Some Fifteen Books Carefully Designed

Transcription

1 Some Fifteen Books Carefully Designed

2 Some Fifteen Books Carefully Designed Michael Russem Book Design

3 A Note on Careful Design A good designer does what he should do, not what he wants to do. Although there are many solutions to the problem of designing any one book, the better solutions the solutions that are best for the reader are often the simplest, or appear to be the simplest. Ironically, the careful and thoughtful work of the designer should hardly appear at all to the casual reader, lest he be distracted from the content at hand. The temptation to use typographic trickery can be overwhelming, but the careful designer must determine what is truly required to best communicate the specific and coherent ideas of an author or artist. Only when these ideas are conveyed no matter how dazzling the typography, delicious the paper, or precious the binding can a book be truly beautiful. However, while trying to convey those aforementioned specific and coherent ideas, why not letterspace the small caps, insert ligatures and oldstyle Wgures, and make certain everything makes typographic sense? That s what we do even if you don t want to pay for it. We just can t help ourselves. The New City A poem by MacLean Gander. Photographs by JeVerson Hayman. Edited and with an introduction by John Wood. Steven Albahari and 21st Editions. 9¾ pages. Composed in 14/20 Walbaum and Walbaum Medium. Printed at Kat Ran Press. Platinum prints made by John Marcy, Florence, Massachusetts. Binding by Mark Tomlinson and Sarah Creighton, Easthampton, Massachusetts.

4 Sleep By Haruki Murakami. Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin and accompanied by etchings by John Gibson. Kat Ran Press. 7½ pages. Set in 12/16 Dante with Columna for display. Printed in two colors at Kat Ran Press. Color etchings printed by Peter Pettengill, Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Binding by Claudia Cohen, Seattle, Washington.

5 Flowers of Evil Poems by Charles Baudelaire. Translated from the French and with an introduction by John Wood. Photographs by Eikoh Hosoe. Published by Steven Albahari [21st Editions] pages. Set in 14/18 Walbaum. Printed in two colors at Kat Ran Press. Platinum prints made by Stan Klimek, Aguila, Arizona. Binding by Peter Geraty, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Sparta: Mark di Suvero An essay by Avis Berman. Fishers Island (privately printed). 6 9 inches. 8 pages. Set in 10.5/16 Gill Sans Light with display in Gill Sans Bold. Printed and bound via on-demand methods.

6 The Grolier Club: List of Publications A catalogue of ninety-four Grolier Club publications from 1956 to ½ 8½ inches. 24 pages. Composed in 11.5/14 Fournier with Optima Nova. Printed and bound via on-demand methods.

7 The Sonnets of Shakespeare Photographs by Flor Garduño. Edited and with an introduction by John Wood. Published by Steven Albahari [21st Editions]. 15¾ 15¾. 80 pages. Set in 12/18 Gill Sans Light with Gill Sans Bold for display. Printed at Kat Ran Press. Platinum prints made by John Marcy. Binding by Sarah Creighton and Mark Tomlinson, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Out of the Cellar: A Garland for Cantina With a frontispiece portrait by Ansel Adams and a letter from Bruce Rogers. By David P. Bourbeau. Smith College Libraries. 7½ 10⅝. 36 pages. Set in 16/19 Centaur and Arrighi. Printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress, Hadley, Massachusetts. OVset reproductions printed at Oxbow Press, Hatfield, Massachusetts. Binding by Barbara B. Blumenthal and David P. Bourbeau, Northampton, Massachusetts.

8 Designing the Mentoring Stamp An artist s commentary on theory, gesture, photography, composition, color, light, and the typeface Penumbra. By Lance Hidy. Kat Ran Press. 5⅞ 9 inches. 64 pages. Composed in 11.25/15 Dante with Penumbra Sans Semibold for display. Printed at The Stinehour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont. Binding by Acme Bookbinding, Charlestown, Massachusetts.

9 Sally Mann Poems and Photographs. By Sally Mann. Published by Steven Albahari [21st Editions] pages. Composed in 16/20 Bembo with display set in Bembo Italic. Printed in two colors at Kat Ran Press. Platinum prints were made by Stan Klimek. Binding and boxes by Sarah Creighton. The Double Escape Being an account by an unkown author of the schooner Fox during the War of Edited and illustrated by David Hodgdon. The Laureate Press. 8H pages. Composed in 11.5/17 Miller Text with Miller Display Italic. Printed and bound via on-demand methods.

10 Haiku Mind 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart. Edited by Patricia Donegan. Shambhala Publications. 5¼ 7½ inches. 256 pages. Composed in 11.75/15.25 Arno Pro with various optical weights for display.

11 The Maxims of Men Disclose Their Hearts Photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin. Edited by John Wood. Steven Albahari and 21st Editions. Two volumes and inches. 80 and 180 pages. Set in various sizes of Dante. Printed at Kat Ran Press and Studley Press, Dalton, Massachusetts. Platinum prints were made by John Marcy. Bindings by Peter Geraty and Kylin Lee.

12 A History of Printing in Andover, Massachusetts By Scott H. Paradise. With a preface and notes by the printer and a leaf from the fourth edition of Professor Moses Stuart s A Grammar of the Hebrew Language printed at Andover in The Kat Ran Ephemera Club. 5⅜ pages. Composed in 11/14 Bell. Printed in two colors and bound at Kat Ran Press, Florence, Massachusetts. Ezra Pound in His Time and Beyond The Influence of Ezra Pound on Twentieth-Century Poetry. A catalogue of an exhibition. By Jesse Rossa. University of Delaware Library pages. Composed in 10.5/15 ITC Bodoni Book with Futura Heavy for display. Printed and bound by Graphic Communications Center, University of Delaware, Newark.

13 The Shining Path A poem by Raúl Peschiera. Photographs by Brigitte Carnochan. Edited and with an introduction by John Wood. Published by Steven Albahari [21st Editions]. 13½ pages. Composed in 14/18 Fournier with Optima for display. Printed in two colors at Kat Ran Press. Silver gelatin prints made by Brigitte Carnochan. Binding by Mark Tomlinson.

14 A Note on Our Clients Since 1994 we have planned the typography of books, portfolios, catalogues, posters, and ephemera for 21st Editions, Fence Books, The Grolier Club, The Limited Editions Club, Oak Knoll Books, Robert Klein Gallery, Shambhala Publications, Smith College, the Society of Printers, Tuttle Publishing, the University of Delaware Libraries, and the Veatchs Arts of the Book. Our presses have been used for projects by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the William Eggleston Trust, Hudson Hills Press, Steven Kasher Gallery, Osiris Editions, and Verse Press/Wave Books. A Note on This Book 8½ 8½ inches. 16 pages. Set in 11/13.5 Walbaum with Gill Sans Bold. Cover printed at Kat Ran Press, Florence, Massachusetts. Michael Russem Book Design 28 Myrtle Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts usa info(at)katranpress.com

15 Michael Russem Book Design info(at)katranpress.com