The title page shows the Frontispiece spread from

John Keats Endymion published by the Golden Cockerel Press in 1947.

John Buckland Wright in his London Studio, 1950

DEPARTMENTS

Treasurer's Notes by Kathee Kiesselbach 4

Call for Bundle #42, Summer 2009 4

Bundle Participation? 34

New Members 35

Changes & Updates 36

Announcements & Notes 37

Advertisements 38

BLOCK BURINNo. 41 Winter 2009

& FEATURES

Notes from Jim by Jim Horton 5

WEN 2009 Summer Workshop 6

The Engraver’s Son 7an interview with Chris Buckland-Wright by Tony Drehfal

Wood Engravings from Endymion 18introduced with an excerpt written by Eunice Martin

WEN Bundle # 41, Winter 2009 23

Block & Burin is the newsletter of theWood Engravers’ Network (WEN)

This issue: Block & Burin # 41, Winter 2009 Cover: Homage to JBW, G Mueller & T DrehfalCopy Editor: William RueterFor information on Block & Burin contact: Tony Drehfal, Editor,W221 East Wisconsin Ave , Nashotah, WI 53058Phone: 262-367-5191E-mail: adrehfal@wctc eduFor information on WEN contact: James Horton, WEN Organizer3999 Waters Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103Phone: 734-665-6044E-mail: Jimhorton@sbcglobal net

Services of WEN:• Twice yearly mailing/print exchange

(April & November)• Membership Guide• Resources and Materials Guide• Lending Library• Workshops and Exhibitions• Website: www woodengravers net

Since 1994, WEN is an organization for the education and enjoyment of relief printmaking and in particular engraving upon end-grain wood

Block & Burin uses the Stone Print typeface family Sumner Stone graciously donated the fonts to WEN

The Editor reserves the right to edit copy to fit as necessary.

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Treasurer’s Notesby Kathee Kiesselbach

Call for Bundle #42Summer, 2009

• Contributions are due by August 1, 2009.• Send bundle contributions to Sylvia Pixley, 601

Borgess Ave , Monroe, MI 48162• Quantity: Minimum of 76 (one extra for the Ar-

chive) Our membership is at 180 at this writing should you wish to distribute to all members

• Size: Maximum 9" x 12" (We are mailing in a 10" x 13" envelope) • Anyone submitting prints is ensured of receiving

entire Bundles and moving to the front of the line for future Bundles

• We recommend sending printing information with your contributions This is just a suggestion; not mandatory by any means This information accompanies your print which is stored in the Princeton University Graphic Arts Library This archive holds all WEN material

• We encourage members to sign-up for producing a cover for Block & Burin. We will cover expenses

• We welcome (and need) your submissions of articles, interviews, ads and announcements for publication in Block & Burin. Send articles, ads to,

Tony Drehfal W221 East Wisconsin Ave Nashotah, WI 53058, USA e-mail: adrehfal@wctc edu

Please send written submissions as unformatted text files via email, it makes the layout far more simple Please make an effort to use Microsoft Word for your written submissions Images should be mailed, or contact Tony for scanning specifics

In December of 2008 we paid $848 to Leitzke Print-ing for the printing of Block & Burin for bundle #40, and $581 for related postage and $100 for expenses related to sending the 2009 dues letter, postage, and envelopes

We have received 2009 dues ($35 US & Canada/$40 overseas) from 106 members and are grateful for the extra donations (amounting to $235) included by members Susan Wilson, Rich-ard Wagener, Richard Woodman (Resingrave ad), Dale Kennedy, Michael McGarvey, R Lee Wheless, John Johnson, Ken Allen, Sylvia Pixley, and Peter Newland

We purchased two new fonts from Stone Type Foundry for use in the production of Block & Burin by Tony Drehfal for $70

Our new Paypal account (dues@woodengrav-ers net) has allowed our overseas members to pay more easily, and three took advantage of this option in 2009 As of April 11, 2009, the WEN account stands at $4,329 48

Respectfully submitted,Kathee Kiesselbach

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Notes from Jimby Jim Horton

Greetings WEN Members I hope the warmer weather is lifting your spirits It has been a rough one for some of our WEN friends Eric May has been a member of our group from the first day we organized He attended our first workshop and just about every one since He quietly goes about his wonderfully conceived designs It is absolutely hon-est work He puts thought and skill into whatever comes off his graver Eric can use our positive energy as he is facing some challenges right now When we saw him in West Virginia last summer, he seemed to be moving slowly His lung cancer is in treatment, and he is optimistic about progress

Sharen Linder and myself just lost our fathers Mine was 98 (married 74 years) and hers was 97 (married 70 years) Both mothers survive As I chat-ted with Sharen, we both shared how much the little things are that catch us For me, it is cleaning the basement My Dad was a sign painter, and he also did wonderful show cards and screen prints (before it was commercially done on T-shirts…back when they used real silk!) I have all his old brushes, quills and fitches now There are boxes with maulsticks, packs of gold leaf and pounce wheels They are treasures that he kept Like me, he loved that base-ment He had his plants and tools There is a bevy of little quotations he saved He loved words and wrote whimsical essays He had the most talented eye for lettering that I ever saw He always drew a crowd if he was gold-leafing an office sign, lettering a truck, or even just practising Often, I would see him roll out paper on his easel, and just make hundreds of lettering strokes…verticals, curves, and stems…on and on I know Sharen will miss her father too

