DA 44

DA 44

If the smell of printer’s ink lures you unexpectedly up rickety old staircases or pulls you mysteriously through doors that muffle the unmistakable rumbling of a printing press in your search for the almost poetic experience of watching prints come off a letterpress, you should probably subscribe to this journal. But note, DA is not for the faint of passion or idly curious as its subtitle should make clear; it’s a journal of the printing arts. This special issue on The Gauntlet Press, the labour of love begun back in 1960 by artist Barbara Howard and poet Richard Outram, offers the kind of printing and typographical detail that appeals most to those already infected with the fine printing bug. But the historical perspective it offers, of the dedicated craftspeople across Canada, aptly represented here with essays, reports and colophonic cataloging, also incites a broader appreciation for a fine tradition of even finer printing. And the luxurious re-prints of the Gauntlet’s many woodcut and poetry collaborations rounds this out in a proof-is-the-pudding sort of way, particularly the beautiful insert printed by the incomparable Stan Bevingtion of Coach House fame. (HC)

journal, 48 pages, #44, $10 plus postage, 68 Main St, Erin, ON, N0B 1T0

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