bradypress books & broadsides
Anna Rügren, et al: sixteen women printers
A list of sixteen women printers working in the 15th - 18th centuries with quotations from Laurie Anderson's "The Dream Before" and Mary Daly's book Gyn/Ecology. Handset in Romulus types and printed in three colors on Rives paper. Printed as a keepsake for the '90 Typocrafters meeting in Chicago. 175 copies, 11 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches, 1990. $20.
Blown Roses
by Nancy McCleery / Jaime Hackbart, linocuts
Twelve poems handset in Perpetua type. Title is Optima Italic. Printed in two colors on Somerset Book; the four sections are sewn into Thai Unryu endsheets and French Speckletone covers using the long stitch. Limited to 125 numbered copies. 24 pp, issued in September, 2001.
A Perfect Fit (out of print)
An inkjet and polymer relief broadside, 15 x 11 inches 13 numbered copies, 2004. $50
The Chinese text was recreated in polymer from a reproduction of two woodblocks, the oldest extant printed copy of the Cinderella story. The Cinderella text overlays a coloring book image (top, polymer print) and a photo and quotation (bottom, inkjet print) from a history of Chinese footbinding.
Spring Blues
poems & mezzotints by Denise Brady
Eight poems printed from hand set Gill Sans Light on the poet/printer’s paper handmade from recycled cotton. Denise's one- and two-color mezzotints were printed on Japanese papers and applied chine collé to the handmade paper. A modified clamshell box covered in marine blue and rust Asahi cloths with a front debossed label holds the 8 x 10 inch sheets including a title sheet. 10 copies in all, 2004.
Postpartum Lullaby
by Elizabeth Layton
The late Kansas artist Elizabeth Layton began this poem in the 1950s and continued to revise and expand it for twenty-five years. The six-page poem deals with motherhood, grief, and hope, cataloging events and mothers both nameless and famous. Layton provided a line drawing to illustrate the title page that was printed from a photoengraving. Denise Brady printed the poem from handset Romulus type on Rives heavyweight with Harry Duncan's direction using his iron hand press. Mary Gallagher, Ginny Morocco, Bonnie O'Connell, and Floyd Pearce assisted. The two signatures are sewn into a wrapper of Rives marbled by Takako Hicken and the printer. 175 copies printed. 10 pages. 10 x 7 1/2 inches. 1993.
The Prodigal Daughter Wears Out
by Denise Brady
The print was produced for an exchange of artists' prints titled The Palimpsest Portfolio, which was presented at the 2001 Southern Graphics Council Conference in New Orleans. The text of the poem, hand set in Poliphilus type, overlays two partially "erased" layers. One is text from the Bible ("In the beginning was the word and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.") printed letterpress with a linocut initial "I", and the other is an inkjet image of the sheela-na-gig from the Church of SS Mary and David, Kilpeck, Herefordshire, UK. 15 x 11 inches. 20. 2001 $50
The poem is a rant precipitated by an impending surgery and incorporating divergent quotes from the persona's conversations and readings. The gloss on the right cites Merlin Stone, Lao-tzu, Laurie Anderson, Christina Rossetti, William Blake, Ernst Haeckel, Margaret Mead, a Nebraska Medicaid administrator, and Adrienne Rich.
The poem begins: The Prodigal Daughter Wears Out / trying to redirect the patriarchy while simultaneously creating abdominal curiosities, body parts with no known purpose. ...
The Brain-Eaters
a poem by Mark Sanders, image by Nick Sphorer
This broadside was completed during a Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts letterpress workshop. 30 printed with a half-tone reproduction of Nick Sphorer’s intaglio print, 2003 ($35.00)
Florigraphy
a poem by Susan Aizenberg
This wedding poem is set in 12 pt. Garamond type and printed with a floral/rainbow roll border. The broadside on various mould made papers is 13 x 6 1/2 inches. 50 copies total, 2008 (2nd edition). $15.00
Color of Tongues
haiku by Denise Brady /
calligraphy by Susan Leong
This digital/letterpress broadside was produced for 100 Universes: An International Accordion Book of Prints. The image is a Chinese character (broadly translated “of woman”) drawn by Susan Leong with a photograph by the printer imposed on the character digitally. The poem was written as a challenge to write a "sex" poem. The image is printed by inkjet on archival paper and the text letterpressed from handset Univers type. 9 x 9 inches. on 25 copies, 2004.
Dante Alighieri's
Io son venuto al punto de la rota / I come to that point on the wheel,
translated by Harry Duncan
Duncan's translation from the Italian of this 75-line 700-year-old poem, a lover's lament, is set in 12 pt. Garamond and printed on Arches paper. Produced on the occasion of Mr. Duncan receiving the Jane Geske Award on Feb. 3, 1994 from the Nebraska Center for the Book to recognize his contributions to the book as printer, publisher, author, teacher and translator. A photograph by the printer was used as a cover illustration. 12 pages (single section). 250 copies. 10 x 4 7/8 inches. 1994.
Hayden Carruth: Three New Poems
These three poems have been hand set in Perpetua type and printed using a Vandercook proof press on Frankfurt paper. Red initials are Romulus Open. The paper cover is Thai Reversible: two sheets of Kozo laminated, tobacco brown on the outside and sienna inside. 10 pp. 5 3/4 x 8 inches. 150 copies. 1999.
Girl Talk (5)
Nancy McCleery & Susan McGilvrey
Girl Talk (5) by Nancy McCleery with a wood cut by Susan McGilvrey. Hand set Perpetua with Caslon Old Style title. Printed in 3 colors on Arches, Rives, or Fabriano Ingres paper. 100 copies, 10 5/8 x 14 inches, 1994
Words, by Vénus Khoury-Ghata /
Marilyn Hacker, translator
Words is an exceprt from She Said, Graywolf Press, St. Paul, Minnesota © 2003). This broadside was printed for the al-Muttanabi Street Project, 12 x 9 inches, hand set Gill Sans and Murray Hill on machine-made paper, 50 copies, 12 x 9 inches, 2009
No Center Line Exists by Zachary Schomburg
Poems and the title printed from handset Gill Sans and Comstock, bird silhouettes from photopolymer (relief), all on Ingres Antique paper; Brady’s altered photos were printed on handmade papers using an inkjet printer; boards were covered in Japanese book cloth. Approximately 5 1/2 (h) x 6 1/4 inches closed. Text is two single sections sewn dos-à-dos. Published in March of 2012. This hand-numbered edition is limited to 18 copies. Each copy is signed by poet and book artist. $100. (cased dos-a-dos)
No Center Line Exists by Zachary Schomburg
In 2021, six additional copies of the printed poems with the altered photographs were sewn into paper-covered pamphlets. $15 (pamphlet)
a sample poem:
I Fall in Love with Everything I Touch
I fall in love with everything I touch.
I am a boy who lives in the woods.
I fall in love with trees, mostly.
When I touch them
they turn to wood