Deborah Mae Broad was included in the re-cently published book, Printmaking – Traditional and Contemporary Techniques by d’Arcy and Vernon-Morris Simon Brett reviewed the book in the SWE publication, Multiples (No 1, February, 2009) He gave Deborah Mae a usual thumbs-up as a choice for an interview Deborah lives not far from the Red River on the North Dakota/Minnesota border that is flooding right now She is in our thoughts By the way, Multiples had an inspiring article on Canadian wood engravers

We look forward to a summer with opportuni-

An image from Frans Masereel’sPassionate Journey, A Novel in 165 Woodcuts

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ties for wood engraving workshops On June 28-July 4th we will have a workshop at the John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina I’ll be teaching and I’m sure book artist Dea Sasso will be around too Yes, there will be wood chips flying but there is far more to enjoy than just having engrav-ing all day They have wonderful meals, activities, folk music and new friends You will know how the Smoky Mountains get the name, as the mist rises out of those awesome hills in the morning

In August, I will be back at Augusta Heritage Center Our engraving class will run from the 2nd to the 9th Cliff Harvey will be back, as will our long-time friend, R P Hale R P always has extra things for the wood engravers, like paper marbling Cliff Harvey will give us some binding options for ways to present our engravings

Of course, the “Main Event” of the summer will be the workshop in Chicago Sharen Linder has a wonderful week planned We have many cultural things to do, as well as time to engrave and learn from each other Look for more to come But it is safe to say, the dates are July 19 – 24th I believe this is our fifteenth summer gathering Again, we will mail a brochure to you when all the details are worked out

Thanks you all who make the Wood Engravers’ Network continue for another year

WEN 2009 Summer Workshop

Wood Engravers’ Network15th Annual Summer Workshop

July 19–24, 2009Guest Artist, Andy English

Sharen Linder will host the 15th Annual Summer Workshop this year held in the Chicago area Jim Horton wrote this about the annual WEN gathering: “These workshops (and I think this is the 15th) have been a huge reason of why the group exists We have met so many people and learned so much from the guest artists and people that have attended, that I really hope tou give some consideration to joining us We really are a friendly group We really do get time to work, and study and have fun A few of us have been to just about every one, and we are almost like family Please do not be intimidated if you are new to engraving or WEN … We just want you to be there, to meet and study with Andy English, a world-class printmaker, this is not an opportunity to miss ”

For details contact Sharen Linder at:Sharen Linder

21243 W Willow DriveKildeer, IL 60047-8712phone 847 438 4502

slinders@comcast net

Or, e-mail Tony Drehfal, editor of this extremely tardy edition of Block & Burin, and he can e-mail you a pdf version of the workshop mailing sent this April, 2009 adrehfal@wctc edu

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The Engraver’s Sonan interview with Christopher Buckland – Wright by Tony Drehfal

Christopher Buckland-Wright

I discovered the work of John Buckland Wright through a chance internet search I found a web exhibit titled Master of the Burin: The Book Illustra-tions of John Buckland Wright, 1897-1954, hosted by the University of Otago, New Zealand’s top-ranked university for research http://www library otago ac nz/exhibitions/jbw/index html The Foreword on the home page of Master of the Burin exhibit was written by Christopher Buckland-Wright, John’s son, and provided a perfect introduction to the work of John Buckland Wright

“In the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s three art-ists did a great deal to launch British engraving into the exciting waters of contemporary European art: the New Zealander John Buckland Wright and two Englishmen, William Hayter and Anthony Gross They all had French attachments and were quite independent of the influences of earlier and highly successful schools of British engraving Buckland Wright helped Hayter to found his famous Atelier 17 in Paris At this workshop, in which artists experi-mented at novel methods of printmaking, JBW (as became known by his initials) worked with artists such as Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, Miró and Dali Later when teaching at the Camberwell and Slade Schools of Art, he was able to communicate to his pupils his experience of how these artists worked

JBW’s work is characterized by the portrayal of the sensuous nude, in which the female form is depicted with grace and charm The source for his artistic expression has its origin in his experi-ences during the First World War Having joined the Scottish Ambulance Service, he was seconded

to the French Army at Verdun, the sector in which the French suffered the greatest devastation during the First World War There he witnessed harrowing scenes of human devastation while rescuing wound-ed and dying men from the front line trenches Following the war, JBW found relief in drawing the female figure that incorporated the romantic ideal of Greek philosophy into the very essence of the emotional expression of his work Through his art he was able to come to terms with the horrors he had experienced during the war and to restore unity and tranquillity to the devastated landscapes,

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to repair the damage that war had wrought on his love of nature Once more he would fill his world with beauty of a timeless quality he had experienced in the gardens and countryside of New Zealand and England He found his emotional renewal through his art It was in this way that he was able to express his fundamental belief in the renewal of life and of the human spirit and to rediscover the joy he felt as a young man in nature’s soothing beauty ”

