Compiled and with an introduction by John & Patrick Randle. Edition of 140. Edition A, numbered 1 - 60, 20 x 15" in buckram and paper-covered boards with leather spine label. Matching portfolio with suite of posters. Both laid in full buckram dropback box with gold-blocked leather spine label. 35 posters, including some of the Press’ rare pochoir posters, and accompanied by a portfolio of 10 other (unfolded) posters.
"Whittington posters are produced as a distraction from more important projects, usually in small editions of 100 or 200 copies, and given away or sold on our open days, but have nevertheless become an important part of the Press’ output in helping to spread the message about its activities. By their nature they are occasional and ephemeral, and the only time they will ever come together is in a collection such as this."
Whittington Press: "In 1995 the Press published A Book of Posters from the Whittington Press, which contained (in the A edition) thirty-five of our posters printed between 1974 and 1995, in the same types and on the same papers as the originals – indeed some of them were from the original printings, as will be a few in this new collection.
"At that time, in 1995, the Press had printed some 100 posters, and in the eighteen years since then another 150 have been added to the total, and the thirty-five chosen here show off a great variety of typefaces on an equally esoteric variety of papers from England (some over a century old), France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Japan and Korea. They include illustrations from linocuts, wood-engravings, and in the special copies, pochoir, among a dazzling array of the Press’ extensive collection of founts.
"Also included in the collection are posters by Tom Mayo and Patrick Randle, which will add a more radical note to our normal, more predictable, fare. An article describing the background and development of the Press’ posters appeared in Parenthesis 20 (Spring 2011)."
Introduction: "Posters offer the printer a unique opportunity to change the tune and tone of his work at a whim. Unencumbered by the baggage of even inking, consistent margins and precisely backed up pages, the poster printer is a free spirit who can mix types, papers, and illustration with 'careless abandon', as Hilary Peples would have it.
"The Whittington Press has a rare and extensive range of types; which began in 1971 with Caslon and Bell, ... Our acquisitions of the Oxford University Press' monotype collection in 1986 gave us one of the largest collections of diecases anywhere, and included such gems as Bruce Rogers' Bible Centaur ...
"Paper is the vital, silent, third dimension of the letterpress printer's repertoire ... The Press has always been on the lookout for unusual papers ... Our most exciting acquisition was the 20,000 sheets of hand-made from Oxford University Press, rediscovered when their paper warehouse moved out of the Clarendon Press in 1985...
"The Press has long had a particular interest in wood-engraving ... It is this heady mix of type, paper and illustration - as well as text which is the glue that holds the three elements together - that makes the printing of posters such a relaxation from the discipline of bookwork."
Donated by Vamp & Tramp Booksellers, Birmingham, AL.
