Types of the Oriole Press Throughout his fifty years of printing Ishill used close to twenty different typefaces for his text and display type. The specimens shown here illustrate the variety of faces Ishill used, and also indicate his admiration for Frederic Goudy's work.
Works included on this page are:
Iris Heart: Some Strange Songs About What No Man May Say, a Guess-Work for Artists in Love, by J. William Lloyd. Stelton, N.J.: Jos. Ishill, 1917.
Cromwell type; printed in three colors; 460 copies on book paper; wrappers; wrappers; 4.5 x 8 inches; 51 p.
Lloyd (1857-1940) was a fellow Ferrer Colonist, a close friend of Ishill's, and a teacher at the Modern School. This volume includes many of his poems, some of which are published in this volume for the first time. Printed with Cromwell type, the first typeface Ishill used.
Manifesto (A Rare and Interesting Document), by Josiah Warren. Introductory Note by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1952.
Garamond and Cloister Oldstyle types; printed in black and blue; 80 copies on Hamilton Text and 20 on W & A All Rag paper; wrappers with printed label; 4.5 x 7.375 inches; viii, 12 p.
Josiah Warren (1798-1874) was variously a musician, an inventor and an anarchist. Widely regarded as the first American anarchist, Warren, with his friend and follower Stephen Pearl Andrews, established and popularized the individualist anarchist movement. It was Warren's theory of "the sovereignty of the individual" which led Andrews to write his essay of that title (reprinted by Ishill in 1938). Warren turned to individualism following a two year period in which he was a member of Robert Owen's utopian community New Harmony, Indiana. This Manifesto, originally printed by Warren on a press of his own design and making, is an attempt to explain his basic philosophies, including individual sovereignty and equitable commerce. Like many other essays that Ishill reprinted, this Manifesto received a very limited distribution, and at the time of its reprinting was unavailable in any of the country's major research libraries.
The Soul of Japan, by Elie Faure. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1930.
Garamond type; title page drawing by Yosey, another drawing by an anonymous Japanese artist, and three large initials by Frederic W. Goudy; printed in black and orange on Strathmore Artlaid paper; boards with linen spine; 8.25 x 10.25 inches; 28 p.
In his bibliography, Ishill states that "[a]lthough 200 copies of this book were printed, only a few were distributed. While on a lecture tour of the Orient, the author discovered that 99% of his views of Japan were mistaken. He wrote to the publisher, while still in Tokyo, instructing him to destroy the books." According to the verso of the title page, 210 copies were originally printed, of which 175 were to be offered for sale. It is simply speculation as to how many actually survive, but it may be that those which were to be offered for sale were destroyed, and those earmarked by Ishill for libraries were saved.
The Principles of Humanism, by Eugene Relgis. Introductory Note by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1931.
Garamond and Eve types; frontispiece portrait from a crayon drawing by Lazar Zin; printed in black and orange; 75 copies on Strathmore Artlaid paper; boards with cloth spine; 4.75 x 7.75 inches; xii, 28 p.
From Ishill's introduction: "For mankind, who is groping toward truer evaluations, and particularly for those who ardently aspire toward universal freedom and integral regeneration, I heartily recommend these Principles of Humanism, as herein exposed by Eugene Relgis, who for the last decade has arduously expounded the gospel of freedom in a brighter light of cosmic understanding." It is apparent, then, that Ishill chose this text, as he did so many others, for the author's commitment to freedom of thought.
Frans Masereel, by Jacques Mesnil. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1934.
Bookman and Hadriano types; printed in black and red; 100 copies on Bay Path paper; wrappers; 4.25 x 7.75 inches; 22 p.
During the early half of the twentieth century Frans Masereel (1889-1972) was a world- famous artist. An accomplished illustrator and newspaper cartoonist, he is probably most well- known for his woodcuts, with their simple lines and stark images. His most lasting contributions were his "novels"--cycles of woodcuts presented in book form. This portrait of the artist, by the French author Jacques Mesnil, includes reproductions of nine of these woodcuts.
Witchcraft, by Bernard Sleigh. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1934. Copy no. 65.
Bookman and Hadriano types; woodcuts by the author; printed in three colors; 106 copies, some on book paper and some on brown bond; boards with buckram spine; 5 x 8.625 inches; xii, 90 p. (Half of the edition went to the author in England.)
