Favorite *acquisitions* of 2021?

Inspired by yesterday's post about favorite letterpress and non-letterpress books published in 2021, what are your favorite letterpress and non-letterpress books that you acquired in 2021?

Mine are:

Letterpress - Hard to narrow it down... Barbarian Press Endgrain was a fantastic purchase while Old Stile Press' The Dream Song of Olaf Asteson is unique and beautiful, and then I nabbed some Matrix issues that are a perpetual source of enjoyment and a few St. James Park Press broadsides worth framing.

Non-letterpress - Folio Society's Birds Drawn for John Gould LE - huge and sumptuous and fun to page through, though it's so unwieldy I imagine I won't be pulling it out often.

1. "Monticello and the Legacy of Thomas Jefferson" from Thornwillow Press
2. "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" from Foolscap Press
3. "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (Sort Of)" from Greenboathouse Press

>1 ChampagneSVP: Well I’m not sure I can commit to a favorite or that if I did it would differ from my favorite published book of the year (Cascadia), but I finally pulled the trigger on Foolscap’s “Story Of The Fisherman” and that absolutely blew me away.

The typography, the mural-style artwork all handcolored, the overall design of the book just all absolutely incredible.

I am shocked this book is still in print and cannot recommend it enough.

Arion Press, Don Quixote

>2 grifgon: argghhh so upset i missed out on the Oak Knoll sale of the meditations.. Serves me right for sleeping on it 😅

It's incredibly difficult to answer this. I'm torn between two letterpress Whittington Press books, both by John Craig: Britten's Aldeburgh and Venice. For the curious, they are featured on my blog here:

https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/brittens-aldeburgh/
https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2021/05/08/venice/

Venice is probably the better overall package because I have the special edition. But Aldeburgh is just such a nice book that it would probably come out on top against the Venice standard edition. I have some other Whittington Press books that arrived in the last few days that I haven't had a chance to look at yet, but they could yet take the crown.

For non-letterpress, I think the answer would be Folio Society's Kafka on the Shore. I agree with those in the other thread that this is a great production that earns it's place in that £70-90 price bracket. In this respect, it sits alongside some greats of the past, Call of Cthulhu and Moby-Dick (standard edition) coming to mind.

Letterpress - LEC Hiroshima, AP Case of the Wolf-man - as acquisitions I'd rank these above the anything published this year due to the price/value ratio

Non-letterpress - books I previously mentioned in the 2021 thread - FS Divine Comedy and CP Dune, but I'd also add FS Kafka on the Shore, Madame Bovary LE, and Thus Spake Zarathrusa and Amaranthine Alice

I think I'd have to say that my best letterpress acquisition of 2021 is either Shakespeare's Sonnets or Dickinson's Poems, from A. Tallone. Possibly the most fun is a chapbook of Greta Thunberg's 2019 speech to the UN from Contre Coup Press.

I don't think I've had any notable non-letterpress acquisitions this year.

Letterpress:

The Georgics by Virgil (The Limited Editions Club)

Journals and Other Documents on the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morrison (The Limited Editions Club). Very underrated book! Written by a Pulitzer-winning biographer of Columbus with wonderful art by Lima de Freitas and criminally cheap even for an Eastern European!

The Little Flowers of St Francis of Assisi (The Limited Editions Club)

Still waiting for the crown-jewell - Andrea oder das Madchen von Andros. Eine Komodie des Terentius printed on a handpress by Officina Bodoni (it should arrive before New Year's Eve).

Non-letterpress: The History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen (Folio Society). Looks like a limited edition, very nice, though the paper could be better and the illustrations could be in colour, not b&w.

The Hamilton Press edition of Slaughterhouse Five stands out among my acquisitions this year- letterpress printed on Rives Lightweight with 24 engravings by Barry Hoffman and fantastic endpapers made out of a historical map of Dresden. It was originally limited to 100 copies, but it was never completed due to problems sourcing the maps, so not sure how many copies actually exist. Copies of the incomplete book were used as an exhibit at the Morgan Conservatory in Ohio: https://morganconservatory.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/special-publication-of-slaug...

Non-letterpress- I upgraded my Suntup Island of Doctor Moreau AE for the deluxe Easton Press version, and while I'm not a huge fan of the usual EP aesthetic, I'm much happier with it.

