Robert R. Reid, Printer (1927-2022)

Robert Reid – the person I have called Canada’s first true private press printer – died last week. HM’s second publication was a bibliography of the five books his press issued. For just my second project on a handpress it was far too ambitious, but that seems apropos for a book about Bob. There will certainly be tributes to Bob’s career in the coming months. I’m going to limit mine to simply sharing the following three pages from a brochure he produced (c. mid-1980s?). I think it’s a concise representation of his typographic tastes, and the way he expressed his many passions in life (golf being a big one) through print.

HM’s Predicted Light Cone for 2022

So apparently people like more random pictures & less yak, based on all the new visitors to last month’s post. I’ll try to remember: this month, images from 2022 projects for HM: two that definitely will happen, one that probably might, and one likely to stray into ’23 (assuming HM also manages to stray into ’23...).

These incongruous parts are from a project that will feature original reduction (color) linocuts by Walter Bachinski of Shanty Bay Press fame. Needless to say he’ll be printing the linocuts himself, HM will do the text and binding. Scheduled for fall ’22.

A Jim Rimmer/Pie Tree Press thing (hard to describe at this point); summer-ish ’22? 

Got my new finishing press from Illtyd Perkins just in time to put it under the tree! It will be put to work on the two projects mentioned above.

The too-long-discussed HM=XX, which will be issued by April even if it kills me & makes the previous two projects mooted moot. I spent most of the Xmas hols painting in 40 Hs and 40 Ms. (Marginal notes in all copies courtesy Barbara Hodgson.)

I don’t know why I have this orphan brayer handle (tho it might have been one of the things I inherited when Black Stone Press closed up), but in 2022 I will load it with a roller, one from Lawrence in the UK. 

    

This one may take a while. I have to get my head around a few basics before anything gets printed, including Minkowski space (see top), not to mention staining all the old paper from broken books it will be printed on (sample above). We’ll leave it there for now, I still have 10 Hs and 10 Ms to paint in. I’ll show some of my bookish Xmas bounty next month (because it hasn’t arrived yet...). Happy happy, keep being nice to all.