A tangible space: Letterpress printing within artists’ books and small publishing practice

Butler, Angie

Abstract

This chapter constructs a lineage of the letterpress process within artists’ books and small publishing and locates its historical and contemporary communities of practice. First, it provides an outline of how the decline of the letterpress printing industry paralleled the inception of a growing number of artist-led presses in the UK. Focusing on the emerging community of practitioners who chose to self-publish their work by accessing their own letterpress printing machines and equipment, I highlight how letterpress shifted from an industrial process to an artistic one. The chapter then concentrates on the emergence of artists’ books, small publishing and practitioners (during the 1960s and 70s) who employed the letterpress process to print their own work. Through their utilisation of the process a phenomenological approach emerged as a studio practice that united practitioner, process and form. This practice involved immediate surroundings, local and wider communities and reflected a creative and independent approach to the developing genre of artist’s books and small publishing practice. The chapter argues that contemporary letterpress-printed bookmaking practice is embedded in how practitioners articulate their bodies and senses to engage with materials, equipment and presses.

• Online Publication Date: Jun 22, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 22, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 4, 2024
• Publisher: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Series Title: Printing History and Culture
• Series Number: Vol 4
• Book Title: Letterpress Printing Past Present Future
• Chapter Number: 2
• ISBN: 9781800794214
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b19889
• Keywords: letterpress printing, type, Letterpress Printing, artists' books, small press, small press publishing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13391529
• Publisher URL: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1303855