
THE PERISHABLE PRESS
PRINTER: WALTER HAMADY, 19402019
[
]
Scarce Perishable Press Ephemera: “Laura Evans Hamady, PRINTER's DEVIL”
A Daughter's Beautiful Birth Announcement
(PROOFSHEETS)
(A Personal “Perishable”). Hamady, Walter. Proofs: Laura's birth announcement.
[Mt. Horeb, WI]: Perishable Press, 1975. 8vo (26.7 cm, 10.5"). [10] ff.; illus.
$1500.00
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Unusual and interesting ephemera, offering some insight into the design and printing process of the proprietor of the Perishable Press, as well as a nice example of his
inimitably quirky style: 10 proofsheets of Hamady's announcement of his daughter Laura's birth, reflecting the printer's experimentations with layout and color as well as his personal joy. Some of these proofsheets bear editorial marks in red ink, while one has the “Printer's Devil” header on an affixed slip of paper; several have the text printed in variant color schemes.
The sheets are printed on Plover Fineweave paper with the text set in Sabon Antiqua. At the head of each is a print of a nicely rendered pen-and-ink drawing of the Hamady farm (where “Mother Father & Daughter are well and thriving”), done by Jack Beal (“Laura's Uncle Jack”).
Not in Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press. Sheets laid into a manila envelope labelled in Hamady's handwriting. Clean and crisp; some pages with markings as above. (31364)



One of the AIGA's “50 Books of the Year”
Hall, Walter. Spider poems. Madison, WI: Perishable Press, [1967]. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.6"). [34] pp.
$125.00
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First edition of this volume of poems, for which Walter Hamady received the American Institute of Graphic Arts' Fifty Best Books Award. Hamady says “This sequence of
poems about a short-order cook are delightful, I've liked them from the start when we were undergraduates together in Keith Waldrop's 'Creative Writing' class at Wayne State.”
The present example is
one of 250 copies printed, with the text in handset Palatino in red, brown, and black on Nideggen paper, and the brown cloth binding done by Elizabeth Kner.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 11. Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with title stamped in blind; spine and board edges faded. Very clean and nice. (31575)
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Hamady's Own
Words, Paper, & Printing
Hamady, Walter. In sight of Blue Mounds. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1972. Oblong 8vo (15.9 cm, 6.25"). [8] pp., 20 ff., [2] pp.
$850.00
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A marvelous Perishable Press production: “Twenty poem pieces arranged by season,” written by the press's proprietor. These poems, taken from Hamady's journal, were printed partly as a thank-you to Paul Blackburn (“who showed us by example the forgotten apiary of journal keeping”) and also “to use up all the different papers that came from trying to reduce our supply of old towels, ties, jeans, sheets & shirts” — resulting in a seasonally-themed progression of red, brown, blue, and green Shadwell papers for the front pages, and a variety of hues throughout. The book opens with an illustration by Ellen Lanyon; the text itself is printed in red, black, green, browns, and blues.
This is numbered copy 87 of 125 printed.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 52. Publisher's quarter brown cloth and autumnal marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, in a brown cloth–covered slipcase; clean and fresh. (31266)

“An Absolute Pedagogical Necessity for the Children of
All Well-To-Do Graphic Designers”
Hamady, Walter. John's apples. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1995. Folio (30.3 cm, 12" & 27.9 cm, 11"). [1] f., [1] f.
$350.00
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One broadside and one typed sheet promoting the 121st publication of the Perishable Press: a volume of poems by Reeve Lindbergh illustrated with paintings by John Wilde, “ostensibly a children's book concerning apples.” The limited edition is here described as “an attempt to show how books grow from idea to artifact,” with “surprises to delight the receptive and confound the costive.”
The broadside showcases Walter Hamady's inimitable style, both textually and typographically: The header is a jumble of decorative letters from the words “John's Apples,” and faint shadow text runs behind the main body of text, which in addition to the statements of purpose includes a pithy comment from the painter's ten-year-old granddaughter. The printing was done in gray-green, red, and black on cream-colored handmade paper with one deckle edge.
The typed sheet, which starts out with “Some critical acclaim and just plain comments about John's Apples aka the apple book,” offers blurbs and quirky reader responses to John's Apples. While this is a fairly simple and straightforward production by the Perishable Press's standards, Hamady clearly could not resist at least a touch of his usual flair, typing a number of lines in diagonal directions with reckless disregard for the straight and level.
Broadside with two nearly invisible mailing folds; one corner very slightly creased, otherwise unworn and clean. Sheet likewise with mailing folds, otherwise crisp and fresh.
Appealing and uncommon Perishable Press ephemera. (31234)



