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Arif Press Records
BANC MSS 93/135 c
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Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Arif Press records
Creator:
Arif Press
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 93/135 c
Physical Description:
13 linear feet
(10 cartons and 1 oversize box)
Date (inclusive): 1970-1991
Date (inclusive): undated
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: The Arif Press was founded in Berkeley, California in 1971. The Arif Press records consist of four series, including project
files, correspondence, general press files, and personal.
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase from Wesley Tanner, Arif Press.
Wesley B. Tanner (b. 1947) began his career as a letterpress printer after wandering into a printing class in junior high
school in 1960. Three years later he entered the trade at 16 years old after landing a job at Press Baza, one of the early
California Beat poetry presses. After graduating high school, Tanner moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from his native
Los Angeles to study letterpress printing at Laney College in Oakland. He was to soon seek the guidance of Mrs. Leslie S.
Clarke and the staff of the Rare Book Room at UC Berkeley, and also from a long friendship with James D. Hart, Director of
The Bancroft Library. But Tanner's real tutelage came from his mentors, John C. Tarr and Roger Levenson, and became part
of a long and distinguished line of autodidactic scholar-printers based in California. Tanner eventually mentored others,
including Alistair Johnston, Gerald Reddan, and Linnea Lundquest.
Founding the Arif Press in 1971, Tanner maintained a printing office on Ninth Street in West Berkeley. With cohorts among
the Bay Area writers and poets of his time, such as Joanne Kyger and Michael McClure, Tanner produced work of extraordinary
quality, publishing numerous books of poetry, literature, fine art, and menus for such acclaimed restaurants as Chez Panisse
and the Bay Wolf. He also partnered with Will Powers to print the journal Fine Print and the Book Club of California's Quarterly
News-Letter. His work has been extensively exhibited in libraries and has won numerous awards. Tanner has maintained his
ties to California even after moving to the Midwest and subsequently to the East Coast. He has been an active member of the
Book Club of California and a printer member of the Roxburghe Club, San Francisco.
Arif Press records, BANC MSS 93/135 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
The Arif Press records consist of four series.
Project Files: consist of production files for books, menus, broadsides, stationary, catalogs and newletters published by
Arif Press either for the press itself or for other presses or institutions nationally and internationally. These files include
materials, such as correspondence, invoices, mock-ups, notes, specifications, biographies, bibliographies, and photographs.
Major subjects include poetry, literary and non-fiction works, culinary arts, Bay Area and California history. Includes works
and/or correspondence from many prominent poets, including Jack Spicer, Joanne Kyger, Michael McClure, Robert Creely, Anne
Waldman, Bill Berkson, Leslie Scalapino, Philip Whalen, and Robert Bly.
Correspondence - General: contains leeters with poets and fellow publishers, and are both personal and professional in content.
General Press Files: materials related to the operation of the press.
Personal: consists of an autobiography, bibliography, interviews, articles, awards, photographs of printers, and miscellany.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies.
Processed at the folder level by Dean Smith in 2023-2024.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Printing industry--California--San Francisco Bay Area
Berkson, Bill
Brandi, John
Bly, Robert
Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005
Davenport, Guy
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence
Gifford, Barry, 1946-
Giorno, John
Hirschman, Jack, 1933-2021
Kelly, Robert, 1935-
Kyger, Joanne
LaVigne, Robert, 1928-2014
McClure, Michael
McClure, Joanna
Scalapino, Leslie
Waldman, Anne, 1945-
Whalen, Philip