Category: Bibliography

A complete bibliography of books, chapbooks, broadsides, and limited editions published by the synaesthesia press, featuring writers including Charles Bukowski, Denis Johnson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Barry Gifford, Tim O’Brien, Chris Offutt, Tosh Berman, Charlie Plymell, Roxie Powell, and many others, with publication histories, photographs, and notes from publisher Jim Camp.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Volta 1 | synaesthesia press

Volta Winter 2003 letterpress portfolio edited and printed by Jim Camp featuring works by Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Billy Childish, Alan Catlin, Tsaurah Litzky, Henry Denander, and Jim Pritchard.

Volta. Winter 2003.

Edited and letterpress printed by Jim Camp.

Issued in an edition of 50 copies. Eight separate printed pieces housed in a found envelope measuring approximately 6¼” × 7″.

Contents include:

  • Charles Bukowski, “Untitled” (1963).
  • Richard Brautigan, “Hey, Bacon!”
  • Alan Catlin, untitled poem
  • Tsaurah Litzky, “September Senryu”
  • Henry Denander, “the italian piano player”
  • Jim Pritchard, “It’s All About Fucking” (a found / printed piece)
  • Letterpress-printed colophon featuring the Wallace Berman quotation “Art is Love is God.”
  • (The Billy Childish poem/flyer “w.s. burrows” may or may not have been included. The publisher had started to give them away in various forms around this time. They were overs from the Barry Gifford project The Strangest One of All with the Childish poem printed at a later date on the verso.)

Housed in a found envelope with all components issued loose as published.

Produced as an homage to Wallace Berman, whose work and assemblage aesthetic were a significant influence on the editor and publisher. The title Volta was borrowed from James Joyce’s short-lived Dublin cinema venture of the same name, opened in 1909 and remembered today largely as one of the author’s more unusual failures.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The Lost Christmas & Other Stories | Barry Gifford | synaesthesia press

The Lost Christmas & Other Stories by Barry Gifford, a 2001 synaesthesia press holiday chapbook in sewn wraps with cover art by Asa Gifford.

The Lost Christmas & Other Stories

Text by Barry Gifford.

Published during the 2001 holiday season.

Chapbook. Approximately 4 3/4″ × 6 1/2″ (12.1 × 16.5 cm). Sewn illustrated wraps. Cover illustration adapted from a drawing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Asa Gifford, circa 1980. Designed, printed, and hand-sewn by Jim Camp. Published by the synaesthesia press.

Edition of 99 copies printed for the friends of Barry Gifford, Don Ellis, and the synaesthesia press. All copies were signed by Barry Gifford. The cover was printed in three variant color states: blue, green, and red. No priority has been established among the variants, and no record of the quantity produced in each state is known.

Issued as a holiday keepsake rather than a commercial publication, The Lost Christmas & Other Stories gathers a selection of short fiction by Barry Gifford in a small-format edition produced specifically for private distribution. The publication combines Gifford’s text with a cover illustration by his son, Asa Gifford, creating a family collaboration that reflects the informal and personal nature of the project.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Friends / Enemies | Tim O’Brien & Fritz Scholder | synaesthesia press

Friends / Enemies

Tim O’Brien

Published September 15, 2001 by the synaesthesia press.

Chapbook. Dos-à-dos format. Approximately 6 × 7 inches. Letterpress printed and hand-sewn into handmade Olive Larroque paper wrappers. Illustrations by Fritz Scholder.

Edition of 125 copies (99 numbered; 26 lettered).

The publication brings together two short stories by Tim O’Brien in a dos-à-dos format, with one story beginning from each cover and meeting in the middle. Both stories originally appeared in The Things They Carried. This edition marked their first separate publication.

Illustrated by Fritz Scholder, Friends / Enemies brought together two major figures from very different artistic traditions: Tim O’Brien, the acclaimed author of The Things They Carried, and Fritz Scholder, one of the most influential painters associated with the contemporary American Southwest.

The regular edition was hand-sewn into handmade Olive Larroque paper imported from France. The lettered edition was bound in cloth and housed in custom slipcases fabricated from 12-gauge steel by a local blacksmith. Upon publication, both editions sold out and the title quickly became one of the most sought-after books issued by the press.

