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LIMITED EDITION PRINTS AND EPHEMERA EPHEMERA items at the bottom of the page This page presents a selection of the prints from blocks commissioned by the Gregynog Press and its successor, Gwasg Gregynog (both acknowledged as being among the leading Private Presses of their day) to illustrate their fine limited editions. Included are wood engravings by Gertrude Hermes, Simon Brett, Sarah Van Niekerk, Anna Ravenscroft and Colin See-Paynton; Resingrave engravings by Harry Brockway; and colour wood engravings by the American artist Gaylord Schanilec. WOODCUT AND WOOD ENGRAVING Before the invention of moveable type in the fifteenth century, printed books were produced entirely from woodcuts. The woodcut continued to be the preferred method of illustration, especially since the blocks could be printed at the same time as the metal types. Woodcuts are made on the plank grain of the wood, but in the eighteenth century the well-known English engraver Thomas Bewick demonstrated how it was possible to achieve far greater detail by engraving on endgrain boxwood blocks using the tools normally employed for engraving on metal, as opposed to the knives & gouges used in producing a woodcut. The hard, close-grained nature of boxwood allowed the engraving of the finest lines, and by the 1840s wood engravings were being used as a means of reproducing photographs for printing. Further developments in photography and photomechanical engraving brought about the end of wood engraving as a means of commercial illustration and the craft was adopted by artists. The 1920s and 30s saw a new flowering of wood engraving and the artists at Gregynog were among its foremost practitioners. The medium is still popular with artists for producing editions of individual prints as well as for book illustration. FURTHER INFORMATION This page can only give the barest information about the prints themselves; separate laser-printed sheets showing the full range available from the Press by any of the artists listed can be obtained on request. The samples shown are reproduced at a reduced size, and are given only for the purpose of providing a sample of the images-they do not in any way convey the superior quality of the actual print. All the prints offered for sale are unmounted, and prices are for individual prints. ORDERING INFORMATION: To enquire about a print please click here or to place an order please click here. Orders must be accompanied by the relevant payment details, except in the case of existing trade accounts where goods will be supplied with invoice, payable within 30 days. Prices (UK): Prices include VAT, packing charges and first-class postage. (Overseas): The price in £sterling (less 17.5%VAT) should be regarded as the official retail price. The $US price shown is for guidance only and is based on an exchange rate of £1=$1.55. The exchange rate prevailing at the time of placing the order should be used for determining the price in $US. For remittances in other currencies please add the equivalent of £10 to cover conversion charges. Overseas prices include packing and airmail charges. Delivery takes at least 7 days. Faster delivery available at extra cost. Payment: By cheque (payable to Gwasg Gregynog), Mastercard or Visa. FORTHCOMING PRINTS ANNA RAVENSCROFT: Wood engravings published in the Gwasg Gregynog publication Llyfr Ruth and The Book of Ruth. Details available soon. RIGBY GRAHAM: Colour wood engraving produced for our fortrhcoming publication Pennant and his Welsh Landscapes. Details of these to be finalised.
GERTRUDE HERMES GERTRUDE HERMES made her first wood engraving in 1922 and soon established herself as one of the leading British wood engravers of the time. She was married to Blair Hughes-Stanton, and when he was appointed resident artist at the Gregynog Press in 1930, the family moved to Wales. In 1933 the Press commissioned her to illustrate a collection of thirty poems by W. H. Davies entitled The Lovers’ Song-book. She produced ten engravings, each one inspired by three of the poems. The engravings were thought at the time to be a little explicit, with the result that they were not used, and so are published here for the first time.
1 Where We Agree . Beauty and Song .
The Shadow
6 This Old Green Orchard . Pecking . The Peacemaker 7 Marvellous . The Laws of Beauty . A Foolish Tongue 8 Good and Evil . Regret . Three Score and Ten 9 A Lullaby of Rest . Last Thoughts . Love’s Rivals 10 True or Fickle . Love and Money . The Great Lovers The engravings are hand printed on Japanese Gampi Vellum hand-made paper in an edition of 100. Individual, unmounted prints £52.87/$81 FRANK MARTIN FRANK MARTIN studied with Gertrude Hermes and has worked as an illustrator for many years. He taught graphics at Camberwell School of Art and was Head of Department when he retired in 1980. His work as an artist and engraver is to be found in collections worldwide. These prints are from The Pleasant History of Lazarillo de Tormes published by Gwasg Gregynog in 1991.
