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Friday 12 February 2016

Yaddo! Typewriters Binding Books

This collection of Philip Roth works caught my eye as I flicked through the January issue of Vanity Fair, a publication which seldom features typewriters any longer and is therefore soon to lose my patronage.
The Fanfair page of Hot Gifts and Hot Type said "Juniper Books is producing custom literary collections, bespoke covers, books-by-the-foot and more".
The view from an Oliver
The nine-volume set of works by Roth is bound together by an image of the author at his Olivetti Lettera 32 portable typewriter, taken by Bob Peterson at the Yaddo artists' community in Saratoga Springs, New York, in early December 1968.
The Peterson photos were used in a lengthy feature article on Roth in the February 7, 1969, edition of LIFE magazine. The Juniper set includes Goodbye, Columbus, one of my favourite books of that era, and the self-indulgent Portnoy’s Complaint.
Here is the room Roth was working in:
Some other Juniper sets:
Truman Capote wrote his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, in the Tower Room at Yaddo in 1948:

7 comments:

Richard P said...

Very neat! And I'll add one of those Roth photos to my site.

Robert Messenger said...

Thanks Richard. You may also want to use the Capote one, if you don't already have it on your site. I don't think I've previously seen an image of Capote at a typewriter.

Bill M said...

Those are really nice bindings. I've never seen any like that before.

Judith Rushlow said...

Beautiful books, I want the Amazing SF collection most of all! The Yaddo mansion is a dream. But on to the really important question: what kind of typewriter is Truman Capote using in that photograph?

Anonymous said...

Great binding designs! The Lettera 32 is one that will never leave my collection. Good little Italian workhorse.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert

We have recently purchased an Adler Contessa II for her son who has dreams of typing the next great novel. The carriage seems to be locked. Any clues as to how we unlock it?

Thank you for your help.

Cindy

Sophie said...

I adore Scott Fitzgerald, it would be great to get this dark blue collection.