Laughlin's
Only Perishable Press Printing
Laughlin, James. The pig. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1970. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). [26] pp.
$175.00
Fine press edition: a gathering of short poems by Laughlin, founder of the New Directions publishing company. The type is Smaragd and Palatino, printed in red, black, tan, cream, and blind on white Shadwell paper (there were some additional copies on beige paper); the colophon features Walter Hamady's distinctive Perishable Press pressmark, calligraphed by Sheikh Nasib Makarem. The binding was done by Elizabeth Kner, using Japanese decorative paper.
This is
one of 183 copies total, signed on the half-title by the author.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 32. Publisher's navy and white patterned paper–covered boards, front cover with blind-stamped and printed paper title-label. A crisp, clean copy. (31277)

A “Flowery” Perishable Press Production
Merwin, W.S. Chinese figures (second series). Mt.
Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1971. Tall 8vo (26.8 cm, 10.5"). [16] pp.
$200.00
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First edition: Interestingly textured Perishable Press printing of this poem by
Merwin, who has been the U.S. Poet Laureate and was awarded Pulitzer prizes in both 1971 and
2009. The piece was printed in tall, vertical format in handset Palatino in pale orange, blue, grey,
and black on “a pale Shadwell with thread activity,” and bound in “fern-leaf & vervain blossom
Shadwell” wrappers; this is one of 120 copies printed, of which 75 were for sale.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 49. Publisher's paper wrappers as above, with over-wrapper a little sun-darkened along spine. A fresh, unworn copy. (30932)

