|
Andrew Hoyem, Publisher
(1973–2018)

Born in 1935 in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota, to second-generation Norwegian parents, Hoyem graduated from
Pomona College and served in the U. S. Navy. Upon settling in San Francisco
in 1961, he became involved with the avant-garde literature of that time.
During the early 1960s, he was a partner in the Auerhahn Press, the publisher
of such Beat Generation writers as John Weiners, Michael McClure, William
Burroughs, Philip Lamantia, Philip Whalen, and Charles Olsen, and he designed
several of the books written by his friend Richard Brautigan.
In 1966, Hoyem went into
partnership with the legendary San Francisco fine printer Robert Grabhorn,
then 66 years old, whose Grabhorn Press had operated from 1920 to 1965.
It was under the tutelage of Grabhorn that Hoyem, who had no formal training
in the craft, began to acquire his knowledge of printing history. Grabhorn-Hoyem
specialized in typographical design, fine printing, and the publication
of limited edition books, among them a celebrated edition of Allen Ginsberg's
“Howl”, published in 1971. They added printing equipment and the
type collection from the Grabhorn Press, including historic types acquired
from the famous early 20th-century San Francisco printer John Henry Nash.
After Grabhorn's death in 1973, Hoyem reformed the company as the Arion
Press, taking its name from the Greek poet of legend who was saved by a
dolphin.
At Arion Press, Hoyem has
continued the San Francisco tradition of fine typography and high-quality
bookmaking, as in his handset folio edition of Moby-Dick. In addition,
he has gone beyond this tradition by experimenting with unusual forms and
incorporating work by contemporary artists in his books. The scholar James
D. Hart, writing in Fine Printing: The San Francisco Tradition, has
characterized Hoyem's books “as marked by an unusual inventiveness”,
praising Moby Dick as a “majestic volume”, among Arion's
“virtuoso performances”.
In the 1980s, Hoyem expanded
into the genre of the livre d'artiste, producing deluxe editions
containing prints by such noted artists as Jim Dine, Robert Motherwell,
Jasper Johns, Ida Applebroog, John Baldessari, Richard Diebenkorn, and Wayne
Thiebaud. Arion editions are collected by individuals, museums such as the
Museum of Modern Art in New York, and libraries, including the British Library,
the Huntington Library, and the Library of Congress. They have been the
subject of many exhibitions and were featured in the 1995 “A Century
of Artists Books” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1989, Hoyem purchased
Mackenzie & Harris, the oldest and largest surviving typefoundry in
America, employing its trained typesetters as part of his staff of ten.
Hoyem runs Arion Press and M & H Type as a self-sustaining business
that includes publishing, typography, printing, and custom design services. His
publishing program is not subsidized by grants or patronage, but survives
though hard work and the conviction that excellence will find an audience.
Hoyem has published five
books of poetry, including Picture Poems
and What If, published by Arion Press.
For Arion he has provided illustrations for Pale
Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, How I came to be governor of
the island of Cacona by Francis Thistleton, Flatland by
Edwin Abbott Abbott, and Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. A one-person
exhibition of his drawings was held at the Legion of Honor Museum of San
Francisco in 1975. He is a member of the Grolier Club of New York and the
Roxburghe Club of San Francisco and has lectured on fine printing at Oxford
University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Huntington Library, and
for many other university, museum, and book-collecting audiences.
For more information:
- “Andrew Hoyem of Arion Press: Champion of Literary Artistry”,
by Carol Grossman, Biblio magazine, September 1997. A PDF
is available.
- Andrew Hoyem entry at Wikipedia.
|
Search Arion Press
Artist, Author, Title, or Keyword
|