Wednesday, November 26, 2014

more on the printed prospectus

over the last week it's been interesting watching the mailing list firm up & shrink at the same time - the first new prospectus will be issued in about two weeks, and will "feature" my new poems Will there be words - there is a new letterpress LISTSERV in which the question of prospectuses has been raised, along with a hint of the almost moral imperative to use social media to 'get out there', and be part of the real world of people connectivity - my problem has been that I bought into that to some degree (tho I couldn't cope with the idea of Facebook, Twitter etc, and especially after I found LinkedIn to be completely useless, and not easy to withdraw from - what is undeniable is that sales receded as reliance on email increased - I don't doubt that I was never really adept at the electronic pump, but now it is time to return to a few basics : basics, I might say, that were simply how we did things before the computer worked its way into our lives -

also being planned now is a digitally-printed pamphlet as an Electio catalog - 2013 was the tenth year of the press, so Electio Editions, The first ten years will I hope be ready before xmas, and copies will go out a) with each book, and b) upon request - 

also being planned (have I already said that?) is a series of broadsides, choice bits of poetry or prose from the press's favourite writers - printed on the handpress - and on lovely handmade papers, in more than one color - and will use the display types I have which never quite get into the books - 60pt Centaur Titling, 60pt Gill Sans Shadow, 120pt (I aint kidding) Futura Light caps, 3 sizes of De Vinne Outline, 24pt Umbra, several sizes of Castellar, 30pt Zapf Civilite, 24pt roman & 24 Didot Greek of Open Kapitalen, 36pt Franklin Gothic Greek, 18pt Libra, 24pt Eusebius Open, 36pt Cochin Open, and a small collection of wood types - the poor things tend just to sit quietly in cases and put up with my neglect - but it's clear that only printing books will not allow me to use the full range of what I have here - here's a sample of the Cochin Open, before the sheets were flattened -