I browsed the Master of the Burin web pages quite a few times, closely studying the images of John Buckland Wright’s wood engravings, and found his work beautiful and tremendously inspiring I wanted to learn more about John’s work The idea of contacting the author Chris Buckland-Wright came to my mind next, and after a few Boolean searches I found an e-mail address to Christopher Buckland-Wright, Ph D , DSc , Profes-sor, Department of Applied Clinical Anatomy at King’s College London

I send an e-mail, first stating that I was guessing the “addressed” Christopher was the son of John Buckland Wright I identified myself as the editor of a small journal named Block & Burin, and con-tinued to introduce the Wood Engravers’ Network I mentioned that I was contemplating “getting a feature together about John Buckland Wright” and then asked if “there might be a chance that you may be interested in sharing your expertise and/or resources?” I concluded the e-mail with an offer to send the most recent issue of Block & Burin

Chris’ reply was, “Yes, I am the son of JBW and the author of some 7 books on my father I certainly

would be pleased to help you with your planned article ” We soon agreed upon using an interview format for this feature and initiated the process Chris graciously fitted our correspondence into his very busy schedule As we were e-mailing each other, Chris was retiring from his career as a doc-tor/professor, preparing to move from London to a home in East Devon During the time this interview took place Chris also travelled to New Zealand for a well-deserved holiday

A Google web search the name “Christopher Buckland-Wright” results in about 1,080 “hits” You will be directed to entries with terms like “Microfo-cal X-ray, osteodystrophy, osteoporosis, rheumatoid

On the sea…From Keats Sonnets (1929)One of JBW’s earliest works and his first successful book.

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and osteoarthritis”, and others with phrases like “Limited edition; folio; original quarter natural vellum and Compton marbled paper and solander box ” Chris has had a distinguished career during which he “helped pioneer the medical applications of high definition macro-radiography… in the study of changes in the anatomy of diseased joints of patients, including renal osteodystrophy, osteo-porosis, rheumatoid and osteo-arthritis ” Chris is also an active member of the Barbers’ Company, an organization that dates back to 1308, a time when

“Barbers not only attended to the hair and shaving of their customers but took on surgical and medical tasks, including dentistry” Chris recently served in the role of Master to this organization, “which prin-cipally acts as a charitable institution to the benefit of medical and surgical causes ” It is in the realm of Chris’s expertise as an author, and scholar of his father’s art, that is interview delves into

Chris is considered the expert on the work of his father Amongst the books that he has written about JBW are: The Engravings of John Buckland Wright, John Buckland Wright (1897-1954): For My Own Pleasure, John Buckland Wright (1897-1954): The Golden Cockerel Years and John Buckland Wright (1897-1954): The Surrealist Years, 1934-1954 Like his father, Chris has partnered with an artisan spe-cializing in the art of hand-made books Chris has teamed with the Fleece Press to publish Endeavours & Experiments, John Buckland Wright’s Essays in Woodcut and Colour Engraving, Together With Other Blocks Remaining in His Studio and To Beauty, John Buckland Wright’s Work with Joseph Ishill of the Oriole Press The Fleece Press is the one-man enterprise of Simon Lawrence, whose family has made wood-blocks for wood engravers since 1859

Chris generously allowed me to quote from any of his writings and reproduce the engravings of John Buckland Wright He provided many of the images that appear in this feature, sending them via e-mail, as higher-resolution digital files I am grateful for Chris’ openheartedness in sharing time from his very busy schedule, making this interview a reality Thanks Chris

Artist and Model (1935)The first in a series that JBW did on this subject. “This has a strong sense of the abstract rhythm characteristic of his work at the time, while working at the Atelier 17 in Paris.”

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What is your earliest childhood recollection of your father, as an artist?We lived in a Victorian apartment building in Earl’s Court, South West London, which had large rooms with high ceilings To the left of the entrance to the apartment was a large dining room with two sets of French windows giving onto a balcony, which overlooked the street at the front of the building My father had converted this room into a studio where he did all his engraving, some of the printing, and his paintings A small architect’s desk, at which he engraved his wood blocks and copper plates, sat in front of one of the French windows, which gave him as much natural light as possible To his right was a floor to ceiling bookcase, the shelves curved under the weight of the large art books and maga-

zines such as Arts et Metiers Graphiques, Minotaure and Verve To the left of the desk, and set at right angles, was a long low table, on which he could place a wide range of objects related to the work in hand Attached to the table and close to the desk was an angle poise lamp with a blue bulb, provid-ing more natural light than the yellow of electric bulbs He worried that he might lose his sight as a result of poor light, when concentrating so hard on his engraving Closer still to the desk was a small grinding wheel for sharpening the engraving tools The latter were arranged in series to the right on top of a draw that pulled out from the architect’s desk On an adjacent table were the printing rollers and platen for inking his wood blocks and the poupées for copper plates At the other end of the room was a star wheel copper plate press and in the middle of the room a dye stamp press for printing small wood blocks Indeed this press, acquired in Paris, was used by my father for proofing blocks of different sizes Outside the studio, in the corridor, was the wood block press that had formerly belonged to Lucien Pissarro of the Eragny Press, which my father had acquired from his widow Esther

My earliest memory of my father is that he was constantly working in his studio from which he would emerge at teatime with his hands covered with black printer’s ink because he hand-wiped his copper plates Another memory is of him turning the wheel of the copper plate press and then pull-ing back the blankets to lift the printed sheet from the copper plate Most of my memories are of him printing his copper plates I can remember disturb-

JBW and student in his London studio, 1954.

