Source of Acquisition/Provenance
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Biographical/Historical Note
Organization and Arrangement
Scope and Content
Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Plantin Press Archive
Identifier/Call Number: Press coll. Archives Plantin
Physical Description:
19.11 Linear Feet
(37 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1931-1986
Language of Material:
English
.
Source of Acquisition/Provenance
Acquired: Dawson's Book Shop, Feb. 2, 1987.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore
cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials
they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or
other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews
Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Preferred Citation
[Indentification of item], Plantin Press Archives, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Biographical/Historical Note
The Plantin Press, a small private press in Los Angeles, was started in 1931 by Saul and Lillian Marks. Saul Marks, having
learned the printing trade while a youth in Poland during the First World War, emigrated to the United States in 1921. Here
he met and married Lillian Simon in 1928. With the coming of the Depression, the Markses moved to Los Angeles in 1930. Saul
and Lillian Marks purposely kept the Plantin Press a small operation so that each book or project could receive personal attention.
Saul Marks died on November 27, 1974, leaving Lillian Marks to continue the press. This she did until the decision was made
in 1985 to sell the business.
The Plantin Press printed approximately one hundred fifty-five books, pamphlets, and keepsakes, as well as numerous programs,
announcements, invitations, and stationery sets.
Organization and Arrangement
Following as close as possible to the original order as designed by Lillian Marks, the archive is arranged in 8 series as
follows:
- ARTISTS & TYPOGRAPHERS (3 boxes)
- BUSINESS (6 boxes)
- TYPOPHILES (3 boxes)
- TYPE FOUNDRIES, PAPER (2 boxes)
- SUPPLIERS (3 boxes)
- OTHER PRINTERS (2 boxes)
- MISCELLANEOUS (3 boxes)
- FINANCIAL RECORDS (11 boxes)
Original order has been followed down to the folder level with a few exceptions. Folders containing correspondence, invoices,
statements and like matter are arranged chronologically. Folders containing items with no clear chronological organization
have been in most instances left in their original order. Folder headings are those assigned by Lillian Marks, again with
a few exceptions. There has been no separation of material by type. Therefore in a folder on a particular subject, the researcher
can find correspondence, printed items, photographs, negatives, galley proofs, etc. In the following finding aid, a general
contents description has been given such as correspondence or invoices if this designation portrays the majority of items
in the folder. If the file contains a publication, photograph or some other item of possible interest, this has also been
noted. Obviously, it is impossible to include everything, and the following list is by no means a complete contents lis! t.
A more detailed contents list, created as the time the files were being arranged, has been placed at the front of each folder.
These lists generally give the order of the contents as they were originally found. When requesting items, please state series,
folder heading, box and folder number.
Scope and Content
The archives consist of subject files on artists, typographers, clients, business contacts, suppliers, projects, etc. Individual
files contain correspondence, lectures, photographs, greeting cards, and examples of artwork. Also to be found are printed
items by Plantin Press and other printers, drafts of books, galley proofs, work sheets, sample pages, photographs and negatives
of illustrations, color separations, prospectuses, etc. Job printing such as wedding announcements, programs, stationery sets,
business cards, invitations, membership cards and menus can be found in files such as those of the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, Union Bank and the University of Southern California. Financial records consist of ledger and journal sheets, account
cards, invoices, statements, purchase orders, tax papers, canceled checks, paid notes and other business papers.
Included in the files are materials relating to typographers and other presses such as the Grabhorn Press, Rampant Lions Press,
Stanley Morison, Will Cheney, Vance Gerry, Ward Ritchie, Grant Dahlstrom and the Castle Press, Patrick Reagh, Fred Goudy,
The Golden Cockerel Press, John Dreyfus, Paul Standard, Adrian Wilson and Beatrice Warde. Examples of work by artists such
as Reynolds Stone, Ilya Schor, Fritz Eichenberg, Ernest Freed, Gene Holtan and Stan Washburn are also included.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Printers -- California -- 20th century
Small presses -- California -- 20th century