Small numbered edition of less than 60,
signed by the artist.
Unmounted prints, individually priced.
12 The high Dutchmen £58.75/$81 13 Lazaro with his mother £35.25/$50 14 Lazaro £35.25/$50 15 The rat and the snake £35.25/$50 COLIN SEE-PAYNTON COLIN SEE-PAYNTON's wood engravings thrillingly transcend the conventions of wildlife illustration, an area traditionally limiting for wood engravers. Self-taught as a wood engraver, he has established a reputation as one of the leading artists working in this medium today. His work is noted for fineness of execution and an appropriateness which makes the subject immediately accessible. He has illustrated six titles for Gwasg Gregynog, the engravings offered here are from two of them.
GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS: The journey Printed on Zerkall mould-made paper in an edition limited to 150 copies numbered and signed by the artist. Individual, unmounted prints: £76.37/$103
GEESE AT GREGYNOG 1 Goose and gosling Printed on Lana mould-made paper in an edition limited to 100 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. Individual, unmounted prints: Numbers 1 and 2 £88.12/$120 Number 3 £64.62/$88 The complete set £205.62/$275 SIMON BRETT SIMON BRETT learned engraving at St Martin’s School of Art and taught for eighteen years at Marlborough College, Wiltshire. His work has won many awards and two monographs have been published on his bookplates. These engravings were commissioned by David Burnett for his Nine Poets, printed by Gwasg Gregynog in 1993 and now out of print.
1 Brecht 5 Herrick Printed in editions of 50 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. Individual, unmounted prints: £35.25/$50 HARRY BROCKWAY HARRY BROCKWAY is one of a growing number of younger artists making wood engravings. Originally trained as a sculptor, he was taught wood engraving at the Royal Academy Schools by Sarah van Niekerk. He is also a stonemason and now lives in Glastonbury. His illustrations for The Story of Heledd were made by engraving the main image on plastic, the second colour being overprinted from linocuts.
1 The grave Edition of 66, signed by the artist GAYLORD SCHANILEC DESCRIBED AS ’an unassuming midwestern guy in a baseball cap’, American artist Gaylord Schanilec, who lives in rural Wisconsin, has received international acclaim for his colour wood engravings. He created these eight engravings during his six month residency at Gregynog in 1990/91 when he was commissioned to illustrate Wrenching Times - published by the Press in 1991 - a selection of poems from Walt Whitman’s Drum-taps . Each print takes its title from the poem which it illustrates.
1 Portrait of Walt Whitman Edition of 100, signed by the artist STEFAN MROZEWSKI STEFAN MROZEWSKI was born in Poland in 1894 and after graduating from Warsaw School of Fine Arts he moved to Paris, where he established a reputation as an artist and illustrator. The engravings listed here were cut during his time in Amsterdam, and were inspired by Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. During his visit to Gregynog in the 1930s, he produced a set of artist’s proofs of the blocks, the intention being that the Press would use them to illustrate a proposed Gregynog edition of Parzival. The book was never completed and they were eventually used by Gwasg Gregynog in 1996 to illustrate The Romance of Parzival and the Holy Grail. As the blocks proved to be unprintable the engravings were reproduced from the set of artist’s proofs printed in 1936.
1 Gahmuret with the Moorish Queen Large, unnumbered editions Individual, unmounted prints SARAH VAN NIEKERK SARAH VAN NIEKERK studied wood engraving under Gertrude Hermes and taught for many years at the Royal Academy Schools, where Harry Brockway was one of her pupils. These engravings are from The Curate of Clyro: Extracts from Kilvert’s Diary, published by Gwasg Gregynog in 1983 and now out of print, and the recently-published George Herbert: Sundrie Pieces.
THE CURATE OF CLYRO Editions of 50, numbered and signed Individual, unmounted prints £41.12/$58 There are other engravings from this series available -please enquire.
DAVID WOODFORD
DAVID WOODFORD lives and works in Nant
Ffrancon, near Bethesda, Snowdonia. He
produced these etchings to illustrate the
Gwasg Gregynog Four Great Castles published
in 1983, and now out of print. Beaumaris Castle: The Gate next to the Sea Prints are in small, unnumbered editions of less than 50.
