Alcuin Dinner in Toronto

We got a nice package in the mail this week from Stefan Rose, author of The House That Stands, a book which I designed for Thaddeus Holownia at Anchorage Press last year. It was one of the six books that I designed at Gaspereau Press that was recognized by the Alcuin Society in its annual Canadian book design competition. Stefan attended the Alcuin awards dinner at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto a few weeks ago and was kind enough to gather up our certificates and mail them to us. Never one to neglect to offer of a free meal in lean times, I asked wood engraver and long-time collaborator Wesley Bates to attend the dinner in my place. His report, in part, follows:

“It was a great honour to be your stand-in last night. You and Gaspereau were the darlings of the event. I got to stand at the front and receive four awards in a row for you. More that any other press. Bravo! As for me, well, I was warmed to the core in the spotlight that was cast on Gaspereau. I met people that I hadn’t seen in years. The meal was lovely. I had never been in the Arts & Letters Club before and Don McLeod of the Devil’s Artisan journal gave me a tour of the building. I had a little acceptance speech worked out but they didn’t give anyone the mic so I just smiled and waved at everyone for you. – Wes”

You can find out more about Wesley Bates by visiting his web site or dropping in to his gallery on the main drag in Clifford, Ontario. You can also read about his experiences as a wood engraver in his recently published book In Black & White, which was one of the books which was recognized for its design at the Alcuin dinner.

You can find out more about the Alcuin society by visiting their web site.

A.S.

Gaspereau Press Wins Six Alcuin Design Awards

Six books designed by Gaspereau Press co-owner Andrew Steeves have been recognized in the Alcuin Society’s 27th annual juried book-design competition.

Four of the six winning titles are trade books which were published by Gaspereau Press in 2008. The remaining two books were designed for Anchorage Press, a private press operated by photographer Thaddeus Holownia in Jolicure, New Brunswick.

The Alcuin Society was founded in 1965 and promotes the appreciation of fine book design in Canada. This year’s judges – Alan Stein, Frank Newfeld and E.A. Hobart (Zab) – examined 233 books published in Canada in 2008. A total of 32 awards were granted in eight categories: Children’s, Limited editions, Pictorial, Poetry, Prose fiction, Prose non-fiction, Prose non-fiction illustrated and Reference. The winning books will be exhibited internationally at the Frankfurt, Leipzig and Tokyo book fairs, and at locations across Canada.


SECOND PRIZE - PROSE NON-FICTION
Wisdom & Metaphor by Jan Zwicky

This is a redesigned hardcover edition of Zwicky’s award-winning book of philosophy. The original version also won an Alcuin award for design in 2003. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.



SECOND PRIZE - POETRY
The Muskwa Assemblage by Don McKay

This letterpress-printed poetry book is the first book which employs a jacket paper handmade by Gary Dunfield at Gaspereau Press. Designed and handprinted by Andrew Steeves at Gaspereau Press.



SECOND PRIZE - PROSE FICTION
That Tune Clutches My Heart by Paul Headrick

Set in the 1940s, this short novel follows one girl’s high school experience as recorded in the pages of her personal journal. The jacket features an original illustration by Wesley Bates. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.



THIRD PRIZE - PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
In Black & White by Wesley Bates

This is a luxuriously illustrated memoir by one of North America’s foremost wood engravers. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.

Andrew's Printshop Review 2

Out in the printshop and bindery, we were mostly working on commercial jobs this week. One of our more interesting clients is the Blomidon Naturalists Society. We design and print their quarterly newsletter, which includes reports on all sorts of local birds, animals and plants as well as on the society’s various meetings and field trips. I’ve tried to to bring an early 20th century Curwen Press look to the publication, complete with original oak-leaf ornaments designed by Wolfville calligrapher Jack McMaster. This picture shows a signature from the newsletter moving through the Smyth sewing machine in preparation for perfect binding.















When Gary wasn’t busy casebinding more copies of Wesley Bates’ In Black & White, filling book orders or tinkering with grumpy sewing machines and folders, he found some time to carry out a few more paper-making experiments. We’re developing a method of making sheets which allows us to control the exact amount of pulp that goes into each sheet. Last night Gary completely turned our working theory on its head and, with some hastily-built test gear, pulled some very good sheets.















And me? With the spring selling season bearing down upon us, I’ve mostly been chained to my desk this week, typesetting and editing. Our spring catalogue is now out to film and headed to press. This year’s catalogue features a detail from an early wood engraving by Wesley Bates which we also used on this year’s edition of the Gaspereau T-shirt and plan to silk screen on some boxes for a special US marketing campaign we’re undertaking next month.















I did manage to escape the computer for a few mornings this week, and completed the printing of the coloured drop capitals on the letterpress edition of Thoreau’s Walking. Gary and I have decided to build pine boxes to house the 26 lettered copies of the deluxe edition of this book, in homage to the pine box which Thoreau is said to have built to house his notebooks and journals. You can find more information about this book on our website.

Andrew's Printshop Review

Things are getting busy in the printshop again after a bit of a break over the Christmas holiday. As usual, there are many different projects at many different stages, but my main focus at the moment is on designing the guts of new poetry books by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen and Carmine Starnino, and the jacket for Robert Bringhurst’s Selected Poems. Kate and I are also trying to get the spring catalogue to press – which is several weeks overdue on my account. I’ve been distracted with both commercial design jobs and the production of two letterpress books.

















This week I started to print the green ‘spot’ colour on our forthcoming letterpress book, Walking, an essay by Henry David Thoreau. The printing of the text is complete, and after I print all the drop capitals and such I’ll be ready to print Wesley Bate’s three engravings from the blocks. The paper is a wonderful German sheet called Biblio. The green is PMS 443, a selection inspired by Rockwell Kent.

















Speaking of letterpress books, the printing of Don McKay’s The Muskwa Assemblage is complete, but we’re still trying to find time to make the paper for the jacket. More accurately, as I told Don, we’re still trying to find time to make the equipment we need to make the paper for his jackets. I’ll include some pictures of our papermaking process in a forthcoming post. In the meantime, Don was good enough to send us some cotton fibre to help make the paper for his book jackets – an old pair of his own blue jeans.