Monday, June 23, 2014

Tiny chapbooks

In 2003, Lange was commissioned by type designer Jill Bell to print a small chapbook for presentation at TypeTechnica. Designed by Bell, Paradox uses her typefaces Adobe Bruno, Adobe Bruno Bold, and ITC Clover.

Cover of Curtiss Flannel printed in two colors. Text paper Frankfurt White mouldmade. 4-5/16 by 5-7/16 inches. 8 pages. 250 signed and numbered copies. 

The day before Jill was off to Heidelberg, Germany for her keynote presentation I had finished the printing and folding and asked her how she was going to bind the chapbook. She thought she'd grab a stapler somewhere. When she arrived in the morning to pick up the packages the chapbooks were all hand sewn. Long night. She was very appreciative. At the presentation Hermann Zapf caught her eye, held up the book, pointed at the sewn knot and gave her the thumbs up sign!

Available for purchase from The Bieler Press for $45.


Sex Education by Julie Becker, published in 1983, is a chapbook version of the very first publication issued under The Bieler Press imprint, a humorous broadside issued in 1975

The chapbook measures 4.5 by 7.25 inches but when opened the inner single sheet of Frankfurt White paper, containing the entirety if the poem spread out in six panels of a concertina fold, measures 26 inches long! The covers were issued in either pink or blue. Naturally!

I was reading through a recent catalogue by Nicholas Pounder, Rare Books (Australia), in which I was pleased to see the item described as “beautifully designed: both majestic and clever.” Intrigued, and looking through the physical inventory I discovered I had a few more than my regular stash. These are priced at $75.