Newsletter

Dear Friend,

November 2011

Greetings and welcome to the newsletter from Arion Press, the Grabhorn Institute, and M & H Type.

New Translation of Sappho with artist Julie Mehretu published in November

Artist Julie Mehretu has collaborated with Arion Press to create her first artist book and one of Arion Press’s most beautiful and ambitious publications.  In Poetry of Sappho, twenty prints by Mehretu alternate with pages of poetry in Greek and in English. Four additional prints are published in portfolio. The new English translations were specially commissioned for this edition from poet John Daley and classicist Page duBois. The prints and book can be viewed online and in the Arion gallery. The publication will be launched in New York at the Park Avenue Armory during the IFPDA Print Fair, November 2 through 7.

Arion at New York Armory and Basel/Miami Print Fairs

Arion Press will exhibit at the International Fine Print Dealers fair November 2 to 7 at the New York Park Avenue Armory at East 66th Street: Wednesday evening private opening; then noon to 8:00 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and Sunday closing at 6:00 p.m. Also exhibiting December 1 to 4 at IFPDA INK Miami during Basel/Miami at the Suites of the Dorchester. During the fairs, use mobile number 415-608-3743. On view will be work by Mehretu, Tom Holland, William T. Wiley, Kiki Smith, R.B. Kitaj and photographers Stephen Shore and Laurie Simmons.

Playwright Edward Albee Entertains Arion Audience in September

The legendary Edward Albee displayed his own acting flair when he took the floor at the Press last month. The rousing launch party for the Arion edition of his A Delicate Balance showed the 83-year old playwright in fine form. Albee joked with old friends Tom Holland, who illustrated the book, and Paul Templeton, the project's instigator. He even had something nice to say about the critic, David Littlejohn, who wrote the introduction for the 1967 classic. On hand were Arion artists William Hamilton, William T. Wiley, and Stan Washburn, dealer John Berggruen, and supporters of Berkeley's Aurora Theater, where the play opened its 20th anniversary season. The evening followed Aurora director Joy Carlin's performance in an adaptation from the Shirley Jackson novel The Sundial at another Arion publication party this summer.

From top left: Playwright Edward Albee and artist Tom Holland;
Aurora's Carol Neil and Paul Templeton;
Tom Holland, Edward Albee, Andrew Hoyem, David Littlejohn

Illustrated Talk by Composer Charles Boone on November 16

Bay Area composer and scholar Charles Boone will speak on  "How Music Looks: The Printed Page" on November 16 at 6:00 p.m., with a reception at 5.  He will discuss the history of musical notation and revolutionary ideas, beginning in the late 1950s, about the relation of notation to the music it represents. Sound and visual examples will abound. Charles Boone’s music has been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony, as well as the Ojai, Avignon, and Berlin Festivals. This year’s Grabhorn Institute free lectures and readings are supported by grants from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, Paul L. Wattis Foundation, and Mrs. David McDaniel. RSVP: grabhorn@arionpress.com  or 415-668-2542

Sylvano Bussotti, "Tableaux Vivants"

New Grants to Nonprofit Grabhorn Institute

We are pleased to announce first-time grants to the Grabhorn Institute from the Paul L. Wattis Foundation toward educational programs, and from the Creekmore and Adele Fath Foundation of Dallas of $75,000 toward our capital campaign. We depend on grants and tax-deductible contributions to preserve our historic letterpress printing facility and sustain our educational programs, which include a lecture series and apprenticeships in typecasting, printing and bookbinding. Join the nearly 450 individuals and foundations who contribute between $100 and $500 annually so that future generations will enjoy this unique bookmaking resource, designated "an irreplaceable cultural treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Contribute online.

Thank you for supporting Arion Press, the Grabhorn Institute, and M & H Type. We will continue to send you occasional updates about new books and special events. If you wish to be removed from this email list at any time, simply scroll to the bottom of this message and click on the “Remove Me” link.

With Best Wishes,
Andrew Hoyem and Diana Ketcham
Arion Press 

Phone (415) 668-2542

Email arionpress@arionpress.com

In This Issue

• Sappho with Julie Mehretu
• Arion in NYC & Miami
• Albee Entertains
• Charles Boone talk
  
• Grants to Grabhorn
• Holiday gift books

Poetry of Sappho: This image is one of 23 wood engravings cut by Anita Cowles Rearden in the 1880s, intended as illustrations for a book on Sappho and Alcaeus by her husband Judge Timothy Rearden, now printed for the first time on the introductory pages of the Arion edition.

Support the Grabhorn Institute

We depend on tax-deductible contributions to preserve our historic letterpress printing facility. Join the nearly 450 individuals who contribute between $100 and $500 annually so that future generations will enjoy this unique bookmaking resource, designated “an irreplaceable cultural treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Donate today.

A Holiday Gift of Books

Consider the gift of timeless literature as the holidays approach. Arion Press books incorporate original art by today’s finest artists and are made by hand to last for generations.  Our 2011 gift suggestions include Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene ($450), Edward Albee's  A Delicate Balance ($500), the poetry of Emily Dickinson, with prints by Kiki Smith ($1,200), American Buffalo by David Mamet ($350), the Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin ($600),  Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind ($650).

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