The Cummington Press
Harry Duncan (1916-1997) was the founding director and printer of the Cummington Press. He began printing in 1939 in Cummington, MA. In the mid-1950's he moved his press to Iowa City, and directed the typographic laboratory and taught typography, book design and production full-time at the School of Journalism of the University of Iowa. In 1972 he went to the University of Nebraska at Omaga where he taught and printed. For more information about Harry Duncan and the Cummington Press, visit the University of Nebraska at Omaga's webpage: The Cummington Press: 1939-1997.- Boggs, Tom, ed. American decade: 68 poems for the first time in an anthology. (1943) Cummington, MA. Printed by The Southworth-Anthoensen press at Portland, ME, and designed and printed by the Cummington Press. Limited edition of 475 copies printed from Baskerville Linotype. 50 were not for sale and printed on Andria papers. 25 copies numbered 1-25 were printed on Sterling Laid, especially bound by hand with linen spine and St. Albans decorative side papers. Bound by John Marchi. UMCP has an unnumbered copy. Special Collections Stacks PS614 .B66.
- Pervigilium Veneris. The Vigil of Venus. (1943) Cummington, MA. The Latin text with an introduction and English translation by Allen Tate. Limited edition of 430 copies printed from hand-set Centaur types. 400 numbered copies were printed on Worthy Signature; 30 lettered copies, A-DD,were printed on Worthy Charta. Bound in cloth by John Marchi. UMCP has copy numbered 352. KA Porter Stacks PA6557 .P3.
- Stevens, Wallace. Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction. (1942) Cummington, MA. Limited edition of 272 copies printed from hand-set Centaur type, and printed for the first time by hand on dampened all-rag papers. The title pages set from designs by Alessandro Giampietro. Copies numbered I-LXXX were signed and printed on Worthy Hand and Arrows. Copies numbered 1-190 were printed on Dutch Charcoal. Copies lettered A-C were printed on Highclere paper. Bound in cloth by John Marchi. A few unique gift copies bound in leather by Arno Werner for the author. Gerhard Gerlach bound Stevens' personal copy in leather. UMCP has copy numbered 84, which is signed by the author. Special Collections Stacks PS3537 .T4753 N6.
- Stevens, Wallace. Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction. (1943) Cummington, MA. 2nd edition. Limited edition of 330 copies printed from hand-set Centaur type and printed on Andria. Bound in cloth spine by John Marchi. This second edition was completely reset. KA Porter Stacks PS3537.T4753 N6
- Tate, Allen. The Winter Sea. (1945) Cummington, MA. Limited edition of 330 copies printed from hand-set Poliphilus and Blado types. Those numbered 1 to 300 on Sterling Laid paper, bound in clothe with a front cover panel printed from a Wightman Williams' cut, and the others, i-xxx, signed by the author, printed on Dutch Charcoal, and bound with an original painting by Wightman Williams. Bound by Arno Werner. UMCP has one copy numbered 0 [printer's copy], and is inscribed to Djuna Barnes from Allen Tate. Barnes Stacks PS3539 .A74 KA Porter Stacks PS3539 .A74 W5.
- Williams, William Carlos. The Wedge. (1944) Cummington, MA. Vignette drawn by Wightman Williams. Limited edition of 380 copies printed from hand-set Centaur and Arrighi types, printed on Worthy Dacian paper, and bound by John Marchi in boards with paste paper sides, and front cover vignette. The green on the title-page vignette was printed from cork board; the red applied by hand. UMCP has an unnumbered and unsigned. Special Collections Stacks PS3545 .I544 W4.
- Hoskins, Katherine. A Penitential Primer. (1945) Cummington, MA. Limited edition of 330 copies printed from hand-set Centaur and Arrighi types on Worthy Dacian paper, and bound in a wrapper with a label. Sewed and cased at the press. UMCP has an unnumbered and unsigned. Special Collection Stacks PS3515 .O7544 P4.
- Stevens, Wallace. Esthétique du Mal. (1945) Cummington, MA. With 16 pen and ink drawings by Wightman Williams. Limited edition of 340 numbered copies printed from hand-set Centaur type. Copies i-xl are signed by the author and artist and printe on Van Gelder wove paper, with cuts printed in black and handcolored, in boards with leather spine and Williams' hand-decorated paper sides; 1-300 on Pace paper, with cuts printed in brown, in boards covered with hand-decorated paper. Bound by Arno Werner. Some of the unsigned copies are in boards covered with green straw paper. UMCP has copy numbered 242. Special Collections Stacks PS3537 .T4753 E8.