Friends / Enemies remains one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the synaesthesia press and one of its most enduring collaborations.

Design, typography, hand composition, letterpress printing, and publishing by Jim Camp.

Availability: Lettered edition out of print. One copy — the last — recently found in the synaesthesia press archives.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The Wait | Mike Loney | synaesthesia press

The Wait by Mike Loney, synaesthesia press Folio No. 1, a folded keepsake printed for the 2001 Arizona Book Fair and set in Bembo Roman type.

The Wait

Text by Mike Loney.

No. 1 in the synaesthesia press folio series. Published Spring 2001 as a keepsake for the Arizona Book Fair. Limitation unknown. Maybe 50 copies printed.

Folio. Approximately 6 1/2″ × 4 3/4″ (16.5 × 12.1 cm), printed as a single leaf folded once. Set in Bembo Roman by Jim Camp using type from the Antonia and Adam Petko Collection at Arizona State University. Published by the synaesthesia press.

Issued as a keepsake rather than a commercial publication and distributed in conjunction with the 2001 Arizona Book Fair. The publication contains a single poem, “The Wait,” by Arizona poet Michael Loney.

The Wait remains the sole publication in the synaesthesia press folio series. Conceived as a keepsake rather than a commercial publication, it reflects the press’s ongoing interest in handset typography, fine printing, and the enduring appeal of small literary artifacts.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Wild Whispers | Roxie Powell | synaesthesia press

Wild Whispers by Roxie Powell, a 2000 synaesthesia press letterpress chapbook with dust jacket and three companion broadsides issued in the signed lettered edition.

Wild Whispers

Poems by Roxie Powell.

Published Spring 2000.

Chapbook. 5 1/2″ × 8 1/2″ (13.9 × 21.6 cm). Letterpress-printed wraps featuring a holograph poem by Roxie Powell on the cover and issued with a letterpress-printed dust jacket. Introduction by Anselm Hollo. Afterword by Charles Plymell. Published by the synaesthesia press.

Edition of 125 copies. Ninety-nine numbered copies were signed by the poet. Twenty-six lettered copies were additionally signed by Roxie Powell, Anselm Hollo, and Charles Plymell.

The lettered issue included three separately printed broadsides by Roxie Powell not present in the standard edition: “Untitled (Roxie Powell),” “It will be,” and “My Barber.” The broadsides were hand-set and letterpress printed by Jim Camp using Nicolas Cochin, Garamond, and Lydian type from the Antonia and Adam Petko Collection at Arizona State University.

Wild Whispers brought together three generations of poets associated with the American small press tradition. In addition to Powell’s poems, the volume features an introductory note by Anselm Hollo and an afterword by Charles Plymell. The specially issued broadsides expanded the lettered edition beyond the published text and remain among the more elaborate accompaniments produced by the press.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Four Poems | Richard Brautigan | synaesthesia press

Richard Brautigan Four Poems chapbook cover published by the synaesthesia press in 2000

Four Poems

Richard Brautigan

Published February 2000 by the synaesthesia press.

Hand-sewn letterpress chapbook measuring approximately 4 7/8″ × 6 1/4″ (12.4 × 15.9 cm). Edition limited to 26 lettered copies printed for the friends of the press. A small number of copies were additionally designated as Printer’s Proofs.

This edition collects four poems by Richard Brautigan: “November 3,” “December 24,” “December 30,” and “At The California Institute of Technology.” All four poems originally appeared in Brautigan’s 1967 collection All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.

The project grew from the copyright statement of Brautigan’s 1967 volume: “Permission is granted to reprint any of these poems in magazines, books, and newspapers if they are given away free.” This chapbook was produced as a tribute by Jim Camp to friends of the press.

The text was set by hand, letterpress printed and hand-sewn into wraps by Camp. Font is Souvenir from the Antonia and Adam Petko Type Collection at Arizona State University.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Dog & His Boy | Chris Offutt | synaesthesia press

A Dog & His Boy by Chris Offutt, a 1999 synaesthesia press letterpress chapbook hand-set by Jim Camp and illustrated by Kathy Sheehan.

A Dog & His Boy

Text by Chris Offutt.

