Our first Chester River Press publication was The Chesapeake Voyages of Capt. John Smith. This book was the brainchild of Jim Dissette. The year 2007 was the 400th anniversary of the 1607 Jamestown, Virginia settlement. In 1608 John Smith set off in a small boat with a crew of fourteen to explore the Chesapeake Bay. He made two voyages around the bay, recorded in his Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, published in 1624. His journal of the voyages is a fascinating account of exploration, a real-life adventure story.
We had decided to venture into the fine letterpress printing world, and we were searching for an appropriate topic to launch our ship. Jim's idea was the perfect subject: timely, of local interest, and exciting. The plan was to reproduce Capt. Smith's journal of the two voyages, seek a noteworthy scholar to write a foreword for the book, and entice an artist to illustrate the journal. Our first choice to write a foreword was Adam Goodheart, Director of the Starr Center for the American Experience at Washington College in Chestertown. Our choice for an artist was Marc Castelli, renowned maritime artist, and a resident of Chestertown. We were aiming high, especially for a fledgling press. To our amazement and delight, they both enthusiastically agreed to participate.
So we set to work, obtaining permissions to reproduce maps, deciding on paper and binding, editing the journal slightly to smooth out the presentation, writing an introduction and synopsis of the voyages, working with Marc to select drawings, captioning the drawings, and nudging things along to completion. Jim Dissette designed the book and printed it hand letterpress with Chad Pastotnik of Deep Wood Press. Kathleen Jones provided expert editing, and there is no better editor on the planet. We limited the edition to 100 copies, in slipcases, with two maps, six drawings, and quarter-bound in blue goatskin leather and Japanese silk/rayon. We published in November, 2007.
What a beginning. We sold our last copy a month ago. Practically unheard of for a publication of this sort, and certainly an auspicious launch. We still receive requests for copies regularly.
So Chester River Press was born, and we are certainly savvy enough to realize that this initial success is not the norm in fine press publishing. We were biting our nails all through the project, and will continue to do so throughout our new projects. But to create a beautiful volume so obviously attractive to the public was immensely satisfying.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Old Books
Our bookshop customers are always interested in seeing 'the oldest book in the shop'. For a while the oldest for us was a German Bible printed in 1540. We sold it a few months ago, but it was a spectacular example of 16th century craftsmanship. Folio sized, with original hand tooled binding, metal clasps, black letter printing, marginal notes (which were uncommon) and about four inches thick. It was in superb condition for a 440 year old book, perfectly readable and still able to be opened and closed with ease. It was quite an attraction here; people would come in and ask to see the Bible.
Today our oldest books are from the 17th century. One is a very curious volume titled Theologia Moralis Expurgata, by Cassianus, 1684, which is a book that was banned by the Church for heresy, and which still appears on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. It is bound in vellum, very thick, in nice condition, printed and bound in Venice. I'll need to brush up on my Latin to decipher all of the heresies it contains! Another is Thucydides and Xenophon L'histoire de la Guerre du Peloponese, obviously in French, Paris, 1662, also vellum, in very nice condition for its age.
The intriguing thing about these books, aside from the impressive printing and binding, is the speculation about where they have been, who owned them, who read them, touched and held them, and for what purpose. Someone famous or infamous in history? A monk in a lonely library, a member of the Inquisition perhaps, a scholar researching history 400 years ago, a nobleman with an impressive library with rarely opened books? Most often these facts remain unknown, and yet there is a certain connection with the distant past that one feels when holding and thumbing through these books, a connection with a time, place, and persons we can only speculate about. The books have survived, to intrigue us, and with them survives the legacy of unknown printers, binders, authors, scholars, clerics, statesmen, princes and thieves. Did they dare imagine that such volumes would survive so long?
It's obvious we are entrusted with much more than caring for old books. We are more importantly the caretakers of the human inquisitiveness and achievement that created these magnificent volumes, conserved them throughout the turbulent centuries, and finally placed them so very gently in our hands.
Today our oldest books are from the 17th century. One is a very curious volume titled Theologia Moralis Expurgata, by Cassianus, 1684, which is a book that was banned by the Church for heresy, and which still appears on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. It is bound in vellum, very thick, in nice condition, printed and bound in Venice. I'll need to brush up on my Latin to decipher all of the heresies it contains! Another is Thucydides and Xenophon L'histoire de la Guerre du Peloponese, obviously in French, Paris, 1662, also vellum, in very nice condition for its age.
The intriguing thing about these books, aside from the impressive printing and binding, is the speculation about where they have been, who owned them, who read them, touched and held them, and for what purpose. Someone famous or infamous in history? A monk in a lonely library, a member of the Inquisition perhaps, a scholar researching history 400 years ago, a nobleman with an impressive library with rarely opened books? Most often these facts remain unknown, and yet there is a certain connection with the distant past that one feels when holding and thumbing through these books, a connection with a time, place, and persons we can only speculate about. The books have survived, to intrigue us, and with them survives the legacy of unknown printers, binders, authors, scholars, clerics, statesmen, princes and thieves. Did they dare imagine that such volumes would survive so long?
