"You Told Me Once You Only Printed in Natural Light"
Maralyn Crosetto, Day Moon Press, and Mare Blocker have combined to produce a new limited edition broadside. It is being sold as a fund-raiser to help with the medical bills for the late Chris Stern. Chris Stern was a nationally-known fine press printer and teacher. He passed away last November. The image on the broadside depicts Chris and Jules' printing shop in the Skagit Valley, The Printing Farm.
Chris was a dear friend. We are honored to have copies of this wonderful broadside and to help with sales and distribution. The price of the broadside is $75. (A larger donation is, of course, welcome.)
Checks are preferred, made out to Jules Remedios Faye. Donations, along with a shipping address, can be sent to either:
- Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers - 208 First Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104 - (206)682-3545, or
- Day Moon Press 3320 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144
Maralyn Crosetto:
“I have some wonderful memories of sitting with Chris Stern on one porch or another, drinking coffee, eating his famous scones and talking about books, or printing or anything else in the world. Most of my memories, however, are of Chris at work. At work is where I could find him. Whether it was noon or midnight, that is where he would be.
The inspiration for this broadside comes from those many, many nights when Chris would be out in his and Jules' shop, working his magic with type, ink and paper. When I told Mare Blocker of my vision of the Printing Farm, glowing in the dark, she most graciously wrote the poem to accompany it.”
Maura Shapley, Day Moon Press:
“When Maralyn approached me with the idea of printing this piece, she hadn't started drawing yet. We decided early on certain practical matters: first, her comfortable image size and style determined which presses to use; then, parent sheet size led to finished size; proportions narrowed down type choices.
After scanning her pencil drawing, Jack used filters to translate it into a mezzotint-like image. A magnesium engraving was then made (locally, at Evergreen Engravers). Maralyn then cut the linoleum blocks for blue-grey and yellow, registering to the black proof. In one week, we had all three main presses tied up at once - the large Vandercook on black, the SP-15 on grey, and the 12 x 18 C&P on yellow - then again for both type passes - while Maralyn set type and remixed inks for the color balance, and I tweaked fit.
Maralyn and I have worked together on letterpress projects of all kinds for nearly thirty years, and somehow this was the smoothest and most satisfying of all.”
Jules Remedios Faye:
“When I learned that Maralyn Crosetto, Maura Shapley and Mare Blocker were collaboratively creating a broadside in Chris' memory, I was deeply touched. But when I visited Maura's shop to see this broadside for the first time, the tenderness of the image and the heartfelt words of the poem broke my heart open. The love and genuine affection this collaboration represents is deeply healing and inspiring.
After the hospital gave us a generous 80% charity deduction on the bills we incurred while Chris was in hospital, I am left with close to $30,000 in medical bills. 100% of the sales of this loving tribute to Chris will go toward paying those bills. This broadside is limited to 70 copies. The first 65 people who send $75 or more will receive one of these beautiful broadsides, which were lovingly letterpress printed by Maura and Maralyn and include an original image by Maralyn, accompanied with a poem by Mare. “
Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers is located in the historic Pioneer Square district of Seattle. Shop hours are Monday thru Saturday, 11-6pm.
Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers
208 First Avenue South
Seattle, Washington 98104
206.682.3545
206.682.2391 (fax)
888.383.3631 (toll free)
http://www.wlbooks.com/
Members ABAA, ILAB