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ing him when he was writing letters, standing beside him at his desk while in an instant he drew for me to colour, a young girl running from the open jaws of a crocodile and on holiday having to sit quietly beside him whilst he drew He was constantly draw-ing, whenever there was a spare moment

How was it that you came to write about your father, often in the form of limited edition books (The Fleece Press), seeing that you had a busy career already as Professor of Anatomy at the University of London and Director of the Department of Applied Clinical Anatomy?When young I greatly admired and enjoyed my father’s work and felt that if I enjoyed it, others might do so as well When I became involved in promoting his work through exhibitions and writ-ing I found that this was the case In addition, the sale of my father’s work at exhibitions provided the family with a source of revenue, which was most helpful From the mid 1970s I found time, whilst I was working and developing my career, to explore which of the art galleries in London would be inter-ested in selling my father’s work At exhibitions of mixed artists print shows his work sold well and in 1980 I mounted the first major retrospective print show in the West End of London since father’s own one-man show in 1937 A decade later I received an invitation from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford to mount a retrospective show The Engravings of John Buckland Wright, Scolar Press, 1990 was launched at the exhibition

As a result of the Ashmolean exhibition I met Simon Lawrence of The Fleece Press I was already aware of his work and was keen to see if it was possible for Simon to include some of my father’s blocks in his beautifully produced books When we met we got on well together From the beginning, when we reviewed all the blocks that had been present in my father’s studio when he died, Simon

Danseuse Kham Luong No.3 (1935)“Here JBW returns, while in the midst of his abstract work to a more traditional form of expression for him. The different levels of gray in the print are achieved by altering the pressure of his finger nail used to burnish the print.”

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developed a plan He suggested we could publish a series of books covering the different aspects of my father’s work This led to the five books that we have published: Bathers and Dancers (1993); Baigneuses (1995); Surreal Times (2000); Endeavours and Experi-ments (2004) and the latest, To Beauty (2006) You ask, “How did I manage this with my work commit-

ment?” It was a case of finding time not only to work sorting my father’s material but also for writing articles, whether for exhibition catalogues, or for The Fleece Press I worked when I could whether it was during the evenings or at weekends The work on my father’s artwork necessarily came second to my professional commitments

Camber Sands (1953)“During his teaching stints, JBW would join his students on drawing trips to the beach. He encouraged them to sit down and sketch old weather-beaten driftwood, clouds and sand-dunes, the sea, each other. He also sketched, and the images drawn would end up as engraved prints…”

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Sadly your father died in his prime. As you grew older, what are some of the things you learned about him from his friends and students?It was some 25 years after my father’s death that I came to write about him Those of his friends whom I met at that time were all in their eighties and had little to say about my father One or two were helpful, such as the landscape artist John Piper He very generously wrote the preface for the first major retrospective exhibition I mounted in London’s West-End and which I later included as the preface to the book The Engravings of John Buckland Wright (Scolar Press, 1990) I found it was the articles about my father, written by his friends and students, which were most useful From these I obtained an understanding of my father’s approach to his work and a little more about his personality These ac-counts I collected together and they are published in The Engravings of John Buckland Wright One of my father’s qualities, which I have had described to me on several occasions, is summarised in the quote from his former student Philip Sutton, who said: “One of his most important qualities was his modesty, not a false one, but one which made for a good relationship between teacher and pupil This natural modesty meant that there was room for the student to develop in the place where he worked, which was a great stroke of luck for me at the Slade School ” To my surprise I found a description of my father’s approach to his work in a book I picked up at a second hand bookstall In it the artist Julian Trevelyan, who had worked with my father during the early part of the Second World War, described

him as “… a man of great modesty and wisdom, he could be depended on to see any problem through ” The other great source of information has been the correspondence between publishers and my father These have formed the basis of a series of articles by Roderick Cave, published in Matrix, on his col-laboration with Christopher Sandford, the owner and publisher of the Golden Cockerel Press In the recent Fleece Press volume To Beauty, I described the friendship that my father had with the American printer-publisher, Joseph Ishill, who described him-self as an anarchist and libertarian Both men had an unbounded respect for each other They liked and admired each other’s work Their common goal was based on the conviction that all elements of a book must be harmonious – the physical appear-ance working with the emotional content

JBW worked with the legendary Halcyon Press and the Golden Cockerel Press. Could you tell us of one of your favorites of his many editions, and why?It is difficult for me to select just one volume from those that my father had illustrated, as there are several books that I admire, all for different reasons High amongst those that I would chose are books my father produced as experiments in typography and illustrations These are the “JBW Editions,” where he has selected the text and chosen the il-lustrations which pleased him most to accompany the book (he abhorred direct illustration of a text) For me prime among these is Cupid’s Pastime (1935), printed by his friend A A M Stols, director of the