A
Perishable Press–Favored Author
Olson, Toby. The pool, from the novel Dorit in Lesbos.
Driftless [i.e., Mt. Horeb], WI: Perishable Press, 1991. 8vo (26.2 cm, 10.3"). 38 pp.; 1 fold. plt.
$400.00
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First edition: Stand-alone printing of a particularly evocative sequence from
Olsen's novel Dorit in Lesbos, dedicated to Alan Peacock (given here as Allen). This interesting
Perishable Press printing was handset in Gill Sans and printed on Shadwell paper, made by Kent
Kasuboske “back in the Oligocene sometime” according to the colophon; the work is illustrated
with an oversized, folding plate and other designs by Lane Hall.The present example is
numbered copy 49 of 107 printed, signed by the author at the
end of the text.
Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper
with applied collage elements, in glassine dust wrapper. A nice copy.
(30920)
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A.K.A. “Four Poems” — Hamady's Calligraphic Inscription
Olson, Toby. Three & one. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1976. 16mo (13.3 cm, 5.25"). [16] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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First edition of this collaboration between Olson and Walter Hamady of the Perishable Press, with a title variance commented upon in the postface; while the half-title calls this Three & One, the title-page gives Four Poems, with the Perishable Press bibliography using the former. The typeface was Sabon-Antiqua printed in blue, maroon, black, and grey on Frankfurt and Frankfurt Cream papers, sewn into blue marbled paper wrappers, and the poems are
illustrated with two intricate drawings by Mary Laird, hand-tinted with colored pencils by the printer. 145 copies were printed.
Provenance: This copy inscribed, in an angular, decorative hand (presumably Hamady's), to a contemporary bookseller and archivist, with the inscription dated 1976.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 76. Wrappers as above, with very faint traces of wear to extremities, otherwise clean and fresh. It should be noted that the hand-tinting is to small portions of the illustrations only, and very subtle in tone; inscription, as above, large and bold.
A nice copy of this “first,” with an interesting inscription. (37227)
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Perishable Press Production from Walter Hamady, His New Wife,
& One of His Favorite Poets
Olson, Toby. Worms into nails. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1969. 8vo (24.3 cm, 9.6"). [32] pp.
$115.00
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First edition: The second collaboration between Olson and Walter Hamady of the Perishable Press, who eventually produced a total of seven books together. Signed by the author at the dedication, this is numbered copy 36 of 200 printed — of which only 140 copies were for sale. The text is Palatino “hand-set by the PPL's new partner . . . Mary Hamady” (according to the colophon), printed in red, black and tan on handmade Fabriano paper; Two Decades describes the gilt front-cover image as “Jack Beal's drawing of worms literally turning into nails.”
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 28. Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette; spine all but imperceptibly sunned, otherwise clean and fresh. (31574)
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Experiments in Printing Subtlety from the Perishable Press
Oppen, George. Alpine. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable
Press, 1969. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.7"). [16] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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First edition, dedicated “to those who as poets and publishers have rescued a
nation's literature”; Walter Hamady, proprietor of the Perishable Press, was particularly pleased
with that dedication, saying “one of my favorite pages is the dedication page, 18 point Palatino
italic has a fine flow to it & the blind debossment of another geologic structure below it excites
me.” Like that blind-stamped illustration, his distinctive pressmark appears also in blind, at the
colophon — and
the copyright line (deliberately) appears in such a faint grey, overlying a
line on the title-page recto, that its near-invisibility caused issues with filing for copyright.
The text was set by hand in Palatino and Michaelangelo, and printed in black and grey on Shadwell paper; this is one of 250 copies printed.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 21. Publisher's tan paper wrappers, front wrapper with blind-stamped title. Minimal wear to extremities, otherwise a clean and fresh copy. (30930)
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Perishable Press Poetry
Oppenheimer, Joel. Del quien lo tomó: A suite. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1982. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). [26] pp.
$140.00
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First edition: “Adornment of Body,” “The Jane St. Poem,” and “Autumn,” preceded by a collage illustration that Hamady (who called this production a personal favorite) described as “a 'lady-out-of-the-map' rising die-cut from a grommetted card pocket with a red halo.”This is
one of 228 copies “manually printed in this farmhouse parlour on various shadwell papers hand-formed in the barn,” according to the colophon, which also mentions that “sultry august is when we finish” [sic].
Two Decades of Hamady and the Perishable Press Limited, 103. Publisher's sparkly “flesh-glitter & sequin” paper wrappers, spine with “Joel” pressure-stamped in reverse.
A beautiful copy. (33821)

Pieces Found Filed under
“NH Poems”
Oppenheimer, Joel. New Hampshire journal. Perry
Township [i.e., Mt. Horeb], WI: Perishable Press, 1994. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.1"). 48 pp.; illus.
$650.00
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First edition: A simply and strikingly designed
Perishable Press printing of
these poems, written towards the end of Oppenheimer's life and published posthumously. They
appear here with an afterword by Oppenheimer's widow, Theresa Maier, and woodcut page
decorations by
Margaret Sunday.This is numbered copy 39 of 125 printed and it is
hand-dedicated at the colophon to
Andrew Hedden, a notable collector of press books and livres d'artiste.
Publisher's cream-colored paper wrappers stitched with white leather lacings.
Clean and fresh, with signatures unopened. (30921)

Perishable Press: Fathers, Sons, & Women
Oppenheimer, Joel. Notes toward the definition of David. Minor Confluence [i.e., Mount Horeb], WI: Perishable Press, 1984. 8vo (25.5 cm, 10").
[20] pp.; illus.
$50.00
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First edition: Cleanly designed Perishable Press production, this being one of 210
copies and
signed by the author, illustrated with a wood engraving by Pati Scobey. The
colophon proclaims “This book is the first for the third decade of this press, and is the one-hundred-seventh since beginning in 1964" — it also thanks produce manager Randy Hagen for
saving onion skins over several months to facilitate the production of the handmade Shadwell
“Onionskin” cover stock.
Publisher's paper wrappers as
above, front wrapper with tiny lion device stamped in red. A fresh, unworn copy.
(30919)

