A book might join the collection for a number of reasons, you can stumble across it in a cozy shop, seek out a particular author or illustrator, subscribe to a particular press, read a glowing review in a fine press journal, or heed the recommendation of a trusted friend with similar taste. For me, most of the best discoveries are the latter. Flowers is one such book.
Pentagram Press had previously come to my attention when reading The Yellow Barn Press’ John DePol: A Celebration of His Work By Many Hands. (That excellent book is a compilation of tributes to John DePol by various printers who have used his wood engravings in their own work and Pentagram Press was one of the many presses contributing to the celebration, accompanied by more familiar names like the Allen Press and Barbarian Press). The press was founded in Wisconsin in 1974 by poet Michael Tarachow as a publishing outlet for his own poetry and has since published over 75 books any many broadsides as well.
Not long ago a friend introduced me to his copy of Flowers, sewn in wrappers of handmade paper from the Richard de Bas mill in Auvergne, France — a beautiful rough paper made with actual dried flowers and leaves mixed in — and published by none other than Pentagram Press. It’s not a name one forgets easily. I was smitten with the book and ordered the nicest example I could find, which arrived from Bromer Booksellers shortly thereafter. (As an aside, Bromer is an excellent source for rare books and can be trusted to properly describe its stock and pack it well.) On arrival I was pleased to see that my copy has a beautiful “AUVERGNE A LA MAIN” watermark on the back cover.
The text is comprised of several short poems — all featuring flowers — by Philip Gallo, American poet and printer at The Hermetic Press in Minnesota. The title page contains the pleasant verse, “I am the man, were you to visit, you would find fresh flowers.” Beautiful.
Michael Tarachow designed and printed Flowers in 1988. The paper is a handmade Japanese Hosho paper, velvety smooth and soft to the touch, contrasting with the toothy, starchy texture of the paper wrappers. The type is Weiss, handset, and the bite in the soft paper is rather deep, likely why the pages use a Japanese-fold style with unopened outer page edges, which both prevents printing on both sides of a sheet and lends more structure to the whole than if the pages were not doubled. The endpapers are black Ingres and match the black threads used to sew the book’s Japanese-style stab binding that the prospectus refers to as a “modified Japanese binding.” I find Japanese stab bindings incredibly beautiful but frustrating in function as the technique results in a tight binding that prevents the book from opening easily for reading, at least in all the cases I’ve experienced. If I had my way, all bindings would be relaxed enough for the book to lay open on a table without having to be held down to keep it from springing shut. It’s almost as if those books don’t want to be read, they fight so hard to close back up tight.
In lieu of traditional illustrations, Flowers uses Bradley Combination Ornaments (designed in 1952 by Will H. Bradley for the American Type Founders) arranged as flowers and printed in green, blue, and black colors. The same ornaments form a border around the title on the book’s spine. Encountering the Bradley Ornaments made quite the impact on me and I’ve been quite taken with them ever since but that is a story for another article.
All in all, Flowers is a wonderful discovery, even if I must hold it open constantly with two hands (and since I get to feel the lovely paper and wraps while grasping it, the tight binding is less of a frustration than it could be). Thanks be to bookish friends!
EDITION DETAILS:
Author: Philip Gallo
Illustrator: Michael Tarachow
Illustrations: Designs made with Bradley Combination Ornament
Printer: Michael Tarachow
Binder: Michael Tarachow
Paper: Hosho, handmade, uncut Japanese fold style
Type: Weiss, handset. (Weiss bold, in blue, for poem titles)
Limitation: 149 copies
States: One. Wrappers of handmade Richard de Bas paper, sewn in Japanese stab style.
Signed: By the poet.
Publication date: 1988
Publication price: $47.50
