John Fass: Book Arts and Photography

Categories

  • 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
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  • John's Apartment at the Bronx YMCA
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  • More 1940s New York City
    (1)
  • 1940s New York Sidewalk Art
    (1)
  • New York City at Night
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  • Pennsylvania Dutch Farms
    (1)
  • Lancaster County Covered Bridges
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  • The Hammer Creek near Lititz
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  • Hammer Creek Turtles
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  • Ephrata Cloister: Lancaster County
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  • Portraits of Esther and Clarence
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  • Alone in a Landscape
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  • Trees and Leaves
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  • John Photographs the West
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  • Light and Shadow
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  • Line and Shape
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  • Texture
    (1)
  • Botanical
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  • 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
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  • Elmer Adler / Pynson Printers
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  • Frederic & Bertha Goudy
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  • George W. Jones
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  • John Makes Mini Printing Presses
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  • John's Book-Design Awards
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • Typophiles and Bibliophiles
    (1)
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John's One-Room Apartment at the Bronx YMCA

Photography by John Fass

 

FruitBowldusted

 

YMCA Above:  The Bronx YMCA.  Kodachrome transparency by John Fass
  

John Fass worked in Manhattan for most of his career, while living in a one-room apartment at the Bronx YMCA on East 161st Street. Many YMCAs rented rooms for single men during that era. John also maintained residence in a house he owned in his hometown of Lititz, PA. His mother lived in that Lititz house, with John's sister Esther and Esther's husband Clarence Wert.

John created his most iconic works at the Bronx YMCA: limited editions printed on a tabletop printing press, with the name Hammer Creek Press. He was as precise with his YMCA room decor as he was with his book design. Herman Cohen, owner of the Chiswick Book Shop, collected John's work and wrote a Hammer Creek Press bibliography. Cohen described John's YMCA room as the most organized room he had ever seen, despite the room being filled with printing and photography equipment. (John stored his cases of printing press type under his bed.)

In 1962 John moved to the Pierrepont Hotel in Brooklyn, after the Bronx YMCA discontinued rental residences.

 

Windsordusted 

PipeandBowldusted

Oak

 

John's Harbor Press Seahorses:

 

Ymcabookshelves

The seahorse was the pressmark logo of John's Harbor Press, which he co-owned and operated with Roland Wood in the 1920s and 30s. John carved and crafted more than 100 wooden seahorses during this time, to give to his friends and to decorate his apartment.

John also created many of the bookshelves and cabinets in his YMCA apartment.

 

SeaHorse 
 

Seahorses 

Boxes

Above: Boxes created and photographed by John Fass

John Fass was a conoisseur of beautiful wood and its craftsmanship. He was a skilled woodworker, and made miniature printing presses, cabinets, and boxes.  John created these boxes for his own pleasure, and as gifts for his friends. Today, the location of these boxes is unknown.  The boxes are scattered and anonymous, except for this photograph.

 
Chair 
 

Whiskycomp 

BlueBottle 
 
Bowl1966 
  
ApplesandOranges 

Books

 

Collectionscropped 
  
ThreeSnuff 

Snuff4Above: Asian snuff bottles collected and photographed by John Fass


John Fass was an enthusiastic collector of varied and assorted objects and artifacts. He had an eye for beautiful objects of art, in many form.  He collected Japanese matchbox covers, turtle figurines, canes, Asian block-printed paper, marbled paper, coins, postage stamps, books, dog figurines, and printed ephemera. Plus leaves, rocks, and assorted minerals.

He carefully organized and displayed his collections in his YMCA room, and in his home in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Fortunately for posterity, he also photographed some of these collections, not knowing those objects would be here on this webpage.

 

Stamps 
 2smallboxes 
 Fass whale

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