#Cartiere Enrico Magnini

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It’s Fine Press Friday!

This week we bring you The Bottom of the Harbor, by the The New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell, with photos by by celebrated American photographer Berenice Abbott, printed by Wild Carrot Letterpress on a paper made at Cartiere Enrico Magnini, and published in 1991 by the Limited Editions Club in an edition of 250 copies signed by the author. The six stories that comprise the book were first published in the The New Yorker, and then first published as a collection by Little Brown in 1959. The collection has been recognized as Mitchell’s best and most “elegiac account of New York,” featuring his distinctive focus on the everyday underdog characters of New York City.

Berenice Abbott spent her career documenting New York City as it underwent massive changes, particularly in the 1920s and 30s when millions were immigrating to the United States through Ellis Island. Abbott’s and Mitchell’s works are complementary as they both focused on often overlooked places and people, emphasizing the importance and beauty of the small things.

The photographs are produced here in photogravure by American photogravure printmaker Jon Goodman. Photogravure allows a photographic image to be printed in intaglio. These images were produced using the original negatives taken by Abbott. The result is a rich velvety tonal image that is fully integrated into the paper though the extreme pressure used in the printing process.

Goodman’s photogravure plates were printed by Sara Krohn and Wingate Studio on handmade paper. The text was set by Michael and Winifred Bixler in Monotype Bell. Our copy is a gift from our friends Megan Holbrook and Eric Vogel.

View other posts on books published by The Limited Editions Club.

View more Fine Press Friday posts.

-- Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern

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Birthday Anniversary - Frank O’Hara, born March 27, 1926

Today is Frank O’Hara’s birthday so we thought we’d celebrate by sharing a collection of his work, Poems, published by the Limited Editions Club in 1988 featuring original lithographs by Willem de Kooning. 

O’Hara became famous as a poet in the New York School, an informal group of writers, artists, and musicians working in New York. His poetry is well known for its conversational or casual style and for capturing scenes of life in New York. Also an art critic and curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O’Hara was friends with many artists including Willem de Kooning. 

The poems featured here are titled “A Young Poet” and “America,” respectively. These images don’t give a sense of the full size of the book, which is 56cm tall (22 inches), and bound in soft black leather. The book was issued in a limited edition of 550 copies and is signed by the artist. 

“The text has been set in English Monotype Bodoni 135 by Julia Ferrari and Dan Carr at Golgonooza Letterfoundry and hand-composed by Arthur Larson at Horton Tank Graphics. The display type is Bauer Bodani. The text has been printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress. The paper was made at Cartiere Enrico Magnini. The mylars were transferred to lithographic plates at America Atelier by Benjamin Shiff and printed under his direction at Trestle Editions. The lithographs were printed on Japanese Kitakata. The prints were hand-torn and applied with intaglio presses to the text pages at Wingate Studio and Renaissance Press. The book was designed and edited by Benjamin Shiff"--Colophon