Tampa Book Arts Kickstarter
The Tampa Book Arts Studio has launched its first-ever Kickstarter campaign for a project that brings an unpublished story of notable American woodcut artist J. J. Lankes into print in a limited letterpress edition.
“In 1950, nearing the end of his career as an illustrator and woodcut artist, Lankes wrote an allegorical fable that takes place in the lives of two mice, a story that emphasizes the snares of materialism versus the redeeming strength of love and forgiveness. Lankes also completed two illustrations to accompany it, but both the story and the cuts were set aside. They were never published or even publicly known, and they were nearly lost.” (TBAS blog)
The TBAS is home to Lankes’s c. 1845 Hoe Washington hand press, No. 3126, on which he proofed and printed his blocks for Robert Frost and others. Now, Director Dr. Richard Mathews is overseeing theprint production of Lankes’s story, The Rich Mouse, with illustrations. The book will be set in a special casting “Village” private press typeface in celebration of the 150th anniversary of its creator, Frederic W. Goudy.
Clearly, there is much to celebrate here! And donors can get in on the celebration by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign and receiving some excellent premiums – including a limited letterpress edition of the book itself, broadsides, and a companion paperback copy The Rich Mouse.