Easily my best acquisition of 2021 is a fine copy of the LEC Snow Country. It had been my biggest want for a long time, and I was thrilled to finally aquire it. Aside from that would be my copies of Cascadia and Mad Parrot Press' The Wind in the Willows.

Without doubt, my best acquisition of 2021 was E R Weiss: the Typography of an Artist from Incline Press, Oldham, UK. I had this on my radar ever since I first saw the prospectus. Had to wait about nine years, but the wait was definitely worth it. If you are into typography and type design, this book is for you! If not, well....

Weiss' work is well-known in Europe, especially Germany, but not so much in North America. He designed the LEC Four Gospels but that is it for that side of the pond.

This book is a magnificent production, loaded with examples. From the prospectus/website:
In our usual style, this book is illustrated with many facsimiles tipped onto the pages. These are mostly letterpress printed, as were the originals of course. Some photographic reproductions are also used, printed by Northends of Sheffield who do such good work for Parenthesis, the journal of the Fine Press Book Association. Every effort has been made to make the illustrations march with the text to avoid unnecessary flipping back and forth. Where appropriate, double-page illustrations are used to show how Weiss designed an opening, and these are sewn onto guards. Also illustrated are designs for complete bindings, paper over boards, dust-jackets, and working drawings alongside a photograph of the finished book.

This is a huge book (9" x 14") which is not surprising considering the size of some of the facsimiles included.

The Gospels - Officina Bodoni. This book truly deserves the laudatory phrase, "flawless letterpress printing," especially when you consider it was printed on the hand-press. It exemplifies why so many consider Giovanni Mardersteig to be the best pressman of the 20th century (not to mention his skills as a book designer and typographer).

New to fine press book collecting and to this group. It's interesting to see what others have been getting — I know and have got some of them myself, but others are new to me.

My favorites of this year: Song of Solomon (Thornwillow Press), Prufrock (No Reply Press), Morte de Smudgie (Arion Press)

Orations of Cicero (LEC), Don Quixote (Arion Press), and Prufrock (No Reply Press)

Not sure I had Stardust in hand in December 2020 or last year, otherwise I’ve followed this forum with interest but protected my bank balance (sort of) by focusing on LECs - highlights being War and Peace, Confessions of an English Opium Eater, The Thousand and One Nights, quite a few Bruce Rogers volumes and the very first LEC, Gulliver’s Travels. Have promised myself to read more, buy less in 2022.

Can only get my 2021 acquisition favourites list down to 4 letterpress books: Allen Press 'Four Fictions', Whittington Press 'Venice', Whittington Press 'The Mirror & the Eye' and Golden Cockerel Press 'True Historie of Lucian the Samosatenian'.

My favorite acquisition this year was a relatively cheap copy of 'The Tempest' by Caliban Press, which I found shortly after the discussion of the book on this forum.
Second favorite was a beautiful artist's book by Purgatory Pie Press of a short story printed in multiple colors / fonts - 'Lily Lou'.

1. Homer (T.E. Shaw (tr)) - The Odyssey - (Emery Walker, Wilfred Merton and Bruce Rogers, 1932). A Bruce Rogers masterpiece.
2. Thucydides - The History of the Peleponnesian War - (Ashendene Press, 1930).
3. Lawrence, T. E. - Crusader Castles - (Golden Cockerel Press, 1936).

The Kelmscott Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye--a favourite acquisition ever!

>19 Sport1963: These three are masterpieces!

>21 Lukas1990: Truly. I went into my 2022 and 2023 book budgets. Somehow these acquisitions are connected to "pandemic fatigue syndrome". A malady that represents an existential threat to my bank account!

Letterpress:

1. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ascensius Press
2. The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, Harry Quilter publisher, (1898)
3. The Defense of Guenevere by William Morris, Kelmscott Press, Doves Press binding.
4. Cascadia (multiple authors), Nawakum Press.
5. Undersea by Rachel Carson, Nawakum Press
6. Sonnets from Petrarch, George D. Sproul (1902), printed on vellum with extensive hand illumination.
7. 49 Days by Arthur Loney, Greenboathouse Press
8. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Guy Chapman publisher (1925), one of 18 in the full vellum binding.
9. Eleven Extant Poems by Guillem de Poitou, Perishable Press.
10. Coffeehouse Days by Ismail Dadare, designed and printed by Peter Koch for Rainmaker Editions.
11. Cane by Jean Toomer, Arion Press
12. The Georgics by Virgil, Shanty Bay Press
13. The Mabinogion, Golden Cockerel Press, one of 75 special copies with full morocco and gilt Sangorski & Sutcliffe binding.

