it bears repeating....

It bears repeating: I am not a cheerleader. I am a publisher as well as a poet. I write this blog to acknowledge the work of publishers and poets and "one-time" presses that bubble to the surface through the existence of the work. If someone thinks I should only focus on the poems, they miss my point. Or rather, they are not aware of the quote by El Lissitsky that is a guiding principle of mine:

The book must be the unified work of the author and the designer. As long as this is not the case, splendid exteriors will constantly be produced for unimportant contents, and visa-versa.
El Lissitzky
from Do Not Separate Form from Content!(1931)

If a chapbook visually sucks but the words are good, I will say so. If the chapbook is stunning but the words are god-awful, I will also say so. No tree should ever be felled for tripe or self-serving navel-worshipping. If you have a friend whose work you like a lot and it doesn't matter to you what their chapbook looks like: that fine, but that's not my "job". I respect the people who have taken the time and considerable effort to make a thing of beauty. Putting out a book on the cheapest photo-copy paper available with the grainiest picture imaginable and touting it as your "work of art", I will decline climbing on your bandwagon.

Certain publishers from the past, say from the late 1970s through today, deserve to be recognized as establishing the structure by which "the bar" is placed, let alone raised. The truth is that they publishers cared what their chapbooks LOOKED LIKE as much as the words or images, or both, were INSIDE. I have listed some of these presses before but it is worth mentioning again: Toothpaste Press (Allan Kornblum), Perishable Press Limited (Walter Hamady), The Fathom Press (Robie Liscomb), The Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs (Brenda Iljima), Pentagram Press (Michael Tarachow), and many others.

I would urge lovers of the chapbook form to image that there is a history to this all, that you are part of it, and that you haven't created the wheel. It's been done. Dozens of times over. Hundreds of times over and then some. There is a historical element to my blog that I perhaps haven't overtly presented but I think it's time that I did. We are all part of something that dates back to the 1940s. If you wish to consider the chap(ter) books that were published in England earlier, then we are talking about the 1600s.

My particular focus is poetry chapbooks of the second half of the 20th century and now into the 21st.

Words & Food by Robie Liscomb (1981)

Words & Food
Robie Liscomb
Fathom Press
Chicago, IL
(c)1981

There was some kind of magic happening with Michael Tarachow and his associates, as in this case with Robie Liscomb. I have had to the good fortune to be able to communicate with Michael and through him understood the near-gyspy manner of his Press (they had many homes). One thing that travel did not diminish was the quality of the books that were made. Liscomb himself was a publisher, Fathom Press, at the time. Both men are happily still alive and have multiple copies of their (and their presses') books.

Words & Food is a beautifully made chapbook done on hand-made paper in an edition of 200 copies. Without offending anyone involved, there is great craftsmanship involved in the production of this book. For those in the biz, and collectors in general, all I can say is that it feels like something. You can feel the cover, the pages. Nothing slick. Nothing plastic. It feels, and reads, very REAL.

Google these guys, they are worth getting in touch with. I know that Michael was selling off some of his inventory. Maybe you can still get some of the wonderful Fathom Press chapbooks. Completely worth the effort. (blogger made correction on 5/6/16)

Knee Deep in the Atlantic (1981)

Knee Deep in the Atlantic
Pentagram Press
Markesan, WI
(c)1981

The beautifully made chapbook was a promotional item for Pentagram Press, featuring 4 poets who were part of "the extended Pentagram Press family"; Linda Parker, Michael Tarachow, Robie Liscomb, and Theodore Enslin. The book contained small colorful images by Bonnie Stillman. Hand sewn. Just an exquisite item. Extremely collectible and rare (only 164 copies printed) in 1981.

ground water by paul cultrera (1978)

ground water
Paul Cultrera
Fathom Press
Chicago, IL
(c)1978

There are a few small presses that interest me enough to collect and write about them often. One of those is the under-appreciated Fathom Press as run by Robie Liscomb. The work of Fathom is as good as any I have seen/held in my hands/put on my shelves. During an exchange with Robie I had last summer, he outlined in the broadest (vaguest) strokes a history of Fathom. He also was kind enough to entrust me with a wonderful packet of Fathom and related chapbooks from which I have been ever so slowly been drawing. ground water is the most recent nibble.

