Hammer Creek Turtles

Photography by John Fass

 

 

John Fass selected the slow-but-sure turtle as his pressmark logo for his Hammer Creek Press, which he operated out of his room at the Bronx YMCA.

The turtle symbolized John's craftsman creed for this press which was the Latin motto "Festina Lenta", Make Haste Slowly. John lived up to his motto, and created books and other printed works with slow and deliberate attention to detail.

The turtle also represented the slow pace of life in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where John was born and raised.

So John collected turtle objects of art, and photographed them for his archive. Every turtle was a good turtle.