Anthony Bourdain & The Balvenie head to San Francisco, California to meet with Andrew Hoyem, master typographer and printer of Arion Press.
" One of the last of its kind, Arion Press has only a handful of members on its staff, all fellow craftsmen dedicated to this age old process. Each works meticulously to create the books in multiple parts, from the typecasters, to the proofreaders, to the printers and the bookbinders. All of these hands build a work of art through a process that must be seen to be believed, and can only, truly, be described as magic."Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 8, 2016 10:42 AM
This way of doing, this attitude of dedication, leaves its imprint on more than paper, leaves its meaning beyond its words.
Posted by: Howard Nelson at February 8, 2016 1:16 PMAnyone with a spare copy of their Moby Dick gathering dust please feel free to sling it my way!
I've cast type, thrown it, and recycled it into the Hell pot. I've loaded the type, hand-fed the letter-press, run the offset press, cut the reams and mixed the inks, washed the rollers and run my finger inbetween the damper-roller and the plate cylinder. Digital typesetting used to be as inscrutable as the hole-punch scroll until WYSIWYG made everyone a typesetter.
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at February 8, 2016 6:15 PM"For Wales. Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?"
Likewise for Hipster Glenfiddich.
I was a proofreader at Storter Printing in Gainesville, FL. Each quarter we printed the University of Florida diplomas. Every name was typeset. That was tedious proofreading. But the worst was the Florida Entomological Journal. Now that was boring. Those guys count the hairs on the legs of bugs.
Sometimes I would walk through the press room. The big typesetting machines with the hot lead pots. The paper cutter that could cut a stack of paper 6 inches thick. The big, rolling presses shooting paper through faster than the eye could follow.
Posted by: Larry Geiger at February 9, 2016 5:46 AMOne big loss from the demise of the typesetting industry, is that I can't find used Linotype to use in alloying lead for casting bullets.
Used wheel weights are a great source of lead, but the pure lead is too soft for all but the mildest of loadings. More power only causes the too-soft lead to smear off inside of the barrel, a phenomenon called (duh) "leading".
Add about 10% to 20% linotype, and you can get bullets hard enough to handle lower-powered rifles, and most any handgun.
Funny, isn't it. How a rock's ripples in the pond hit spots ashore that ya never even knew to exist.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Larry, I know of Storter, as I worked with Hartley Press in Jax at one time. Also worked with a Master printer from Ohio, running a Heidelberg windmill press, also used an open arc-burner and a stop watch for offset plates. Almost cut off eight fingers on the old iron-blade cutter which had a worn-down edge on the safety. The benzene is still in my veins and the ink from the offset press is still in the scars from the Multi-lith 1600. :) I miss it.
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at February 9, 2016 2:22 PMShould be sub-titled "White men at work"
Posted by: Bill Jones at February 9, 2016 3:13 PMJoan, I owned a Model 5 and 14, cast thousands and thousands of lines, operated a C & P Oldstyle, Kluges, Windmills, and Miehle Verticals. Oh how I can relate to the cutter. We had a then state of the art Polar with all the safety features, programmed feed, and air table. Almost lost a hand at the wrist when the clamp came down 'cause the safety eye burned out. What is interesting is that I still run a 3 color web platen in my old age. If you know what a "Jumping Jack" is then you know the machine. They'll find me laying along side it some day.
Posted by: Dagny at February 9, 2016 7:59 PMOn quiet evenings, as a librarian, I would shelve books in the stacks, considering it the most soothing and deliciously tactile part of my work. I admit I was very slow through the art section, noting especially the older, tipped-in plates, so tempting to the undergraduates... How I loved being there!
Posted by: Diane Viewing at February 19, 2016 5:40 PM
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