VIDEOS OF ARION PRESS
PBS News Hour Tour of the Arion Press: Type Foundry, Pressroom, and Bindery
Elizabeth Farnsworth of he PBS NewsHour visits Arion Press in San Francisco during the making of Arion's largest publication, a folio lectern Bible. "This Bible is unique because this place is unique. It's one of the last shops in the world where all the work on a book is done under one roof. Press director Andrew Hoyem designed and printed the Bible here, and his colleagues cast the type, made the covers, and bound the work by hand. These artisans and their tools have been designated an endangered cultural treasure by the National Trust for Historic preservation."
CBS Sunday Morning: God's Printer
CBS Sunday Morning looks at the last Bible to be printed by letterpress in the Gutenberg tradition from hot metal type, crafted by hand in a small workshop in San Francisco — The Arion Press, under the direction of Andrew Hoyem. The video shows each step in the making of the Bible, starting in the historic Monotype foundry of Mackenzie and Harris, and also features the cylinder press in operation, the design of special initial letters, the calligraphic illumination process, and the hand sewing of books in the bindery.
Arion Press Tour - Letterpress Printing & Hand Bookbinding
This tour of Arion Press in San Francisco showcases one of the last traditional book-making facilities in the country where all the processes take place under one roof: the hot metal type foundry, letterpress printing facility, and hand bookbinding studio. Originally featured on the A&E Open Book program, this tour features the Arion Press Folio Bible, probably the last Bible to be printed from metal type in the tradition of Gutenberg. Part two of the tour (below) focuses on the Monotype foundry.
Hot metal is still hot-M & H Type Foundry & Letterpress Tour
The venerable firm of Mackenzie & Harris, established in 1915, is the oldest and largest type foundry for letterpress printers in the United States. Also known as M & H Type, it offers traditional lead typecasting and Monotype composition as well as hot metal fonts. This tour, part of an A&E Open Book show, takes viewers through the foundry and into the pressroom of Arion Press where the type is impressed into paper. The tour features an interview with Lewis Mitchell, who has been casting type at M & H for over 50 years. See also part one of the A&E Open Book video (above).
Tour of Arion Press: letterpress fine printing and hot metal type foundry
This tour of Arion Press in San Francisco showcases one of the last traditional book-making facilities in the country where all the processes take place under one roof: the hot metal type foundry, letterpress printing facility, and hand bookbinding studio. Originally featured on the CSPAN BookTV program, this tour features shows some of the unique limited edition books published by Arion Press. Arion keeps alive the San Francisco fine press tradition, and many of its books include include original art from noted contemporary artists. The M & H Type Foundry division is the oldest and largest hot metal type foundry for letterpress printers in the U.S., probably in the world.
Kenny Howard on film titles and typecasting
Photographer Lucy Gray interviewed Kenny Howard from M & H Type about his work on film titles. He also discussed typecasting (the non-Hollywood variety). The 34-minute slide-show/podcast is part of a series called "Lucy Talks Movies" on Podtech.net, and it includes numerous photos of the M & H typefoundry and the Arion pressroom and letterpress facilities.
On Nov. 18, 2006, Andrew Hoyem presented "Bible, Blake, Baseball, and Beckett" at the King Library Press 50th Anniversary Celebration in Lexington, KY. As the title indicates, this talk focuses on the stories behind four recent books. Download the podcast or listen online courtesy of the University of Alabama Book Arts podcast series.
THE ARION PRESS
1802 Hays Street, The Presidio, San Francisco, California 94129
Telephone: 415-668-2542; Fax: 415-668-2550
E-mail: arionpress@arionpress.com