Individual, unmounted prints £11.75/$19 PETER ALLEN PETER ALLEN first came to Gregynog as a
post-graduate student from the University
of Wales, Aberystwyth. Impressed by his
abilities, the Press decided to publish An
ABC Tour About France, an alphabet book
compiled by the artist during several visits
to France as a student. A series of linocuts
depicting different cities, villages and
regions of France are hand-coloured using
stencils, a process known as pochoir.
AN ABC TOUR ABOUT FRANCE allons-y!
L is for the Lubéron M is for Marseille N is for Nyons O is for the Oisans P is for Pont du Gard Q is for Quercy R is for the Rouergue S is for St. Germain T is for Tain l’hermitage U is for Uzès W is for Wissant
Y is for Yonne Z is for andu-Z-e An ABC Tour About France Colouring with stencils THE ORIGIN of the word ’stencil’ has been obscured through the passage of time, although there is one suggestion that it derives from the Old French word estenceler meaning ’to sparkle’. This aptly describes the way in which early printers tried to
The technique is relatively simple, with colour being applied through openings made in an impermeable sheet. Each colour requires a separate stencil, and these in turn are positioned in register on the design. The coloured paints are brushed over the stencil and through the cut-outs. Some local changes in the materials used to make up the stenciller’s modest kit are, in the most part, all that separates its practice in the Orient, for example, from
The colouring involved all the printmaker’s family. The tasks such as mixing the paints and cutting out the stencils were usually the responsibility of the printer’s wife. His children, the more the merrier, were given the endless job of brushing on the colours.
AN ABC TOUR OF WALES A: Aberdovey
J: James y Bara K: Kerry Ridgeway L: Lleyn Peninsula M: Mawddach Estuary N: Nant Gwynant O: Ogof P: Pembroke coast Q: Quarries R: Rhossili
T: Tenby U: River Usk V: The Valleys W: Waterfalls X: X-roads Z: Zion An ABC Tour of Wales EPHEMERA KYFFIN WILLIAMS SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS,OBE, RA was born on Anglesey in 1918 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1941 to 1944, when he was appointed Senior Art Master at Highgate School in London, a position he held for almost thirty years. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1974 and has been President of the Royal Cambrian Academy on two occasions: 1969-76, and again since 1992. He received an OBE in 1982 and was knighted for service to the arts in 1999. Considered by many to be one of the greatest figures in twentieth-century art in Wales, Kyffin Williams is best known for his dramatic paintings of the harsh North Wales landscape, its weather-beaten farmers and their dogs. WATERFALL ON THE OGWEN. An unlimited edition, scanned from the not numbered nor signed from the artist's own copy and printed by lithography.£23.50 The William Morris Quotation £10
Charles Dickens on Books £5
Kyffin Williams' Christmas Cards. Illustrated with a linocut by Kyffin Williams printed letterpress from the original block on Velin Arches 100% cotton paper.£10, pack of 6 with envelopes.For full details open the adjacent pdf file or contact the Press.Pdf Kyffin Christmas card
An ephemera piece: Yr Hen Broffwyd a'r Sais was produced for the National Eisteddfod 2004. Comprising two new poems by Meic Stephens, printed by hand on pure cotton paper and presented in an Ignes paper wrapper, the edition is limited to 100 numbered copies only. This, the latest in the successful series of the Press's Welsh-language ephemera commemorating each Eisteddfod.£10. Two ephemera items for 2003 Eisteddfod: an 8 page French-folded publication comprising the well-known Ann Griffith hymn 'Wele'n Sefyll Rhwng y Myrtwydd' translated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, on a single sheet with a four line verse extolling the virtues of the Vale of Meifod. Copies are still available at.
Miscellanea: a selection of pages, prints and ephemera produced at Gregynog since 1978 Even in the best run private presses things occasionally go wrong, and it is sensible to have some extra pages, prints, invitations etc. to hand. Miscellanea brings together samples of such precautionary printing at the Press and makes them available to a wider public in two forms: The blue edition, of which there are some 450 portfolios, contains at least 25 pieces & consists mainly of individual pages, several with illustrations, cards and prospectuses, with some invitations and individual unsigned prints. 735 x 245 x 10mm. Available now at £30 The editions are unnumbered, and it is unlikely that any two collections will be identical.
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