WMU Research Guides: Special Collections and Rare Book Department: Book Arts and Graphic Design

Images from the Collections

Woodcut double title-page of The Tale of Beowulf... printed by Kelmscott Press, 1895

Front cover of 折紙模様. 上 (Origami moyo. 1) by Kawarasaki Kodo, 1935

View of pages from Agrippa: (a book of the dead) by William Gibson and Dennis Ashbaugh, 1992. Rare limited edition artists' book.

Book Arts and Graphic Design-Related Collections

Special Collections has numerous secondary sources that relate to the many facets of the book arts in the form of technical or historical studies, in some cases rare. Additionally, we have primary sources (primarily archives and papers) which document the creative output of small presses or individual artists. Together these secondary and primary sources cover technical aspects of paper-making, paper-marbling, paper-folding, bookbinding, typography, print-making, color theory and illustrative processes, but also form a resource for research on the history of the book and graphic design. Our examples of manuscripts, books printed from the 1400s up to the present, including fine press editions printed by Kelmscott Press among others, a collection of over 500 miniature books and a growing collection of contemporary artists’ books are a valuable resource for understanding and appreciating the cultural impact of the book, not only as a means of transmitting knowledge, but as an important aesthetic medium that can be used to chart developments in design and communication over the centuries. Books and collections are searchable in the WMU Libraries online catalog. *Please contact our staff for assistance in locating Special Collections books and serial publications that relate to book arts or graphic design in the Libraries catalog.

Below are descriptions and links to finding aids or catalog records for archives and papers relating to the book arts, graphic design and history of the book.

The Ladislav R. Hanka Book Arts Archive, 1975-2004
The Ladislav R. Hanka Book Arts Archive centers on the artist Ladislav R. Hanka (1952- ) a graduate of Western Michigan University and resident of the city of Kalamazoo. Mr. Hanka's art often features the flora and fauna of Michigan forests and lakes. The archive also contains correspondence between Mr. Hanka and writers and publishers, sketches, trials, artist's proofs and numbered prints, reviews of shows, exhibition booklets and hand-bound volumes of his books printed under the imprint of the Rarach Press.
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He received a BA in Biology from Kalamazoo College (1975), an MS in Zoology from Colorado State University (1979), and an MFA in Printmaking from Western Michigan University (1981). In addition, Mr. Hanka was a guest student at the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität in Bonn, Germany (1973) and at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, Austria (1979-1980). He also served a private apprenticeship in Prague with Jindra Schmidt, master engraver of stamps and currency (1979).