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Halcyon Press This slim volume contains six copper engravings, four of which are full page, illustrating the love of a shepherd for a nymph The engraving of the figures is exquisite and classical in concept The design of the book is quite refreshing and without the traditional formality of the period, taking much of its freedom of expression from the livres d’ artiste of the 1930s, in particular those of Picasso, Matisse and Maillol Uniquely, my father was equally comfortable in engraving in wood as well as copper and although I have described one of the books illustrated with copper engravings there is only one book that I would take with me on a desert island and that is Keat’s Endymion (Golden Cockerel Press, 1947) This is without doubt the finest book produced by Christopher Sandford for the Press The richness in the design and composition of all the 57 illustrations is staggering This is a book that my father had always wanted to do and much of his work prior to its production was in preparation for this volume His experiences with publishing books had provided him with a sound understanding of the processes and how to achieve the harmony between text and illustration The reasons that I like this book above all others are because of the beauty of his illustrations, which has its foundation within the creativity of his vision There is no lack of freshness in the design for each image The range and variety is quite breathtaking Although classical in concept, the elements of the abstract impart a rhythm to his engravings and place them within the artistic movement of the time There is so much to be seen in each of the illustrations that even when

coming to the end of the book I constantly feel I have still have more to discover and that I will never tire of turning its pages

Girl or Nymph with Arrow (1935)From Cupid’s Pastime, printed by A.A.M Stols for JBW. JBW wrote in 1934: “If I have any conscious aims they are a plastically expressive line, richness and depth of content and impeccable composition.”

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Your father’s figurative work, the images of women, the nudes, are tremendous. His en-graving breathes life into the figures. Could you share some insight into how JBW became such a master of the engraved human body, particularly the female form?My father’s understanding of the human form is based upon an early study of human anatomy, as

amongst his early books dating back to 1919 is A Thomson’s A Handbook of Anatomy for Art Students (Clarendon Press, 1915), into which he has pasted a large number of photographs of nudes, many of which he annotated Above all he was constantly drawing, whenever there was a spare moment throughout his career as an artist He was always drawing the women around him Importantly, he

Two Girls, (1954)JBW said of himself; “I prefer the freer, more or less abstract sphere of poetry, or the synthesizing of a whole story into one cut, which creates an atmosphere rather than picturing any definite scene. I dislike pure illustration as much as anecdote”.

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Three Bathers (1954)“A tour de force using a wide range of different engraving tools to obtain the range of textures in the print. Again, a strong sense of the abstract underlying this image. Bathers on the beach form a new and exciting inspiration in his final years before he died so tragically early.”

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felt that he had to draw the female figure from life otherwise he lost the sensitivity to his engraved line when portraying the female nude either in wood or in copper This was the basis of his skill, constantly drawing the female figure In addition to this, he ex-pressed the view in a letter to Christopher Sandford in 1937, “I envy you the country in a way, but I must be near humanity in the mass, with the possibility of seeing a hundred girls every time I go out, and watching their shapes and attitudes” As Sandford has added, “How intrigued those girls would have been had they known they were being observed by one of the greatest artists of the nude that ever lived, and stored for future use in his mind, whence they would emerge as nymphs to gambol with satyrs in the charmed magical world of his creations!”

Chris, you have inherited from your father skilled hands and a mastery of words. Could you share some of your insight about your father’s creativity and how what you have learned about him has influenced your creativity?Sadly, I have no insights about my father’s creativity; I can only read what he friends and students have written about him For my part, I had from an early age a deep felt curiosity to find out how objects or systems were assembled and worked This formed the basis of my professional life, as seen by my fascination in understanding how the human body is put together and later, in my research career, to analyse how the disease processes, such as arthritis, effect changes in human joint structure and whether drug therapy can alter or reverse such changes This

approach I have also applied to understanding my father’s attitude to his work and the influences that there were present at different periods of his life It is these that I have tried to describe in the books that The Fleece Press has produced As you can see my father and I are entirely different in the factors that have influenced our work Nevertheless, there is one element that we have in common, and that is the discipline needed when applying oneself to work

Christopher Buckland-Wright, May 2009

JBW engraving a wood block in his studio at 9 bis rue de Valence in 1936.

All images of the art of John Buckland Wright, and the related photos, displayed in this edition of Block & Burin, are used with the kind permission of Christopher Buckland-Wright.