Coming in at the unusual dimensions of 10.5" X 6.75", this hand-sewn chapbook is a wonderful example of the work created by Robie Liscomb (with help by Paul Cultrera). Made during the Fall & Winter 1977-78 in Chicago, IL, this chapbook was printed on Rives papers. Fathom was linked to Pentagram Press, with Michael Tarachow and others. Their works appear on each other's imprint. More to come!

two versions of "The Reach" by Robie Liscomb

The Reach
Robie Liscomb
Pentagram Press
Wisconsin
©1979

The Reach
Fathom Press
©1977

Two version of the same poem, I happened to track down Robie Liscomb over the summer and from one of our correspondence comes this description of the versions, “At first I assumed that the version of The Reach that you have is the summer 1979 printing in Japanese paper wrappers containing just the one poem. This was printed by Michael Tarachow of Pentagram Press in Markesan, WI, as a going-away present for me, as my wife and I were about to leave Chicago to live in Taiwan.

I wrote the poem on Jan. 1, 1977, in Chicago and it was first published in what I remember as the first piece published by my Fathom Press (in collaboration with Richard Lin Bodien) in spring of 1977. That little book, identified as “journal II sp 77/baolin books/fathom press” contained poems by Richard, me and Stephen Field. Actually, now that I think of it, your email probably references THIS chapbook rather than the later printing of the poem.

I got to know Richard as he was the husband of Carol Lin Bodien who has a graduate student in Indian art history at the University of Chicago, where my wife, Kathlyn, was a grad student in Chinese art history. I was starting my press and had just purchased a little Kelsey tabletop press and some type and Richard and I wanted to collaborate on a printing project. Stephen Field was a friend of Richard’s as was Sarah Burnham Mertz, whose limited-edition etching was used as the wraparound cover.

The typeface is Century Old Style, the only type I had on-hand, as it came with the press, which I bought from the daughter of a printer whose father gave it to her as a present. The text paper is something called Tweedweave that we found at a local paper supplier’s warehouse. I’m not sure whose awkward calligraphy is reproduced. All in all, I consider this to be a rather pedestrian effort, except for the etching, which I quite like.”

And that’s about all one has to say about that – seek and collect! These are incredible chapbooks!

Somewhere Music, Somehow Song (1981)

Somewhere Music, Somehow Song
Michael Tarachow
The Fathom Press
Chicago, IL
(c)1981

A few months ago I won a lot of small press books on Ebay and one of the items was by Robie Liscomb. It was published by Fathom Press. So, I sought out and found Robie Liscomb and he gave me a taste of the history of Fathom Press and shortly after indulged me greatly with a fantastic packet of work by Fathom Press which Liscomb was intimately involved with. Among the items sent to me was this fantastic little chapbook by Michael Tarachow.

Beautifully made using a letterpress in February 1981, this book was done by Tarachow and Liscomb using handmade paper and images of pressed plants from around "the house". Money from NEA was used in the making of this chapbook and I must say it was money well spent. The backstory involving the participants, their mutually interwoven Presses, and their histories will be told in greater detail as I go through the treasure trove of chapbooks received from Liscomb.

Handmade green endsheets. Unpaginated. One of 240 made. It's an incredible find.

Toothpaste Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, Fathom Press

plenty of chapbooks to discuss including fabulous chapbooks by Toothpaste Press and until recently unknown Press, Fathom Press, and one of its foremost persons in Robie Liscomb, as well as a stack of newly published chapbooks by Ugly Ducking Presse.

coming up soon!