Ninety from the Nineties Showcases a Decade of The New York Public Library’s Contemporary Rare Books Acquisitions
 
Julie Chen, Bon Bon Mots: A Fine Assortment of Books. Berkeley, Calif.: Flying Fish Press, 1998. NYPL Rare Books Division. Reproduced courtesy of Julie Chen. Ms. Chen designed and made the five miniature books and the box, which resembles a box of chocolates. Other images.
New York, NY, November 4, 2003 -- The European tradition of the printed book began with Johann Gutenberg in 1455. With the invention of movable metal type, European printers were able to put the words of a few into the hands of many. For the next five centuries, “letterpress” printing dominated book publishing, until quicker, less costly techniques emerged. Despite these many innovations, a rich tradition of letterpress printing continues today in an attempt to recapture the beauty and craftsmanship of books and manuscripts of an earlier age. Beginning November 7, 2003 and running through May 28, 2004, The New York Public Library will present Ninety from the Nineties: A Decade of Printing, an exhibition highlighting a selection of 90 contemporary letterpress books printed over the past decade and acquired by The New York Public Library’s Rare Books Division. Ninety from the Nineties: A Decade of Printing will be on view in the third floor Edna Barnes Salomon Room in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Admission is free.
 
Ninety from the Nineties features exquisite books, pamphlets, broadsides, and printed ephemera from printers at work in the Americas, Great Britain, and continental Europe. The items on view include: a miniature book and cast paper sculpture presentation by Robbin Ami Silverberg and Louise McCagg that allows the reader to literally pull thoughts from the “mind” of the author; Walter Hamady’s book printed on handmade Shadwell paper containing fibers from shirts and jeans; and Sally Green’s collection of Pu Lin’s poetry printed on a 1920 Chandler & Price treadle-operated platen press in her shop on an island off the coast of Washington State where she and her partner, binder Sam Green, work entirely without electricity. The exhibition continues a tradition that began in 1968 with Sixty from the Sixties: An Exhibition of Distinctive Editions and has continued in successive decades. The pieces in the exhibition are drawn principally from the collections of the Rare Books Division of The New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library, with complementary items from the George Arents Collection, the Spencer Collection, the General Research Division, and four printing workshops.
 
Ninety from the Nineties is divided into sections  – Binding, Paper, Type, Illustration, Inspiration – reflecting the ways in which readers experience a printed book, from the outside in, and the materials are arranged to display their most remarkable features. Many of the texts are printed using specially selected and designed printing types (often set by hand), on handmade papers, accompanied by original illustrations, and housed in handmade bookbindings. Some are also displayed with complementary materials that provided the craftsmen and artists with inspiration for the creation of a new book.
 
“In the creation of a book, there are three components – text, illustrations, and the construction of the book itself,” explains Virginia Bartow, Curator of the George Arents Collection and the organizer of Ninety from the Nineties. “The exhibition will show how those components come together to form a tactile expression of the written word.”
 
The opening section of the exhibition showcases innovative bindings and book structures. In a 1998 edition of Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (Sherwin Beach Press), binder Trisha Hammer created the bindings that are housed in a box that resembles a traveling case covered in black-and-white tweed. Twenty pages of illustrations by Heather McAdams were made in 1995 as the artist followed Twain’s itinerary. Another item, a collection of Julie Chen’s witty existential observations, Bon Bon Mots (Flying Fish Press, 1998), offers five miniature books resembling pieces of candy bound in brightly colored leather and resting in a satin-lined candy box. indigo som’s Howards & Hoovers: A Sample Book of Chinese American Male Names (bitchy buddha press, 1994), is held together with a screw-post so that the structure resembles a paint manufacturer’s fan deck.
 
The choice of paper and type are integral to the way a bookmaker expresses ideas. The color, weight, and texture of paper, the fibers from which it is composed, the smoothness of the printing surface, how the sheet accepts the ink, and what typeface is selected are explored in the next sections. In Song of Changes (Basle Paper Mill, 1996) Markus Müller adapted graphic designs by typographer Adrian Frutiger, turning them into decorative watermarks on sheets of handmade paper. In Poetry Through Typography (Kelly/Winterton Press, 1993), prominent international typographers demonstrate the effect of paper selection, typography, and layout on the way we read poetry.
 
The final sections of Ninety from the Nineties focus on illustration and inspiration. The items on view include those with unique illustrations and those created in multiples. Examples are Petrarch’s Phisicke Against Fortune (Foolscap, 1993), in which Lawrence Van Velzer and Peggy Gotthold printed photo engravings made from 16th-century woodcuts, and 36 Drawings (Grenfell Press, 1994), on which Leslie Miller worked with artist Sarah Peter to design this journal of desserts from her around-the-world tour. The creation of a printed book is often inspired by the works of authors or artists, or by artistic collaborations among a writer, artist, and designer. In David Jackson, Scenes from His Life (Nadja Press, 1994), Mr. Jackson’s drawings are reproduced in color and tipped onto facing pages to accompany the text in an autobiographical collaboration with poet James Merrill. And finally, in Notebook Used Along the New Jersey Coast, September & October 1883 (Caliban Press, 1992), Mark McMurray printed the complete text of a Walt Whitman notebook, adding illustrations and the contemporary journal entries of Whitman’s travel companion John Burroughs.  Mr. McMurray’s book is shown alongside the original manuscript by Whitman.
 
 
Support for The New York Public Library's Exhibitions Program has been provided by Pinewood Foundation and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.
 
Ninety from the Nineties: A Decade of Printing will be on view from November 7, 2003 through May 28, 2004 at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room. Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Sundays and Mondays and national holidays. Admission is free. For more information about exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212.869.8089 or visit the Library’s website at www.nypl.org.

Available images.

Contact: Jennifer Bertrand, 212-704-8600.

 

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