Jane Bissell Grabhorn (1911–1973) was an American artist, typographer, bookbinder, and printer.

Early life

Martha Jane Bissell was born June 29, 1911, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Educated in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where she learned bookbinding, she returned to California as a teenager and became a student of Belle McMurtry Young, a prominent bookbinder. In 1932 she married Robert Grabhorn.

Career

Beginning in 1934 Grabhorn acquired substantial knowledge of typography and printing through working at the

Grabhorn Press The Grabhorn Institute is a nonprofit organization formed in October 2000 for the purpose of preserving and continuing the operation of one of the last integrated facilities for typefounding, letterpress printing, and bookbinding in the fine press ...

, which was owned and operated by her husband and his brother Edwin. In 1937 Grabhorn established her own imprint, the Jumbo Press, which she used as a vehicle for experimentation and artistic expression. Named for a toy press, most of the products of the Jumbo Press were pieces of ephemera and displayed Grabhorn's wit and interest in lighthearted feminist satire. Her best-known work for the Jumbo Press was the treatise ''A Typografic Discourse for the Distaff Side of Printing, a Book by Ladies'' (1937), which was included in the compilation ''Bookmaking on the Distaff Side,'' a collaborative feminist work by Grabhorn, Edna Beilenson, Bruce Rogers, and others. Grabhorn also wrote, illustrated, and published via the Jumbo Press ''A Guide & Handbook for Amateurs of Printing'' (1937)''.'' Grabhorn founded the Colt Press (1938–1942) in San Francisco with

William M. Roth William Matson Roth (September 3, 1916 – May 29, 2014) was an American shipping executive, special ambassador for trade, member of the ACLU executive committee, and Regent for the University of California. He is credited with the preservation of ...

and Jane Swinerton. The press focused primarily on subjects related to California. Notable publications include their first, ''Lola Montez: The Mid-Victorian Bad Girl in California'', by

Oscar Lewis Oscar Lewis, born Lefkowitz (December 25, 1914 – December 16, 1970) was an American anthropologist. He is best known for his vivid depictions of the lives of slum dwellers and his argument that a cross-generational culture of poverty transcen ...

(1938); ''Kamehameha, King of the Hawaiian Islands'', by Marie Louise Burke (1939), which was chosen as one of the fifty "Books of the Year" by the

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

; and ''McTeague: A Story of San Francisco'', by

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of San ...

(1941). Grabhorn set the type for the press and worked without pay during most of this period. Although she attempted to continue operating the Colt Press single-handedly after Roth left to join the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

in 1942, the press was forced to close. Grabhorn then returned to work for the Grabhorn Press, where she was able to produce 15 additional titles under the Colt Press imprint. At the Grabhorn Press she oversaw the bindery until it closed in 1965. She continued typesetting, her preferred avocation, for the rest of her life. She also continued to produce Jumbo Press publications throughout her life, many of which are compiled in ''The Compleat Jane Grabhorn: A Hodge-Podge of Typographic Ephemera'', which she produced with her husband and Andrew Hoyem at the Grabhorn-Hoyem Press in 1968. Jane Grabhorn died on October 1, 1973, in San Francisco.

References

External links

* "The Colt Press: Oral History Transcript" (1965–1966), interview of Jane Grabhorn, Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley (via Internet Archive)
Grabhorn Press oral history transcripts
Bancroft Library (via Internet Archive)
"Finding Aid to the Grabhorn Press Records, 1917–1973"
Bancroft Library

at ''Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders & Book Designers'', Princeton University Library * (also point of entry for Grabhorn Press, Jumbo Press, and Colt Press records) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabhorn, Jane 1911 births 1973 deaths American typographers and type designers Women printers American printers Bookbinders Artists from San Francisco 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists Women graphic designers American expatriates in France

Early life

Career

References

Further reading

External links