One such company that continues to preserve its specialty in bookmaking excellence is Arion Press – renamed in 1974 as a result of the Grabhorn-Hoyem partnership after Grabhorn Press shut down. The San Franciscan Grabhorn Press was quite distinguished at the time, having printed – what is known to be their masterpiece – Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, where it made use of a special New Style typography of Frederic Goudy, the most recognized American type designer. What Grabhorn lent to the new partnership was its equipment, which contained the most important collections of type that Arion Press uses to this day.
Today, Arion Press employs only a very small team consisting of ten people, with a focus on crafting two to three limited-edition books per year and which titles have only a very limited number of copies available – in order to get your hands on some of their titles, one will need to get in touch with the Press and inquire. Titles include those of ancient literature to modern literary classics and each are designed and produced by hand where typographic interpretation is a key feature. What defines the Arion Press in the bookmaking industry is their employment in combining both old and modern techniques along with the use of their own historic letterpress equipment. The Press has also released books and portfolios containing original prints by major artists.
