New Acquisition: The Clinker Press of Andre Chaves
Special Collections is extremely pleased to announce the generous and significant gift of works produced by Clinker Press, a private letterpress studio printing material relating to the art of printing as well as the Arts and Crafts Movement, by Dr. Andre Chaves, proprietor and printer.
A graduate of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro medical school, Dr. Chaves specialized in hand surgery. The hand is a complex instrument having the largest set of nerve endings in the human body. Hand surgeons are required one of the longest residency programs and must maintain the highest level of attention to detail and care. It is these skillsets that have ensured the output of the Clinker Press to be of the highest quality.
Clinker Press was started in 1996 in Pasadena, California and is currently located in Tualatin, Oregon. The name was derived not only from the clinker brick of his Pasadena garage but also because clinker implies something not very important and keeps things in perspective. Dr. Chaves writes: “Within this focus I print subjects relating to art and literature. Although I do not do job printing, some special projects would be considered upon their own merits, as long as it falls within these parameters.” Many of his colophons reflect this perspective with whimsical statements like, “Too Bad” “Not So Idle Hands,” “During Discussions About Debt Ceiling,” etc.
The donation includes 15 monographs and as many broadsides. The influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement are obvious in several publications written by or about Ruskin, Morris (Kelmscott Press) and Cobden-Sanderson (Doves Press). In his production of Cobden-Sanderson’s Journals on Doves Press, for example, you can clearly see the integration of illustration with text, a benchmark of the Arts and Crafts philosophy.
Beyond the publication of Arts and Crafts founders, Dr. Chaves has, like many letterpress printers, selected poetry that clearly reflects his own world view and the place of the fine press printer in that understanding. The renown Harvard rare book curator, Roger Stoddard, once remarked that it was not the author of a book, but the printer, who made a book come alive. Chaves printing of Binsey Poplars, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, makes this connection most clear. The choice of font, paper, binding, and illustration bring the text of the poem alive. You can literally envision the poplars being cut and feel the emotion of Hopkins by their loss.
This tickling of the senses is the work of a great printer. We are most fortunate to have received this wonderful gift.
— David de Lorenzo, Director
