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The department of Special Collections in Waldo Library at Western Michigan University owns a wide variety of fine press and limited edition books, including one or more examples from some the most notable presses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some of the presses in our collection include: The Kelmscott Press, The Doves Press, The Arion Press, The Nonesuch Press, The Adagio Press, Gwasg Gregynog, The Flying Fish Press, The Black Sparrow Press, and The Golden Cockerel Press.
A fine press book is usually printed and bound in smaller numbers than a book from an average commercial publishing company. The edition can number anywhere from five to two thousand copies depending on what the press wants their edition run to be. Fine press books are usually printed on a higher quality paper than the larger companies and may include hand colored illustrations, wood blocks, steel or copper engravings, or even calligraphy. Most importantly, these books are generally printed on an old handpress. The text of the book is set by hand using lead type, run through the handpress, and then the book is bound by hand. A large majority of these books contain a colophon at the back of the text indicating who printed the book, when it was printed, and how it was bound. These books are often signed and numbered by the author, artist, and/or printer, thus increasing their value.
An artist's book is similar to a fine press book in that a lot of handwork went into the process of creating the book. These artist's books, however, tend to vary in shape and format from the standard idea of the book. These books may come in a variety of shapes, some of them open up and form a star, others have a three-dimensional quality like a peep show book or tunnel, some resemble pop-up books, others can unfold and be hung on the wall like a picture or broadside (a broadside is generally a single sheet of paper with a printed poem, or short passage printed on it).
Some of these books may be completely calligraphed or printed with hand-illuminated initials, other books may consist only of illustrations done by hand or lithographed. No matter what format the book takes, conventional or unconventional, one thing these books do have in common is that they are produced in very limited editions. The more difficult the book is to make the fewer copies get produced. Many of these books are one of a kind, meaning there is no other existing copy anywhere else in the world.
Special Collections contains a wide variety of materials on paper and fine printing. This aspect of Special Collections reaches every collection we have. The Carol Ann Haenicke American Women's Poetry Collection for instance is particularly strong in fine press works and artist's books.
The books in this collection include works by Julie Chen of the Flying Fish Press, Claire Van Vliet of the Janus Press, calligraphy by Jan Owen, Nancy Leavitt, and Nancy Culmone, as well as broadsides from various presses. Special Collections also has subscriptions to the Sutton Hoo Press, the Ninja Press, the Bloodroot Press, and the Scripps College Press. We also have a collection of fine printing serials including: 21 st : The Journal of Contemporary Photography , Émigré , Fine Print , and Colophon.
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