Non-Letterpress

1. Aurora Australis, Folio Society Ltd. Edition.

>23 dlphcoracl: is the numbering in order of preference?

>24 punkzip:

No. It is in the order I acquired them over the course of 2021.

My top three (in order of preference) from the list above are:

1. Sonnets from Petrarch, George D. Sproul (printed on vellum pages). These illuminated books printed on vellum pages are known as the Saint Dunstan editions. Sproul published eleven of these books from 1901 to 1903 before going bankrupt from doing so.

2. The Georgics, Shanty Bay Press.

3. Coffeehouse Days, Peter Koch printer for Rainmaker Editions.

Tough call, so many wonderful books picked up in 2021.

Letterpress:
Cascadia, Nawakum Press (favorite for the year, the rest in no particular order)
The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf, Gehenna Press
Emily Dickinson Poems, Tallone
A Venetian Story, Allen Press
The Sea of Cortez, Arion Press

Non-Letterpress:
Dune (Centipede Press)
The Divine Comedy, Folio Society
Aurora Australis, Folio Society

>26 kdweber: Glad to see Sea of Cortez made your list of favourites! It didn't come up on my radar until probably a week after the thanksgiving sale. I'm hoping to find a secondary copy, otherwise might be waiting a full year for it.

Letterpress: >13 ultrarightist:

Non-letterpress: Dune, Centipede Press

>19 Sport1963: appreciating that Ashendene Thucydides vicariously. If you feel like posting some pictures sometime, I would be obliged.

>2 grifgon: The Monticello edition is amazing.... Impossible to find.

>26 kdweber: I love the Emily Dickinson. Tallone is amazing. I have a Pinocchio they did on blue paper. beautiful.

>3 NathanOv: I wanted you to know that based on your glowing recommendation I reached out and purchased this book. I, too, am shocked it's still available. I think my copy already has rub marks from me handling it so much for the past few hours.

>32 Objectr: that’s great! Glad you appreciate the book as much as I do.

Peggy & Larry are fantastic publishers and their work never ceases to impress. Did one of them send you the instructions on how to view the complete artwork?

>29 abysswalker: Here you go. Apologies for the poor photography, the camera and I don't get along too well.

Thucydides - History of the Peleponnesian War (Ashendene Press, 1930)

https://i.postimg.cc/pXTQsyy6/Thucydides01.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/LX5fNb8Z/Thucydides02jpg.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/6689JjBc/Thucydides03.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/t4q65GHD/Thucydides04.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/5NRhbbNk/Thucydides05.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/8PdVdq1y/Thucydides06.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/7YPyVKfw/Thucydides07.jpg

>34 Sport1963: lovely. Thanks for the pics.

#goals, as they say.

>34 Sport1963: Exquisite. Thanks.

>34 Sport1963: and there are some beautiful shelves in the back, too!

>34 Sport1963: What a spectacular book!

Limiting to secondhand acquisitions. Too difficult to narrow down to just one, but some standouts:

Letterpress printings:

Nonesuch Writings of William Blake
George Bell Marcus Aurelius
LEC Season in Hell

Non-letterpress printings:

Folio Society Poems of Thomas Gray LE (with the Blake illustrations)
California Deluxe Moby-Dick

Kind of a light year for me. Mostly spent my money on bargain first editions, which is weird. Never really had first edition mania before this year.

Fine Press I did get:

Tower of the Winds (Foolscap)
Psalms of the Singer David (John Nash)
Rappachini's Daughter (Allen Press)
Masters of the Weird Tale: Robert Aickman (Centipede Press)

>39 abysswalker: LEC Season in Hell is wonderful!

>26 kdweber: Which edition of Emily Dickinson Poems, Tallone? There were a number of variations available for this title.

>42 Bellissimovita: Just the standard edition.

>43 kdweber: Thank you. Are you pleased with it? I have gone back and forth on this version.