Published December 1999.

Chapbook. 7″ × 10″ (17.8 × 25.4 cm). Hand-sewn paper wraps. Type hand-set in Baskerville Roman, Goudy Bold, and Goudy Handtooled by Jim Camp using type from the Antonia and Adam Petko Collection at Arizona State University. Linoleum-cut illustrated by Kathy Sheehan. Printed and published by the synaesthesia press. Special thanks to Dan Mayer and John Risseeuw.

Edition of 61 copies. Fifty numbered copies, none of which were signed, were offered for sale. In addition, five copies, none of which were signed, were designated “out of series” and six copies were reserved as author copies.

Designed and produced entirely by hand, A Dog & His Boy reflects the start of the press’s interest in traditional letterpress printing and fine press craftsmanship. The collaboration pairs Chris Offutt’s text with illustrations by Kathy Sheehan in one of the most ambitious hand-set productions issued by the press at the onset of its second Arizona period.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Journals From Lysidia | Charles Plymell | synaesthesia press

Charles Plymell's Journals From Lysidia (synaesthesia press, 1999), a signed limited-edition chapbook in sewn wraps with glassine dust jacket, accompanied by three original collage illustrations issued with the lettered edition.

Journals From Lysidia

Text by Charles Plymell.

No. 10 in the synaesthesia press chapbook series. Published July 1999.

Chapbook. 5 1/2″ × 8 1/4″ (14.0 × 21.0 cm). Printed and sewn into wraps with a glassine dust jacket. Published by the synaesthesia press.

Edition of 125 signed copies. Issued in 99 numbered copies and 26 lettered copies designated “for the patrons of the press.” The lettered issue included three additional collage illustrations by Charles Plymell not present in the standard edition.

Journals From Lysidia was published as a preview appearance of material later collected in Hand on the Doorknob: A Charles Plymell Reader, issued by Water Row Press in the fall of 1999. The publication of this chapbook was made possible with the help of Jeffrey Weinberg.

Availability: Out of print.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The Strangest One of All | Barry Gifford & Billy Childish | synaesthesia press

The Strangest One of All by Barry Gifford featuring woodcut illustrations by Billy Childish and design by Johnny Brewton.

The Strangest One of All

Text by Barry Gifford.

No. 8 in the synaesthesia press chapbook series. Published Summer 1998. The piece originally appeared in Speak Magazine, Fall of 1997.

Chapbook. 5 1/2″ × 8 1/2″ (13.9 × 21.6 cm). Cover illustration by Billy Childish. Designed by Johnny Brewton. Published by the synaesthesia press.

Edition of 150 numbered copies, of which the first 50 were signed by Barry Gifford. Twenty-six special lettered copies were additionally signed by both Barry Gifford and Billy Childish and issued with two original woodcut illustrations not included in the standard edition.

The lettered issue was housed in a handmade envelope containing the chapbook and supplementary prints. Design by Johnny Brewton. The supplementary prints are two additional Billy Childish woodcut illustrations not present in the standard edition.

Originally published in Speak magazine and issued here in its first separate publication. The short, non-fiction narrative records novelist Barry Gifford’s visit to William S. Burroughs’s legendary residence known as “The Bunker,” and captures a conversation between Gifford, his son, former baseball player Jimbo Carothers, and Burroughs.

Availability: Out of print.
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Johnny Marries Giselle | Neeli Cherkovski | synaesthesia press

Johnny Marries Giselle broadside by Neeli Cherkovski printed by Jim Camp for the wedding of Johnny and Giselle Brewton on May 2, 1998.

Johnny Marries Giselle (1998)

Poem by Neeli Cherkovski.

Broadside. Approximately 4¼” × 9¼”. I can’t recall how many I printed. I think it was 100 copies.

Issued in conjunction with the wedding of Johnny Brewton and Giselle Brewton of X-Ray Press, San Francisco, California, 2 May 1998.

The broadside reproduces Cherkovski’s poem “Johnny Marries Giselle,” written for the occasion by the poet. Created as an occasional piece rather than a commercial publication and distributed privately to guests attending the wedding ceremony. Copies were made available on the gift table at the reception.

Availability: Out of print.