A130. The Mystical Quality of Handiwork

A130. Victor Hammer. The Mystical Quality of Handiwork. Lexington, Kentucky: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2007.

69 x 47 mm (2 ¾” x 1 7/8”), scroll, 21 copies.

Binding: Scroll; case-bound in black leather. Title on label on wood panel on cover. Inside cover papers white. Scroll is wound over brass rods at both ends. Rods pass through holes drilled in a wooden framework that is attached to inside spine of binding. Crank handles at end of brass rod assist in turning scroll. Paper: White, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set American Uncial. Notes: Title page and colophon mounted on panels attached to front and back inside covers, respectively. A piece of Hammer's American Uncial type is attached to the title page.  

“The text is an excerpt from “Memory and Her Nine Daughters” by Victor Hammer. In 2003 I was invited to give a lecture and workshop titled ‘Printing Miniature Books’ at the King Library in Lexington, Kentucky, as part of their Fall Book Arts Seminar Series. I chose to use this text for the workshop. The type was set at the King Library Press using Hammer's own font of American Uncial type. I brought along my own handmade paper and the text was printed on it, using Hammer's wooden hand press. When the class was over I found there were 21 extra sheets. I decided to use them to make my own edition of the class project and thus it was limited to 21 copies. The binding is a scrolling structure similar to the one we used in our 1994 A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf [A75], but with several technical improvements.”