SAN FRANCISCO — Arion Press, located in San Francisco, has been preserving the art of hand-printing books for half a century. They specialize in producing limited-edition books that feature illustrations created by renowned artists.
Their production facility houses a letterpress shop equipped with historic metal typefaces, a type foundry, and a full hand book bindery. According to Blake Riley, the creative director of Arion Press, this craft is characterized by its labor-intensive and hands-on nature, making it not just a labor of love, but a slow and meticulous one.
Working in close collaboration with M&H Type, the largest operational type foundry in the United States, Brian Ferrett, a typecaster and press operator, shed light on the intricate monotype system. This system, dating back to the 1890s, meticulously casts each individual letter in a line or paragraph of a book. With this technology, an entire publication can be cast, emphasizing the efficiency and precision of the process.
Arion Press publishes several unique, limited-edition books every year that are printed from metal types cast on site. “No two books that we make are ever the same. We essentially are recreating the wheel every time with the formats and the materials,” said Riley.
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The process is lengthy, though. Once the text is printed and proofread, the book goes to the handbook bindery where it’s sewn, many times by hand.
Bookbinder Jocelyn Lee said, “We are responsible, once all the pages are printed, for folding them and sewing them. We either machine sew them on our Smythe machine back there or we hand sew them. We use a 100% linen thread, and that’s archival. We also, here at the bindery, make all the covers ourselves.”
Arion Press recently moved its facility from the Presidio to Fort Mason in San Francisco and welcomes all visitors to experience the magic of this old-fashioned craftsmanship.
You can learn more by visiting here.