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Wood Engravings from Endymionintroduced by an excerpt written by Eunice Martin

In the darkest days of wartime London, Buckland Wright began work on Endymion by John Keats, published in 1947 and generally considered to be his magnum opus as well as one of the finest books produced by the Golden Cockerel Press. In four thousand lines of poetry it tells the love story of the shepherd Endymion and Diana/Cynthia, goddess of the moon. Divided into four books set in sylvan glades, the underworld, the depths of the sea, and the starry firmament, it offers the ideal text for an illustrator. And Keats was Buckland Wright’s favourite poet. His wood engraving, of a richness unequalled in anything he had yet done, and Sandford’s design using Caslon type on thick hand-made paper, blend in perfect harmony on every page. It was a sumptu-ous book. One hundred copies were bound in white vellum and four hundred in quarter vellum with coarsely woven buckram. For both bindings Buckland Wright provided a gold block print of the goddess surrounded by stars. A comparison of his illustrations with Keat’s lines reveal a con-sistent attempt to translate the poem as closely as possible into visual terms in a more pronounced way than in any other work. He made no less than fifty-eight engravings, in a style both as classical and as romantic as the poet could have wished. In the Golden Cockerel bibliography, Cockalorum, Sandford expressed the view that Buckland Wright’s vision ‘approaches that of Keats as closely as it is possible for any artist working in our generation … In the intricacy of his detail he seems to follow Keats’s advice to

Shelley to “load every rift with ore”.’ Many pas-sages which the artist illustrates were themselves described by the poet in visual terms recalling specific paintings by Poussin, Titian, and Car-racci, Rubens and Girodet. Another description of Diana flying down to the sleeping Endymion, matches almost exactly two of Tassie’s gems, one of which was in his own collection. Whether or not Buckland Wright was familiar with these works, the circle is complete as he creates his own versions of the scenes in the poem. The style is a summation of all his work up to that point. They are white-line wood engravings at their best, every inch highly worked, but with rhythm and grace of line recalling his abstract work with Hayter.

This excerpt is from an essay, Illustrated Books, written by Eunice Martin, which appeared in Christopher Buckland-Wright’s book, The Engravings of John Buckland Wright, Scolar Press. Eunice Martin’s writing and the images of JBW’s wood engravings from Endymion are used with the full acknowledgement of the author, editor, and publisher, Christopher Buckland-Wright.

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Frontispiece from Endymion Book I

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Girls in the Forest from Endymion

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Hymn to Pan II from Endymion

Hymn to Pan I from Endymion

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The Moonbeam from Endymion

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untitled Johanna Mueller (actual size)

Johanna engraved this image on HIPS (high impact polystyrene) plastic The print was editioned at George Mason University, on a Charles Brand etching press, using a mixture of Daniel Smith magenta and black ink This is an edition of 80 for WEN

Bundle No. 41Winter 2009

The prints contained in this issue of Block & Burin have been scanned from WEN Bundle No 41 This section does not intend to substitute the value of viewing the original prints as printed by the artist on fine paper with quality inks, but is meant to provide a facsimile for WEN members not receiving bundles Because of space and reproduction limitations,

some images have been reduced in size, and color prints have been reproduced in shades of gray In some instances a print represented in the bundle may have been excluded in this section as requested by the artist All original prints from the bundles are archived at the Princeton University Graphic Arts Library, Princeton, New Jersey, with Agnes Sherman

serving as curator

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Suffix Benjamin Love (95%)

Suffix was engraved on a maple block and printed on Magnani pale blue paper using Daniel Smith ink This edition of 76 was printed for WEN at Boise State University

Eastern White Pine Cone… Sylvia Pixley (actual size)

Eastern White Pine Cone # 3 is printed on Mohawk Superfine Cover Cream paper, using a Hohner proof press This image was engraved on a Resingrave block and printed in an edition of 120 for WEN “This is the 3rd state #1 had a solid black background #2, same carving, printed on white cover and painted with watercolor It actually can be viewed in any orientation ”

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Raptor John Benson (actual size)

Raptor was printed using the brayer/baren technique, using Braden Sutphin PMS 469 brown ink An edition of 79 was printed for WEN

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Moonlore I Molly Branton (90%)

Moonlore I was engraved on Corian and printed on German Etching, Rives tan and Pescia blue paper This is an edition of 100 for WEN “The ancient moonlore tells us that a crescent moon facing up contains rain but doesn’t release it In Texas we are facing a drought - so the subject comes to mind ”

AIDS Service 2008 John Benson (55%)

John’s linocut was printed using Van Son oil based ink & the brayer-baren hand printing method This is an edition of 600, with numbers #101-185 sent to WEN This is the 21st annual cover in the series for the World AIDS Day/Christmas Service

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Unwin’s Bend Anders Sandstrom (75%)

Unwin’s Bend was engraved on end-grain maple and printed in an edition of 76 for WEN

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Bookmark W Gale Mueller (actual size)

Gale Mueller printed this Bookmark at Millstone Press for the WEN bundle “I printed up a batch of bookmarks to get some extra mileage out of the cuts I did for the annual WEN calendar ” (Gale printed the cover for this year’s calendar )

House Wren W Gale Mueller (actual size)

Gale engraved House Wren this December 2008

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Elephant Eric Hoffman (97%)

Elephant is printed on gray acid-free card stock in an edition of 80 for WEN The image was created on “ Resingrave using only a spitsticker and my magnifying glass ” The edition was printed using Graphic Chemical Relief Black ink using an “old Vandercook proofing press” at Fisher’s Press in Providence, Rhode Island

