. The project will provide not just a survey, but also a rigorous material analysis of lithographed books from nineteenth century Muslim-Malay communities. The project is interdisciplinary, combining research in printing and typographic history within the broader sociopolitical context of maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago.