iowa book arts caucus
First in the nation, in a strange way, the
UICB. Now at this scrolling news watch.
university of book arts
The
University of the Arts London has kindly linked FotB to its select web resources for the book arts.
the failure of fine printing
A recent
essay discounts fine printing because it does not induce, and frequently distracts from, efficient reading. But any innocuous literary and graphic content can be compensated by graceful physical qualities and elegant production skills. The materialities of the book can be read as well and can produce very rewarding stories and adventures.
a well observed bad opening
But when particular goals of graceful physical qualities and elegant production skills are unachieved in fine printing, they are unachieved exactly in the context in which these qualities can comprise the content. For example a crippled structural action is rather typical of fine press books; the cover falls away while the text pages remain wedged closed. Or the text block is raggy with deckle edges when trimmed edges would better reveal the drape and spread of the opening, or, there is too much margin whiteness for the little blackness of the printing. Such stilted material features make the fine press book haptically unreadable. This is much more serious than any skimmed poetry.