Limited Edition Books with Original Art

Arion Press
Founded by Andrew Hoyem in 1974, the Arion Press publishes deluxe, limited-edition books, many of them printed by letterpress, illustrated by prominent artists, and some accompanied by separate editions of original prints. Since 2001, Arion Press has been a cultural tenant at the Presidio, the new National Park in San Francisco, where it shares a handsome industrial building with its second division, M & H Type—the oldest and largest type foundry in the United States, serving the font and typesetting needs of letterpress printers around the world—as well as its nonprofit adjunct, the Grabhorn Institute. Tours, gallery, and contact information.

Nonprofit Grabhorn Institute
The nonprofit Grabhorn Institute was created in 2000 to preserve the historic printing and bookmaking facilities of Arion Press and M & H Type, and to perpetuate the crafts of typecasting, letterpress printing, and bookbinding. It conducts educational and cultural programs, including tours of the historic production facility, and exhibitions, lectures, and readings in the gallery. The Institute's name pays tribute to the Grabhorn Press and the San Francisco fine press tradition. Read more about the nonprofit Grabhorn Institute and how you can make a tax-deductible contribution.

William Wiley image for
Don Quixote

Page from I Love My Love with image by Kiki Smith

Laurie Simmons photograph for Mrs. Bridge

Frank Lobdell print for
The Structure of Rime

Just Released:

Arion Press is publishing Book I of a two-volume edition of Don Quixote in the acclaimed new translation by Edith Grossman, with forty-two illustrations by William T. Wiley. Book II will be released in 2010. This work is one of the most ambitious undertakings in the thirty-five-year history of the Press, comparable to our editions of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and James Joyce's Ulysses.

Also just released, I Love My Love, a fourteen-stanza ballad by Scottish-born San Francisco poet Helen Adam, with sixteen prints by Kiki Smith, who illustrated Emily Dickinson in 2007.

Released in August 2009:

Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, with 68 photographs in color and black-and-white by Laurie Simmons.

Recent Publications:

The Nachman Stories by Leonard Michaels. This edition brings together for the first time in a single volume Michaels's short stories featuring the Los Angeles mathematician Raphael Nachman as their hero. The book includes nine photographic portraits of the author.

The Structure of Rime. The series of prose poems by Robert Duncan augmented by etchings by Frank Lobdell.

Tono-Bungay. H. G. Wells' greatest satirical novel, with 14 psychological portraits of the characters by Stan Washburn and 20 fanciful advertisements for quack medicines.

Sampler. Poetry by Emily Dickinson with over 200 prints by the artist Kiki Smith.

The Boobus and the Bunnyduck. A deluxe facsimile of a unique artist book created in 1957 by the artist known as Jess.

The Waste Land. The first illustrated edition of T. S. Eliot's landmark 20th century poem, with artwork by R. B. Kitaj, and an essay by Helen Vendler. SOLD OUT.

Journey Round My Room. The late 18th century French classic by Xavier de Maistre, with art by New York architect Ross Anderson.

Godot. A staging in pictures of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot by William T. Wiley.

A Day in the Bleachers. The baseball classic by Arnold Hano with illustrations by Mark Ulriksen.

The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin. Commonly known as The Autobiography.

A Coney Island of the Mind. Poetry by Lawrence Ferlinghetti with prints by R. B. Kitaj.

Gloria. Poetry by Bill Berkson with 25 etchings by Alex Katz.

Many of these recent books are available with separate editions of prints and portfolios.