John Fass: Book Arts and Photography

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  • Home: About this Site

    (1)
  • Frequently Asked Questions

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  • Born & Raised in Lititz, PA

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  • 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
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  • Light and Shadow
    (1)
  • Line and Shape
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  • Texture
    (1)
  • Botanical
    (1)
  • Abstract Expressionism
    (1)
  • John's Printing Presses
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  • John's Favorite Printed Pages
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  • Valenti and Maxine Angelo
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  • More Friends of John Fass
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  • Part Two:
    John's Printing & Publishing:

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

The Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County, PA

Photography by John Fass

 

EphrataCloister 

Ephrata roof
 

John Fass had one foot in the past and one foot in the future, for he was both a medievalist and a modernist. His book arts celebrate pre-industrial workmanship, while his photography explores modern design and technology.

Lancaster County's Ephrata Cloister had much appeal to John Fass. This Pennsylvania German cloister, near his hometown of Lititz, had been a powerhouse of colonial printing and publishing, and produced masterworks of colonial American book arts.

In the 1740s the Ephrata Cloister printed the Martyrs' Mirror, which was the largest book printed in colonial North American, and was the most ambitious American printing project of that era. This cloister also produced illuminated manuscripts which are landmarks of American fraktur art.

John knew he was following in the footsteps of the Ephrata printers, and that those footsteps were big shoes to fill. The New York Public Library Digital Archive has additional photographs taken by John Fass of this cloister, including the print shop here.

 

Ephrata2
 
Ephratadoor
 
 
 

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