{Ed. Note: This is the 4th installment of the Books & Vines Affordable Treasures and Pleasures series which looks at nicely done and affordable fine press books. For this installment, Books and Vines contributor DlphcOracl presents ‘Clear Sky, Pure Light: Encounters with Henry David Thoreau’, compiled and edited by Christopher Childs, with an introduction by Walter Harding and wood engravings by Michael McCurdy.}
Are you tired of visiting Books and Vines and reading about books that cost thousands of dollars? Books only slightly less rare than a white unicorn walking through Central Park in New York City? Books that, if purchased, could result in divorce?!!! Fear not, gentle readers —— in my quest for truth, justice and beautiful yet affordable books I bring you the fourth installment of ‘Affordable Treasures and Pleasures’, books you can acquire without bartering your first-born offspring.
The Penmaen Press was founded in 1968 by Michael McCurdy (born 1942) in Boston, Massachusetts. McCurdy is an illustrator and author who is especially gifted at creating wood engraving illustrations for books, having illustrated over 200 books prior to his retirement. He developed an early interest in book illustration spurred on by a friendship that developed with noted American illustrator Lynd Ward after a teenage McCurdy wrote a letter expressing interest in his work. He received his artistic education at the School of the Museum of Fines Arts in Boston (1960 to 1966) and Tufts University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1964) and a Master of Fine Arts (1971). The Penmaen Press served, in part, as a platform for his wood-engravings and, from 1968 to 1985, the press produced a series of thoughtful, high quality literary works featuring authors as notable and diverse as William Saroyan, Allen Ginsberg, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Eberhart, and Nobel Prize winning poet Vincente Aleixandre. He discontinued the Penmaen Press in 1985 to devote more time to writing and commercial artistic work, illustrating trade books and accepting commissions to create wood engraving illustrations for limited editions from other publishers.
Books and Vines readers with long memories will remember Michael McCurdy’s name from a series of articles introducing B&V readers to the Yolla Bolly Press of San Covelo, California. He produced twelve beautiful wood engravings for their commemorative edition of John Muir’s classic of environmental literature ‘My First Summer in the Sierra‘. Subsequently, he also designed and illustrated the John Muir Library Series for Sierra Club Books. Other notable high points in McCurdy’s career as wood engraver and book illustrator include ‘The Man who Planted Trees’ (1985), an illustrated version of the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln (1995) and a suite of 50 new wood engravings for the one hundred fiftieth anniversary edition of Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Walden or Life in the Woods’ for Shambhala Publishers (Boston) in 2004.
‘Clear Sky, Pure Light’ began in 1974 and 1975, four years prior to publication of this book, as an original play written and staged by actor Christopher Childs. Childs developed a deep respect and affinity for Thoreau’s writings and, through his play, sought to present Thoreau “as is”, stripping away the stereotypes and preconceived notions of the man that arose with the far-flung fame of ‘Walden’; presenting Thoreau to his audience without the “-isms” that other critics and authors had tried to fit Thoreau into. Subsequently, Childs compiled and edited this book for Penmaen Press, organizing it into fourteen chapters that would best reflect the true nature of Thoreau. Each chapter begins with a page of brief commentary by Childs in italicized type followed by a selection of Thoreau’s writings from various sources, including Walden, Civil Disobedience, and his letters, journals, and diary. McCurdy produced a sepia wood engraving portrait of Thoreau as a frontispiece and three additional sepia-toned small engravings within the book.
The book was published in a limited edition of 2000 copies, designed and set in Monotype Van Dijck and printed letterpress by Michael and Winifred Bixler at their press and letterfoundry in Skaneateles, New York on a high quality creme-coloured paper. 100 copies were Special Editions that were hand bound, given matching cloth-covered slipcases containing a separate wood engraving of Thoreau’s portrait in black and white (rather than sepia) signed by Michael McCurdy and placed in a black folder, then laid-in. The 100 Specials were also signed by the three major participants: Christopher Childs, Walter Harding (who provides the Introduction), and Michael McCurdy in the colophon. Amazingly, a quick search of Abebooks reveals that there are numerous copies of the standard edition (1900 copies) in fine condition for as little as $15 or $20. A private press limited edition book? Printed and hand set letterpress by the Bixlers at their press and foundry?? With original wood-engravings by Michael McCurdy??? All for $15 or $20 ???? Yup – Truth! You do not have to spend a king’s ransom or forego your child’s college education to acquire a library of beautiful, distinctive books. Even your inner curmudgeon will not object to this purchase.
About the Edition
- Compiled and edited by Christopher Childs
- Introduction by Walter Harding
- Designed and set in Monotype Van Dijck and printed letterpress by Michael and Winifred Bixler on a high quality creme-coloured paper
- Original wood-engravings by Michael McCurdy
- Limited to 2,000 copies
- 100 copies were Special Editions that were hand bound, given matching cloth-covered slipcases, containing a separate wood engraving of Thoreau’s portrait in black and white (rather than sepia) and placed in a black folder, then laid-in
- Specials signed by Michael McCurdy, Christopher Childs & Walter Harding (regular signed by Christopher Childs)
- 7¾” – 9¾”, 102pp
Pictures of the Edition
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