Fine-press publisher Arion Press, and its sister company M&H Type, the nation's last fully functioning type foundry, moved to new digs at the former steam plant in San Francisco's Presidio Park earlier this year, bringing to an end a saga of survival that has commanded not only front-page news in the city's papers, but also national attention. The move came just as Arion completes the biggest project of its 30-year history: the printing of what will likely be the last limited-edition, grand-folio Bible produced from hot metal type.
When Arion founder and publisher Andrew Hoyem learned he was being evicted from the South of Market space he had occupied for more than 30 years, the demise of the press seemed inevitable. Moving the sister companies would involve transporting some 30 tons of cast-iron inventory, and would cost at least $800,000. But Hoyem was not going to go down without a fight, and neither was San Francisco Chronicle reporter Ken Garcia, whose articles turned Arion's case into a cause célèbre.
In November 2000, Arion's bookmaking facility was designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a cultural legacy, which gave Hoyem the green light to move into the Presidio as a living museum—one that would open its doors to the public. To raise funds for the move and later for programming, Hoyem established the Grabhorn Institute, named after two brothers who were master printers and at one time Hoyem's mentors and partners.
Already the Grabhorn Institute has raised $500,000 from some 100 contributors, several of whom donated through Arion's Web site (www.arionpress.com). The immediate goal, said Hoyem, is to raise $300,000 more to cover operating expenses for the next five years. Hoyem and his staff of eight finished printing the 400 Bibles just before the move, although the slow binding process still goes on. At 25 pounds each, these massive, utilitarian artworks, designed to be read on church lecterns, cost $7,250 unbound, $8,500 bound in leather and $11,000 with hand-illuminated letters (illumination that looks like modern stained-glass windows). Printed in the New Revised Standard Version copyrighted by the National Council of Churches, they include not only the Old and New Testaments but the Apocrypha as well. "Surprisingly," said Hoyem, "most of the orders have been for the full leather binding with illuminated letters—and most have been bought by individuals." He expects to sell out of the deluxe edition by year-end.
Although every element of the Bibles has been traditionally crafted, there was one concession to high tech. The NRSV text arrived at Arion on disk. Using an old SE 30 Mac, Hoyem and his staff first laid out all the pages, then hooked the Mac to the typecasting machines to construct each character of the Bible. This sheered months off the project, which, even so, at 10 pages a day, took a year and a half.
Once the move is complete, Arion and M&H Type will become part of a larger book arts center administered by the Grabhorn Institute. Previous works printed by Hoyem will be on display at a large gallery—his celebrated Moby-Dick, considered by collectors one of the greatest letterpress books ever; Ulysses, with etchings by Motherwell; and his most recent, Cane by Jean Toomer with prints by Martin Puryear.