- Warren, Robert Penn. Blackberry Winter. (1946) Cummington, MA. Illustrated with 8 linoleum cuts by Wightman Williams. Limited edition of 280 numbered copies printed from hand-set Poliphilus type. i-1, signed, on Kelmscott Crown and Sceptre, in boards with leather spine and hand-decorated paper sides; 1-230 on Arches in cloth. Bound by John Marchi. UMCP has copy numbered 52. KA Porter Stacks PS3545 .A748 B5.
- Rilke, Rainer Maria. Five Prose Pieces. (1947) Cummington, MA. Translated by Carl Niemeyer from volume four of the Gesammelte Werke of Rainer Maria Rilke with woodcuts by Wightman Williams. Limited edition of 271 copies, 7-27 colored by hand. Copies numbered I-VI have original images tipped in; copies numbered vii-xxxvii were printed on Tunbridge and colored by hand; copies numbered 1-203 were printed on Van Gelder Oxhead; copies numbered 204-234 were bound in wrappers of various paper. Four of these translations appeared initially as Primal Sound & Other Prose Pieces in 1943. Contents include: “Gym Period”, “An Encounter”, “Dolls”, “An Experience”, “Primal Sound”. UMCP has copy numbered 94. Rare Folio PT2635 .I65 A2526.
- Stevens, Wallace. Three Academic Pieces. (1947) Cummington, MA. Limited edition of 246 copies, printed from Blado and Poliphilus types and from initial letters cut in wood by Wightman Williams. The initial letters begin each essay and on the cover are yellow initials with a black outline. Read, in February 1947, at Harvard University under the auspices of the Morris Gray Fund. First printed in Partisan Review for May 1947. Contents: “The realm of resemblance,” “Someone puts a pineapple together,” “Of ideal time and choice.” UMCP has copy numbered xlvi. PS3537 .T4753 T47.
- Williams, William Carlos. The Clouds, Aigeltinger, Russia, &c. (1948) Aurora, New York. Printed jointly by The Wells College Press and The Cummington Press. Limited edition of 310 copies. UMCP has copies numbered 30, which is signed by the author and in a slipcase, and 227. Special Collections Stacks PS3545 .I544 C5.
- Moore, Marianne. “A Face.” (1949) Cummington, MA. An edition of 2,500 copies printed from hand-set Romanée type on Hand and Arrows paper. Printed for New Colophon. Folded, double leaves. This poem was in “Horizon”(London) for October 1947. Special Collection Stacks PS3525 .O5616 F3.
- Tate, Allen. The Hovering Fly, and Other Essays. (1949) Cummington, MA. Woodcuts by Whightman Williams. Limited edition of 245 numbered copies. Copies numbered 1-12 with original drawings and woodcuts colored by hand; the next copies numbered up to 93 were printed on Van Gelder and signed by author and illustrator. UMCP has copy numbered 139. Special Collection Stacks PN37 .T3.
- Tate, Allen. “Two Conceits for the Eye to Sing, If Possible.” (1950) Cummington, MA. Woodcuts by Whightman Williams. Limited edition of 300 unnumbered copies printed on Fabriano paper. Special Collection Stacks PS3539 .A74 T96.
- Tate, Allen. “Christ and the Unicorn: An Address Delivered on June the 23rd, 1954, at the Third International Congress for Peace and Christian Civilization held in Florence, Italy, under the auspices of the Mayor.” (1966) West Branch, Iowa. Reprinted from the Sewanee Review, v. 63, number 2. Limited to an edition of 125 copies printed from Joanna Italic, Arrighi, Plantin, and Hadriano Stone Cut types, and printed on Cloister Old Style. Special Collection Stacks BR115 .C5 T38.
- Liberman, Myron M. Maggot and worm, and eight other stories. (1969) West Branch, Iowa. Illustrated by Byron Burford. Limited edition of 300 copies. UMCP has copy numbered 175. KA Porter Stacks PZ4 .L698.