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Mike the Cat Carl Montford (85%)

Mike the Cat is printed on cream-colored Pescia paper using a SP-15 Vandercook press Carl engraved the image on an English Boxwood end-grain block, that was “home made and finished,” and he used Vanson Oil Base Plus black ink This is an edition of 120 printed for WEN “Mike is another ‘Book Store’ cat living in King’s Books (store) in Tacoma, Washington ”

Iris II Joel Moline (actual size)

Iris II is printed on pale blue Magnani Pescia paper, using a Challenge proof press Daniel Smith Relief ink was used for this edition This image was engraved into a Resingrave block and printed in an edition (not numbered) of 70 for WEN “The image was derived from a drawing of an iris I hybridized in 2007 The iris seeding bloomed for the first time in June 2008 So, from seed to print it took 2+ years ”

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Puget Sound Anna Hogan (actual size)

Puget Sound is printed on cream-colored paper in an edition of 77 for WEN “ an engraving I did many years ago after a visit to Washington State ”

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Opossum Keri R Safranski (70%)

Opossum is a wood engraving printed on Strathmore 2 ply plate Keri used Daniel Smith #79 black ink and printed an edition of 100 for WEN

The Nietzcheans Earl Nitschke (65%)

This is an edition (not numbered) of 100 printed for WEN

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Homage to JBW Gale Mueller & Tony Drehfal (65%)

The cover for Block & Burin #41 was printed on 80# Mohawk Superfine ultra-white smooth using a Vandercook press The text was hand set and printed by Gale, who used “mosty” Cloister Oldstyle type The cover quotation was “borrowed” from the frontis of the Golden Cockerel edition of Endymion (see title page) The back cover quotation is culled from a letter from John Buckland Wright to A A M Stols, Director of the Halcyon Press (First published in Halcyon, No 1, The Hague 1940 ) Gale wrote, “My original plan was to engrave the decorative border used at the top of the (back) copy block to also run vertically down the left side of the copy By the time I finished the heading I realized that I was beyond my skill level; I needed someplace for the banner, date, etc , so dug into my dingbat cases for some alternatives ” For the cover’s engraving, Tony used an image he had created nearly 30 years ago, from his “college days” (the last time he attended a life drawing session) along with some studies he had drawn of JBW’s copper engravings

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Bundle Participation?Show your stuff!

A Note to All WEN Members on Bundle Participation: and in particular, those new members that might still be confused as to what and how the print exchange works.

A Bundle is a name we dubbed the mailings that take place twice yearly (March and September) A Bundle is a packet of prints, or a “non-digital” show that comes to your door They are not intended for sale or speculation They are meant for people to share the joy of printmaking with others who know and appreciate what went into their production

We have many levels of expertise represented There are established professionals along with beginners There are a few who appreciate prints, but don't practice printmaking themselves We hope the Bundles are a means of education We do not publicly judge or criticize the work that is contributed, though we are always open to com-ments, and certainly, individual contacts can be made to these artists with your more personal com-ments and ideas We avoid politics just the love of seeing ink on paper that came from an artist's hand Sometimes we are awed by the quality of the work Sometimes we learn from the rawness of a “Beginner's Mind” as the Zen masters call it, that hasn’t been influenced by standard practices and shows the exciting marks of experimentation “A print is the halfway point between a thing and a thought,” as Fritz Eichenberg once said To hold it close to the eye, and see the artists intimate journey of creation is no small thing In these days of digital imaging, it is a rare and valued thing perhaps

more so than ever We are always happy to hear of sales and

contacts that result from people seeing someone’s work in the Bundles, however, that is not the prime reason we exist We know that giving away work is not exactly going to put food on the table (and cer-tainly artists have to do so) WEN is just one place where, if you have something extra to give, with the spirit of “What goes around, comes around,” you donate We are an appreciative audience When you do contribute to a Bundle, unless you indicate that it not be used for exhibition, you are giving people the right to show it to others in educational displays If it were to be reproduced for commercial use, permissions must be sought

Bundle participation is not mandatory for being a member of WEN If you paid your dues, you will receive a journal, all announcements, a welcome to come to any of our activities (such as summer workshops), exhibit in any WEN connected exhibitions and receive some prints that have been donated by members You might not receive all the prints (as members only have to submit a total of 76, not enough to go around to all) Why that number? Some of these artists print by hand, slowly, and to even give away 76 of such work, is asking a lot, though some do contribute the maximum How do you get the full array of prints? You do so by con-tributing at least 76 prints to a Bundle If you do so, you are put at the head of the list when the stacks of prints are sorted into envelopes for mailing If you never contribute (which there is no pressure to do so), you will get whatever is left over That list is

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sorted by the seniority of when you joined If you are a newcomer, obviously, you are going to be at the end of the line But contribute, and you are at the front of the line This keeps a healthy array of new artists coming in If contributing every few years, you are still getting just about everything

We do ask that the work going into a bundle is by your hand You may contribute brochures, advertisements or a prospectus All materials are welcome as long as you feel it would be of interest and benefit to the group We have received intaglio, lino and plank-grain woodcuts, which are welcome Any questions, do contact us

New Members

Josiane Keller6-3 Shimoda – Cho, TokiwaUkyoku, Kyoto, T616-8228 JapanPhone: +81 – (0)80-570 54402E-mail: Josiane keller@yahoo comURL: josiane-cartoons comTrained as a ceramist and painter, Josiane has worked and exhibited internationally. Her ceramic work was technically related to engraving. Since 2008 she has worked as a cartoonist. She is also a post-graduate research student at Kyoto Seika University of Art. The recent issues of her work are dealing with contemporary women in Japan, but stylistically related to traditional wood engraving. Josiane’s address is going to change soon, so we will try to keep you updated.

