A lifelong printer, a freelance book designer, and a gifted typographer, Fass was held in high regard among peers such as Bruce Rogers, Frederic Warde, and Roland Wood. While working by day for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency in New York during the 1950’s, Fass began The Hammer Creek Press in his off hours at home—printing for pleasure. The largely experimental printing was done on hand presses—a small iron Hughes & Kimber press and a small wood press that Fass himself constructed.

The book includes a checklist of The Hammer Creek Press from 1950 to 1961 as well as reprints of several pieces of Fass’s work. This is a treat considering these have long been collectors’ items and are now almost exclusively found only in the rare book rooms of libraries. One thousand copies of this book were printed in single-color letterpress and multi-color offset at The Stinehour Press. The text is elegantly set in Fournier.

—Delve Withrington