John Fass: Book Arts and Photography

Categories

  • Home: About this Site

    (1)
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    (1)
  • Born & Raised in Lititz, PA

    (1)

  • Part One:
    Photography by John Fass:

    John's First Photographs

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  • New York City: Urban Precisionism
    (1)
  • John's Apartment at the Bronx YMCA
    (1)
  • More 1940s New York City
    (1)
  • 1940s New York Sidewalk Art
    (1)
  • New York City at Night
    (1)
  • Pennsylvania Dutch Farms
    (1)
  • Lancaster County Covered Bridges
    (1)
  • The Hammer Creek near Lititz
    (1)
  • Hammer Creek Turtles
    (1)
  • Ephrata Cloister: Lancaster County
    (1)
  • Portraits of Esther and Clarence
    (1)
  • Alone in a Landscape
    (1)
  • Trees and Leaves
    (1)
  • John Photographs the West
    (1)
  • Light and Shadow
    (1)
  • Line and Shape
    (1)
  • Texture
    (1)
  • Botanical
    (1)
  • Abstract Expressionism
    (1)
  • John's Printing Presses
    (1)
  • John's Favorite Printed Pages
    (1)
  • Valenti and Maxine Angelo
    (1)
  • More Friends of John Fass
    (1)

  • Part Two:
    John's Printing & Publishing:

    (1)

  • John's Mentor: Bruce Rogers
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  • John's Bruce Rogers Scrapbook
    (1)
  • Printing for Random House (1)
  • Rockwell Kent
    (1)
  • Elmer Adler / Pynson Printers
    (1)
  • Frederic & Bertha Goudy
    (1)
  • George W. Jones
    (1)
  • John Makes Mini Printing Presses
    (1)
  • John's Book-Design Awards
    (1)
  • John's Hammer Creek Press (1)
  • Bookplates by John Fass
    (1)
  • 1929: John Fass does Europe
    (1)
  • Christmas Cards by John Fass
    (1)
  • John's Harbor Press
    (1)
  • John Makes Marble Paper
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  • More Book Design Sketches
    (1)
  • Louis How
    (1)
  • John's Commercial Printing
    (1)
  • Typophiles and Bibliophiles
    (1)
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 Bookplates by John Fass

 

6 Bookplates for John Archer:

Archerplates

Above: Proofs of 6 bookplates for John Archer

John Fass created these bookplates for John Archer, superintendent of the printing office and bindery of the New York Public Library. John Archer designed and printed fine-press books published by the library, including the lavish 1932 Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, which he printed in  an edition of 250 copies on handmade paper. This was the first English-language edition of Ptolemy's Geography. Plus he printed the 1940 book The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts, which the library copublished with Princeton University.

John retired from the library in 1951, after working there for 41 years. To commemorate Archer's career, the Typophiles published a tribute to him that year titled Sagittarius: His Book, Gathered for John Archer by his Friends. John Fass designed the book, which included vignettes and text by the leading American designers and printers of that era.

John Archer authored The Care and Repair of Books, which is often considered the best nontechnical discussion of the subject. In 1953 John Archer organized an exhibition at the library of John Fass' Hammer Creek Press books.   John Archer was a YMCA resident, as was John Fass.

  

John Fass' Design for his Own Bookplate:

Jbplates

Above: Copy for the engraver, and a proof of John's personal bookplate

John used a similar design for the cover of the 1934 Dante's Hell, which he designed, printed, and published for the book's translator Louis How. The Dante won an AIGA 50-books award that year.

 

 

Three Bookplates for Hovey House:

 

Besthovey 

Bookplates for John Fass' Harbor Press:

 2bplates2
 

 John's Pencil Sketch for a Bookplate:
 

Exlibrisharbor

 

John's Pencil Sketch for Another Bookplate:

 

Pyrabl2  

John's Bookplate for his Harbor Press Business Partners: Elizabeth & Roland Wood:
 

Elrwood2 
 
John's Bookplates in 1934 Magazine The American Printer:



Bookplatescomp

Above: John Fass' bookplates in  the September 1934 The American Printer

The author of this article in this 1934 printers' periodical suggests that no one could create bookplates better than these by John Fass, maybe not even "B. R." (Bruce Rogers) or "Updike" (Daniel Berkeley Updike).  B. R. and Updike were two of the most celebrated American printers / designers of that era. John Fass was giving them a run for their money.

 

 

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