Cheryl LeBlanc3376 Chevy ChaseEugene, Oregon, 97401 Phone: 541-844-1093E-mail: chinabug5@yahoo com URL: hoffmanprints bloodspot comCheryl has a BFA in Printmaking from San Jose State U., and has been a printmaker for 25 years. Recent classes with Susan Lowdermilk and Paul Gentry have inspired new directions in relief printmaking.

Tim Musso3935 La Sierra Ave , #100Riverside, California 92505 Phone: 530-368-1911E-mail: timothymusso@yahoo comTim teaches fine art and graphic design at La Sierra University in Riverside, California. He has been engrav-ing for about three years, using Resingrave as a medium, and his work often uses abstract organic forms.

John Cameron8R Decatur St Gloucester, Massachussets 01930Phone: (home) 978-283-0839(shop) 978-283-0276E:mail: jc cabinetmaker@verizon netURL: johncameroncabinetmaker comJohn is a finishing furniture maker and also a wood engraver, being intrigued by the complexity and possi-bilities of the medium. They are shown on his furniture website. He has completed several a year for the past thirteen years.

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Tina Johansen1330 Rand RoadDes Plaines, Illinois 60016 Phone: 847-363-4417 FAX 847-260-0700E-mail: tinajo8310@gmail comTina worked in the medium of wood engraving during college. She is currently in a botanical art and illustra-tion program at the Morton Arboretum, and sees the po-tential of the medium to illustrate botanical studies.

Christopher Register522 Saylors Hill DriveRice, Virginia 23966Phone: 434-391-1141E-mail: registercm@longwood eduURL: chrisregister comMore information on Chris will be forthcoming.

Changes and Updates

The director of the Rare Book School at the Univer-sity of Virginia is now:Barbara Heritage

Change of Address: Nikki Vahle (Schneider): 816 Henckly Ave , Mobile, Alabama 36609 Phone: 251-725-0621 Glenn Grubb: 246 Timber Ridge Dr , Kalamazoo, Michigan 49006 269-250-0961 Peter Newland: 1035 Carl Johnson Road, Quilcene, Washington 98376-9702 360-765-0600 Benjamin Love: POB 1343, Boise, Idaho 83701 208-433-9717

Johanna Mueller: 9490 Virginia Center Blvd , #428, Vienna, Virginia 22181 Chuck Lukacs: 911 SE 60th Ave , #308, Portland, Oregon 97215 Eric Hoffman: 166 Valley St ,Unit 7304, Providence, RI 02909 Kathee Kiesselbach: 269-240-0483

URL’s:Johanna Mueller: www feverishart blogspot comMichelle Post: www michellepost netMichelle Lynch: www michellelynch com

Change of E-mail:Michelle Lynch: michellelynch@hotmail.comJohn McWilliams: Jmcw4@mac.comKay Snodgrass: kaysnodgrass@gmail.comMaria Arango: 1000woodcuts@gmail.comRichard Woodman: Resingrave@verizon.netCarl Montford: candbmontford@clearwire.netJohn Bischoff: johncomp@localnet.comCindy Koopman: spck@tcq.netRichard Burrows: r.j.burrows@knolog.netBenjamin Love: bmorganlove@q.mail.comGlenn Grubb: glenngrubb@gmail.comKathee Kiesselbach: katheek@comcast.net

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WEN member Andy English has recently produced wood engravings used to illustrate a cook book “I started my working year with a large illustrating job This was to engrave nineteen illustrations for Freshly Picked: Kitchen Garden Cooking in the City by Jojo Tulloh Many of the images were set in allotment gardens and so this was pleasant and sympathetic work for me ” Andy also contributed some wood engravings for A Outrance, by Philip Pullman Andy joined artists Chris Daunt and Harry Brockway to produce six full-page illustrations for the project This limited edition book, printed by Oak Tree Fine Press, “whose books raise money for organizations assisting children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS ”You can read more about Andy English’s work at his blog:http://studiodiary blogspot com/

Announcements & Notes

WEN member, Jim Westergard created six wood engravings for The Old Woman and the Hen, “a charming folktale written by one of Canada’s best known poets” P K Page “This work is a small treasure intended to be shared by grandmothers, grandfathers – or other doting adults – with beloved youngsters between ages 5 to 8 ” The Old Woman and the Hen is published by the Porcupine’s Quill, 68 Main Street,P O Box 160, Erin, Ontario, NOB 1T0 http://www sentex ca/~pql/index html

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