1930s: John Fass Makes Marble Paper

 

 
Above:  Marble paper made by John Fass in the 1930s

 

 Above:  1935 page proof for A Showing of Marble Papers

 

In the 1930s John was printing and publishing fine-press books at his Harbor Press in Manhattan.  During that same time he experimented with making marble paper, which he created for his own pleasure.

He sent samples of his marble paper to his friends and colleagues, including Paul Standard, who replied with the thank-you letter shown below.

 

1935: Advertising Executive Paul Standard Thanks John for Sending Marble Paper:

Above: 1935 autograph letter signed by advertising executive Paul Standard

 

Paul Standard was a world-renowned calligrapher and advertising executive.  He taught calligraphy at Cooper Union and New York University, and authored the 1947 book Calligraphy’s Flowering, Decay and Restauration.

In 1935 he wrote a thank-you letter to John Fass (shown above), thanking John for a gift of marble paper John had sent to him as a gift.

Paul's Madison Avenue office was a few blocks away from John's Harbor Press on 45th Street. Paul was the  U. S. press representative for Canadian Pacific Railway for 15 years.  

 

1935:  Paul Standard praises John's Work with the Bruce Rogers Pamphlet: 

 

 
Above: Another 1935 autograph letter signed by advertising executive Paul Standard

 

In this letter to Paul discusses the "BR paper", a paper about Bruce Rogers which John Fass designed and printed at the Harbor Press.  (That paper is shown below.)

Paul waxes eloquent about John's design of the paper and writes, "In setting my BR paper you have not only pleased me enormously, but have also done a job of typography which BR himself will not fail to acclaim."

"The ruled pages and the flowered initials give a kind of antique tone to the job. They conjure up the distant century when typography was in flower on the Continent, and they show us again that there is such a thing as a continuity, an unbroken tradition of fine printing."

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow at the Amherst dugout [The Amherst Club], I hope.  Blessings on you.  Sincerely, Paul."
 

 The 1935 Pamphlet about Designer & Printer Bruce Rogers (B. R.):

 

 
Above: Page proofs for the 1935 pamphlet about Bruce Rogers, designed and printed at John Fass' Harbor Press for Paul Standard

Paul Standard praised John's design and printing of this pamphlet in the handwritten letter shown above. Sounds like Paul was pleased as punch with this paper.