Bernard Sleigh (1872-1954), an English book illustrator, was instrumental in the transformation of wood engraving from a medium of reproduction to one of expression. His engravings and woodcuts appear in several Oriole Press publications, including Havelock Ellis's Kanga Creek. This is the only work of Sleigh's published in the United States.
Don't Crowd, (a poem) by Charles Dickens, with Gleanings from Other Sources, culled by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1936.
Bodoni Book and Hadriano types; with three original wood-engravings by Dr. Alexander Anderson; printed in black and orange; 100 copies on Worthy Hand and Arrows paper; wrappers; 4.5 x 7.25 inches; 14 p.
This poem is an expression of individual freedom. Printed for the Christmas season of 1936, the pamphlet also includes selections from Havelock Ellis, Lao Tze, William Morris, William Godwin, and A. E. Housman.
Elegy (Poem), by Itzchok Katzenelson. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1948.
Cromwell, Kennerly and Hebrew types; printed in blue and orange; 100 copies on book paper; wrappers; 5 x 7.75 inches; 12 p.
Katzenelson was a Jewish poet in the Warsaw ghetto. Originally from Lodz, he escaped to Warsaw with the oncoming of the Nazi persecution in Lodz. An important member of the Jewish underground, his dramas and poetry were well-known in the Warsaw community, and he was often published in the underground press. Ishill had been impressed by this poem, which he had read when he took up an interest in Yiddish literature. The publication of Katzenelson's Dos Lied Funem Oisgehargetn Yiddishn Folk (The Song of the Massacred Jewish Nation) prompted Ishill to recall Elegy, which he had clipped and saved in his scrapbook. "I never dreamed," Ishill says in his introduction, "that this great poet would undergo such a horrible ordeal at the hands of the Nazi gangsters; for they destroyed him in one of their infamous gas chambers . . . I reproduce here this little poetic gem as a token of admiration and remembrance."
By-Laws: Township of New Providence Rescue Squad, Inc. of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1947.
Garamond and Goudy Gimbell types; printed in black and green; 100 copies on W & A book paper; wrappers; 3.625 x 5.75 inches; 22 p.
Israel (A Poem), by Israel Zangwill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1961.
Bodoni Book type with Erasmus and Eve for title; printed in three colors; 125 copies on Strathmore Pastelle and Warren Olde Style papers; wrappers; 5.125 x 7.75 inches; 5 p.
A prolific English novelist and playwright, Zangwill (1864-1926) is perhaps best known for his play The Melting Pot, which was dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt. It shaped the discourse on American ideals for the twentieth century.
Milly Witkop-Rocker, by Rudolf Rocker. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1956.
Kennerley and Hadriano types; printed in three colors; blue and gray patterned wrappers with printed label; 5 x 8 inches; 20 p.
This tribute to Milly Witkop-Rocker (1877-1955) by her husband Rudolf (1873-1958) was printed using Kennerley and Hadriano types.
Village of Seven Gates, by Peter Darien. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1958.
Kennerley Old Style type with Gimbel for title; printed in three colors; 100 copies on Renker Text and 100 on Weimar paper; pink wrappers; 5.25 x 8.25 inches; 19 p.
This collection of poetry by Peter Darien, a pseudonym for the New Jersey businessman and civic leader William Burnet Kinney Bassett, was printed for the author.
The Atlantic Charter (An Imperishable Document signed by) Franklin D. Roosevelt & Winston Churchill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1960.
Post Roman and Elegante type; printed in three colors; on Renker and Weimar papers; wrappers; 4.75 x 8 inches; 5 p.
This imperishable document was printed using Post Roman--a type which Ishill used extensively in his later publications.
Flame (Poems), by Peter Darien. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1947.
Jenson and Goudy Text; printed in black and red; 110 copies; boards with linen spine; 5 x 8.25 inches; 22 p. [Printed for the author.]
Centennial Memento/with Excerpts From A Shropshire Lad and fragment of a greek tragedy, by A. E. Housman. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1959.
Frontispiece portrait from an original photograph; Kennerley Old Style type and Post Roman Light for title; printed in three colors; 50 copies on Weimar paper; green boards with white spine and printed labels; 4.5 x 8.25 inches; 44 p.
Housman's poignant poems were much appreciated in radical circles.
Leon Feraru (In Memoriam), A Prospectus. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1960.
Post Roman type with Erasmus initials; printed in three colors; wrappers with printed label; 5.5 x 8.5 inches; 7 p.
