These press sheets are from California Bookplates, which Koch designed and letterpress printed (on Mohawk Superfine, his “favorite machine-made text paper”) for the Book Club of California in 2006. When I wrote about the book here back in February, I mentioned that Koch had just told me about his abundance of press sheets from the project, some of which he was re-using as make-ready and some of which he was wrapping with. The very next week after our conversation, I invited myself over, and Koch was kind enough to bestow some of the prized sheets upon me. Oh, this make-ready is making-me-happy.
I couldn’t resist using a sheet to construct an envelope for one of my correspondents, a bookplate aficionado who has recently collaborated with wood engraver Richard Wagener on a project … one section of which documents bookplates designed and printed by another California artist.
The back of the envelope features Wagener’s own ex libris and his first bookplate design, a gift for his wife. Look at Wagener’s “eccentric emu” with exuberant plumage enjoying a tête-à-tête with the rufous-sided towhee. The face of the envelope, shown below, displays the bookplates that Steven Sharafian designed for his daughters, Maddie and Hannah. Sharafian’s own bookplate (which you could see on page 35 of California Bookplates, if you had the book, which you can) features a magnificent bumblebee — designed and printed for him by … Richard Wagener. Sharafian’s wife’s bookplate was designed and printed by … Peter Koch, Printers. A veritable hive of inter-connectivity.
I’d like to make a couple of points about re-using this make-ready: The paper feels fabulous, literally and creatively — the Superfine, which behaved so beautifully on press, folds tidily now. My fingers linger to “read” the layers of letterpress. I like figuring out how I’ll orient my package or envelope on the sheet. I love that someone might be double-delighted to discover printing on the inside. And what I really love is the idea that the recipients can re-re-use their wrap! Really!