Signed,
Limited Edition
Oppenheimer,
Joel. Sirventes on a sad occurrence. Madison, WI: The Perishable
Press, 1967. 12mo (18.3 cm, 7.25"). [4] pp.; 6 ff., [2] pp.
$150.00
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First separate printing of this poem, which Walter Hamady (proprietor
of the
Perishable Press) described as “one
of Joel's most top-shelf poems . . . so tough and at the same time so tender
with a humanity as big as the planet.” The text is printed in black, brown,
and red on Arches and Nideggen papers, in a pamphlet binding handsewn by Hamady.
This is one of 130 copies printed and was
signed
by the author. The colophon features
Hamady's distinctive pressmark, calligraphed by Sheikh Nasib Makarem.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 10.
Publisher's mushroom-colored paper wrappers; outer edge of front wrapper
creased, otherwise unworn and clean. (30787)

“In the Dew of Time”
Perishable Press. Broadside, begins: “Warning! Oh yes you can too do it & whoumzoevber sed not is full of snot ... ” [Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press], 1980. 8vo (27 x 19 cm.; 10.5" x 7.25"). 1 p.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
A type specimen thank-you to Paul Duensing for teaching “an old dog a new trick. At least P[aul] H D[uensing] managed to taught [sic] W[alter] S H[amady] to cast type in the barn! Here is the first attempt at solo experiment & this is Ashely-Crawford 24 point. MFG. Spring 1980.”
Fine copy. (30791)
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Perishable Press: Marking the Occasion
Rothenberg, Jerome. B • R • M • TZ • V • H. Mount Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1979. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [8] pp.
$75.00
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First edition of this poem in honor of Matthew Rothenberg's bar mitzvah,
signed by the author. This is one of 225 copies printed in black and gray on Umbria paper and pamphlet-sewn in a single, four-folded sheet of Raffaello Roma. Walter Hamady's usual colophonic flair is showcased here: the edition statement is composed
acrostically.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 90. Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper with title printed in off-white. Crisp and clean. (30903)
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Blue Book — Perishable Press
Stafford, William. Weather. Mt. Horeb, WI: The
Perishable Press, 1969. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). [24] pp.
$450.00
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A beautiful fine press printing of these 13 poems by Stafford, eventually a U.S.
Poet Laureate, illustrated with a title-page vignette by Jack Beal. The text is printed in Palatino
in black, red, blue, and green on blue-gray Shadwell paper “made from unbleached half-stuff”;
Walter Hamady, proprietor of the
Perishable Press, did the pamphlet binding in navy blue
Fabriano wrappers.This is one of 207 copies printed; Hamady's distinctive pressmark, calligraphed by Sheikh
Nasib Makarem, appears here in blind at the colophon.
Two Decades of Hamady
& the Perishable Press, 25. Publisher's navy paper wrappers, front wrapper
with blind-stamped title and vignette. A crisp, clean copy.
(30788)

Perishable
Press . . .
Thayler,
Carl. The drivers. Mt. Horeb, WI: The Perishable Press, 1969.
8vo (21.8 cm, 8.6"). [24] pp.
$50.00
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First
edition: 11 poems from a
California-born poet and professor. Decorated with a title-page illustration
done after an etching by Jack Damer, these pieces were hand-set in Palatino
and printed in black, brown, red, and orange on handmade Shadwell paper. This
is
one
of 220 copies printed, of which only 130 copies were for sale;
Walter Hamady's distinctive
Perishable
Press pressmark, calligraphed by Sheikh Nasib Makarem, appears
in blind at the colophon.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 23.
Publisher's gray Fabriano paper wrappers, front wrapper with title
stamped in blind. A clean, fresh copy. (30800)
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