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Citations for APHA's 2008 Awards for Distinguished Achievement
Introduction of Henry Morris And here we are again. I am Jane Rodgers Siegel, chair of the awards committee. My distinguished colleagues on the committee this year are Cathleen Baker, Michael Russem, and Vic Zoschak. The criteria for the Individual award read in part: “The Award is for a distinguished contribution to the study, recording, preservation or dissemination of printing history, in any specific area or in general terms.” And the papermaker, printer and publisher Henry Morris has single-handedly contributed to the study, recording, preservation and dissemination of a good bit of printing history. Sid Berger’s Forty-four Years of Bird & Bull: a Bibliography, 1958-2002, lists 66 items published by Henry Morris, in addition to 45 items printed for others and 37 items of ephemera; to bring us more-or-less up-to-date, I find in Columbia’s catalog eight additional items, including the Bibliography, published since, making 74 items published – so far. Perhaps we’ll hear soon what Henry has up his sleeve now. Morris started Bird and Bull, one of America’s oldest private presses, in 1958 as an outlet for his new-found interest in hand papermaking – an interest sparked by a piece of fifteenth-century paper. Indeed, his strong interest in the art and history of handmade paper has resulted in a variety of books on Western, Japanese, and Chinese papermaking, and marbled and decorated papers, from Henk Voorn on Old Ream Wrappers (1969) to Dard Hunter and Son, by Dard Hunter II (1998), the unforgettably large Nicolas Louis Robert and His Endless Wire Papermaking Machine (2000), and Sid Berger on Karli Frigge’s Life in Marbling (2004). Morris’s 2006 J. Ben Lieberman Memorial lecture describes his belief that "Paper: There wouldn't be any Printing History without It." Bird & Bull has also published on the history of printing and book illustration, including John Feather on English Book Prospectuses (1984) and Gaylord Schanilec on My Colorful Career (1996); works on bookbinding include Bernard Middleton’s Recollections (1995). Henry’s significant collection of typographic numismatics led to several works, including his reprint of William Blades’ Numismata Typographica, the Medallic History of Printing (1992), and to his Trade Tokens of British and American Booksellers and Bookmakers, with Specimens of Eleven Original Tokens Struck Especially for this Book (1989). Morris’s publishing program has been a boon to the historian of the book. He is correct when he writes “It pleases me to know that without the Bird & Bull, many books on worthwhile, albeit esoteric subjects would probably never have been published.” And all these works have been printed by letterpress from metal type on either Henry’s own handmade or on imported mould-made papers. Aside from his serious and informative publishing program, Morris has also produced a steady stream of humorous and satirical work. Particularly, his additions to the history of the fictional island nation, the Republic of San Serriffe, have created a parallel and offbeat universe of the book, which many enjoy reading about in its various chronicles, even if we are just as glad we can never actually visit it. It gives me great pleasure to present the 2007 [sic] American Printing History Association Individual Award for Distinguished Achievement in Printing History to the distinctive – and distinguished – Henry Morris. Introduction of Oak Knoll Books and Oak
Knoll Publishing, Proprietor, Robert D. Fleck The awards criteria read, in part: “The APHA Institutional Award will be bestowed upon institutions that have sponsored, supported, or themselves made distinguished contributions to the study, recording, preservation, or dissemination of printing history.” Oak Knoll Books & Oak Knoll Press, a bookseller and publisher of books about books, bibliography, book collecting, book design, book illustration, book selling, bookbinding, bookplates, children's books, fine press books, forgery, graphic arts, libraries, literary criticism, marbling, papermaking, printing history, publishing, typography & type specimens, and writing & calligraphy, has quite possibly disseminated more printing history than anyone else, including (and I do mean that their list includes) Henry Morris. Founded in 1976 by Robert D. Fleck, Jr., a reformed chemical engineer, Oak Knoll Books maintains a stock of 20,000 items and has published over 280 catalogues, thus making available a tremendous amount of out-of-print material to institutions, historians, and collectors. As a publisher, Oak Knoll Press has published and distributed over 1000 titles, both original work and reprints of important hard-to-find works, making available the research of such authors as: Nicolas Barker, Sidney E. Berger, John Carter, Roderick Cave, Mirjam Foot, Colin Franklin, John Lane, Bernard C. Middleton, Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, Stephen O. Saxe, Marianne Tidcombe, and Michael Twyman. Topics covered by Oak Knoll Press books include everything from the work of Harold Pinter to bookbinders' finishing tool makers and the papers used by J. M. W. Turner, and their list is impressively long. Publishing partners include The British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Private Libraries Association. In addition, Oak Knoll Press distributes books for the American Antiquarian Society, the Bibliographical Society of America, the Caxton Club, the John Carter Brown Library, and the Typophiles. They have made a valuable contribution to printing history simply by making such a quantity of new and old books about books available, providing fodder to historians, and useful manuals to novice letterpress printers, binders and other practitioners of the arts of the book. In addition to its bookselling and publishing activities, each October Oak Knoll hosts a fine press book fair, with lectures and panel discussions, the topics of which have included the history of papermaking, book illustration, book selling, institutional collecting, fine press printing and publishing. The Fine Press Book Association had its start at the Oak Knoll Fest in 1997. The Fest provides a delightful opportunity for book-makers and book-buyers to congregate and socialize, and for neophytes to be drawn into the world of well-made books. It is an honor to present the 2007 [sic] American Printing History Association Institutional Award for Distinguished Achievement in Printing History to Oak Knoll, in the person of Bob Fleck. The awards were presented during the Annual Meeting of the American Printing History Association, on Saturday, January 28, 2008, New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York City. A reception followed. Return to APHA Awards / View other speeches. Site Copyright 2008 The American Printing History
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