It's obvious we are entrusted with much more than caring for old books. We are more importantly the caretakers of the human inquisitiveness and achievement that created these magnificent volumes, conserved them throughout the turbulent centuries, and finally placed them so very gently in our hands.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Beginnings
By way of introduction, my name is Gerard Cataldo, I'm in the book business, rare book dealer, small publisher, general bibliophile of sorts. So I will be writing primarily about those things, but I'll be rambling about other interests from time to time as well, so bear with me, if you want to.
Our bookshop is a small antiquarian shop, the Chestertown Old Book Co., in Chestertown, Maryland, on the 'Eastern Shore'. We deal in very rare and not-so-rare books. Not exactly something for everyone, but a nice selection nonetheless. Recently we formed a small press, Chester River Press, specializing in fine, limited edition letterpress books. Our first publishing project was a letterpress limited edition of The Chesapeake Voyages of Capt. John Smith. We also publish other types of books of the 'offset' printing variety, but I'll get into that later. Of course the rare and used book business today is far from what it used to be many years ago. We've been in the so called 'open shop' business for just a few years, but as you can find out with a little research, there are significantly fewer used book shops in existence today than, say, 20 or 30 years ago. There are many reasons for that and I'm sure you are well aware of them. Suffice it to say that we were taking a chance opening the shop in the times we find ourselves in.
But it's very nice to be surrounded by fine literature, history, etc. some in exquisite old bindings, many very rare, most very intriguing. They seem to take on a life of their own. We treat them kindly, no stacks of dusty old books in nooks and crannies, all arranged fairly neatly and cared for, so we like to think we have 'happy books'. If you've been in some used bookstores that are like old catacombs full of volumes leaning on volumes, then you will understand the difference. Of course I've found some wonderful 'gems' in those caverns, but I really think the books that live there, year after year, can't be very happy. I like happy books.
We have some interesting publishing projects underway, most notably our letterpress limited illustrated edition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. We are also planning a two volume Iliad and Odyssey, limited and illustrated, as well as some 'reprints' of offset books. I'll take some time to explain our publishing ventures, past and present, in a future entry.
I want to say that without my two partners, William Frank and James Dissette, none of these things would be happening. Bill is a true classical scholar, who understands and devours the rare texts we deal with, and Jim is an extremely gifted letterpress book designer and printer, and a published poet in his own right. We are all very fortunate to have a wonderful affiliation with Chad Pastotnik of Deep Wood Press in Mancelona, Michigan, who has worked with us on our letterpress books, and with Kathleen Jones, editor extraordinaire, who has worked tirelessly on our projects.
Our bookshop is a small antiquarian shop, the Chestertown Old Book Co., in Chestertown, Maryland, on the 'Eastern Shore'. We deal in very rare and not-so-rare books. Not exactly something for everyone, but a nice selection nonetheless. Recently we formed a small press, Chester River Press, specializing in fine, limited edition letterpress books. Our first publishing project was a letterpress limited edition of The Chesapeake Voyages of Capt. John Smith. We also publish other types of books of the 'offset' printing variety, but I'll get into that later. Of course the rare and used book business today is far from what it used to be many years ago. We've been in the so called 'open shop' business for just a few years, but as you can find out with a little research, there are significantly fewer used book shops in existence today than, say, 20 or 30 years ago. There are many reasons for that and I'm sure you are well aware of them. Suffice it to say that we were taking a chance opening the shop in the times we find ourselves in.
But it's very nice to be surrounded by fine literature, history, etc. some in exquisite old bindings, many very rare, most very intriguing. They seem to take on a life of their own. We treat them kindly, no stacks of dusty old books in nooks and crannies, all arranged fairly neatly and cared for, so we like to think we have 'happy books'. If you've been in some used bookstores that are like old catacombs full of volumes leaning on volumes, then you will understand the difference. Of course I've found some wonderful 'gems' in those caverns, but I really think the books that live there, year after year, can't be very happy. I like happy books.
We have some interesting publishing projects underway, most notably our letterpress limited illustrated edition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. We are also planning a two volume Iliad and Odyssey, limited and illustrated, as well as some 'reprints' of offset books. I'll take some time to explain our publishing ventures, past and present, in a future entry.
I want to say that without my two partners, William Frank and James Dissette, none of these things would be happening. Bill is a true classical scholar, who understands and devours the rare texts we deal with, and Jim is an extremely gifted letterpress book designer and printer, and a published poet in his own right. We are all very fortunate to have a wonderful affiliation with Chad Pastotnik of Deep Wood Press in Mancelona, Michigan, who has worked with us on our letterpress books, and with Kathleen Jones, editor extraordinaire, who has worked tirelessly on our projects.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)