Love to share some with you. Will contact again when I get home this evening and see what we can do. Best wishes. Jilly

Hi, Marie– thanks so much for your good wishes! You have quite an amazing story yourself! (I just blog-stalked you because I was curious where you are located :D) I didn’t study with your teacher–I worked with Steve Miller at Alabama and Ken Botnick at Wash U. Can we chat over real email about this type that you need a home for?

Thanks for getting in touch–it would be lovely to collaborate someday, if you find yourself with a piece of writing you’d like to make into a broadside. 😉 Great to connect with you and see your work! Look me up if you ever head down south–I’m starting to teach more workshops now and it would be wonderful to have you join us!

Any chance you studied with Eliot Offner at Smith? That’s where I learned letterpress and pursued for many years after before having to give away all my handpresses (never lucky enough for a Vandercook either!)I still have a full printers case if you ever want some type – would love it to go to a good home! Wish I could study with you some day. Will continue to follow your work and I wish you much happiness and success in keeping this lovely craft alive for the next generation of bibliophiles and letterpress aficionados!

Marie

Hi, Jilly- thanks so much for the kind words. I’m so glad that you enjoyed this piece. It warms my heart to hear folks like you talk about the “heart and love” that comes with something made by hand–or handwritten. I think there are more people like us out in the world who appreciate that than we realize, and I, for one, need that reminder now and again. 🙂 I’m lucky to have family and friends who treasured things someone made for them by hand (even when I was a kid). I think I do what I do as a direct result of that. I’d love to see your work!

Thank you so much for this beautifully written piece. It embodies everything I think and feel about writing. I buy notebooks of recycled paper that are sewn together or tied with ribbon or yarn and I copy my poems into them by hand. Like you I am often saddened by the impersonal way modern books come together and feel the artistry has gone out of creative writing. The digital age is a boon to all writers even if it is just to communicate with one another like this. But it does take the heart and love out of the gift of writing which is so very precious. I loved this piece. It truly moved me. Thank you again
Jilly Henderson-Long

Tina, Thanks so much for the kind words! I got away from letterpress for a few years, and then boomeranged right back. 🙂 Maybe you’ll get back to a press, too! (The librarian/artist combo seems to be a breeding ground for genius!) Good eye–that is a Vandercook I’m using in the photo. Sadly not mine, though. Still hoping to find one someday. To see my work and recent happenings, follow the links to my website/facebook/twitter at the end of this article–I’d love to keep in touch with you!

I love book arts and letterpress and handmade paper and binding! I was a book artist for many years before I became a librarian (which I also love)!

It is so heartwarming to see your photos and the Vandercook Press (?). I had a little clamshell press, and Hollander beater for years, but gave them alway (along with my paper press) as I never have the time anymore. Please make sure to send links to your work. Much artistic affection,

Tina

Hi, Alison- I think you’re right. Artists books open a whole realm of possibility for sensory experiences–I think it would be really interesting to pursue making books that hold enough texture and relief in the pages to tell a narrative though those materials, and not through words at all. You may have given me an idea for my next project…! This raises a great question about storytelling: how can we tell a story without relying solely on written language?