Mr. Hanka has had a number of traveling exhibitions including: Visions of a Wandering Naturalist (1997-2001), 50 x 25 Book Arts Exhibit (1993-1999), Boreal Meditations (1995), and County Survey (1989-2001) to name a few. His art may be found at the Fogg Museum of Art in Cambridge, MA., the Princeton University Print Collection in Princeton, NJ, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, the New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress. His work may also been seen abroad at the National Museum (Prague, Czech Republic), the British Library (London, Great Britain), the Rembrandt House (Amsterdam, Netherlands), The Bookplate Society (Eubonne, France), Huang Zhe Temple (Sichuan Province, China), Jatson Chumig Special School (Lhasa, Tibet), and at the Graphic Arts Institute and Francisco Toledo Museum (Oaxaca, Mexico).
Crimilda Pontes Graphic Arts Archive, 1951-1991
Crimilda Pontes (1927-2000) was a graphic designer specializing in book covers and dust jackets for commercial book companies. The Pontes Archive focuses on her career at Yale University Press and the Smithsonian Institute where she designed and redesigned banners, logos, posters and the institution's seal. The archive contains books from Miss Pontes' personal library on book design, art and calligraphy, as well as books which she illustrated or designed. The archive includes production notes and projects, photographs of her associates and New England scenery, and correspondence with other New England calligraphers, typographers, and book artists.
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Miss Pontes was a student of the renowned calligrapher, designer, and letter carver John Howard Benson at the Rhode Island School of Design (1948). After graduating with her bachelor of fine arts, she worked as Benson's apprentice at the John Stevens Shop in Newport, Rhode Island. From 1951 to 1954, she worked as the Illustrator General at the Naval War College also in Newport and then moved to Buffalo, NY to become an art instructor at Rosary Hill College until 1957. After receiving her MA in Graphic Arts from Yale University in 1959, she took a job at the Yale University Press designing books and book jackets until 1964. Miss Pontes won several prizes for design and production both in the United States and abroad. Her last job, which she held for 23 years, was in Washington D.C. where she worked for the Smithsonian Institute. She retired from the Smithsonian in 1988.
Ives Street Press Archive, 1979-2001
Fine Press Archives, papers of Barbara Cash (1930 -1997), printer and designer at Ives St. Press (Connecticut and Maine). The collection contains correspondence with authors and colleagues, designs for broadsides and books, business records of the Press, professional association meeting and contest materials, and materials for the author's MFA thesis on fine presses in New England.
Pages from the Past, 2500 BCE-1894 CE
The Pages from the Past collection is an excellent resource for instruction on the history of the book. Pages from the Past leaf books were sold as six different collections with three different releases (18 total sets were sold in editions of varying numbers) between 1964-1966. These were all compiled and sold by the Washington DC-based dealer, Alfred W. Stites of Foliophiles, Inc., who had dismembered original printings and manuscripts specifically for the purpose of selling them in these "portfolio sets", as he referred to them. Western Michigan University Libraries is one of a number of institutions who obtained a set. It was donated by Mrs. Donald Gilmore of Kalamazoo and is from the first release of 1964, Set I: "The History of the Written Word", numbered 10 in an edition of 20. It contains 149 items, which include a Babylonian cuneiform tablet, leaves of handwritten manuscript codices, as well as leaves of incunabula, Hand Press Period books and newspapers, as well as nineteenth century books. The materials in this collection date from between 2500 BCE and 1894 CE.

More Book Arts and Graphic Design-Related Collections

Fine Press Ephemera Collection, 1973-2005
Correspondence, brochures, greeting cards, post cards, illustrated folios, etc. produced by Arion Press, Black Sparrow Press, Janus Press, Bloodroot Press, and many other American fine presses.
Frank Allen Bookplate Collection, 1800-2000
Frank Allen (1913-1978) donated his collection of bookplates to Western Michigan University in 1965. He collected for twenty years .
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Mr. Allen was an Assistant Librarian at Western Michigan University at the time of his donation. This donation included the Richard Lee Sterling Memorial Bookplate Collection (Richard's father, James C. Sterling, received his degree in Librarianship in 1952 at Western Michigan University), The Mary Crease Sears Collection includes original pen and ink sketches and block prints of finished designs from Sears' bookplate career (1890-1938) and The Frances Dallam Moss Bookplate and Design Collection. Mr. Jasper Pennington, a Western Michigan University alumnus whose own collecting was inspired by Mr. Allen, donated additional materials in 2006. The collection also includes periodicals and books about bookplates and collecting.
Hugh J. Moser Graphic Design Collection, 1929-1990
The Hugh J. Moser Graphic Design Collection was donated by Ruth Moser, the wife of the late Hugh J. Moser (1925-2009). Hugh Moser was a graphic designer who worked for the Upjohn Company. He retired in 1990 as the art director in the International Advertising Division of the Upjohn Company.
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The collection includes books on printing management, graphic design, typography, and more, which have all been cataloged individually and are searchable via the WMU Libraries online catalog. The link above is for the archival material: brochures and samples, catalogs of stock photography, etc. These materials complement other collections on the history of printing, illustration and design.
Martin Cohen Collection of Kalamazoo Fine Press Ephemera, 1968-2000
Martin Cohen (1915-2005) was a professor in the former School of Librarianship at Western Michigan University where he taught a course on the history of the book. His interest in printing evolved from teaching this course. The collection consists of letterpress ephemera from the press and type foundry of Paul Hayden Duensing, the press of Martin Cohen, and the Michigan Letterpress Guild. It includes invitations, business cards, brochures, envelopes and typeface samples.

Subject and Course Guides

Special Collections and Rare Book Department: Book Arts and Graphic Design

Images from the Collections

Book Arts and Graphic Design-Related Collections

More Book Arts and Graphic Design-Related Collections