Works by and about Joseph Ishill This page contains many of the books and pamphlets written by Ishill or about him and his press.
Included are:
Ishill letter to Agnes Inglis, curator of the Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, regarding book competition, June 19, 1935.
Photograph of Ishill and Family. (l to r) Bertha Johnson, Crystal Ishill, Rose Freeman-Ishill, Joseph Ishill. Photograph taken by Anatole Ishill in 1935.
The Oriole Press - Privately Conducted by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1958.
Garamond type with Hadriano & Text for captions; printed in three colors; green wrappers; 4.125 x 7.75 inches; 7 p.
This pamphlet contains a reprint of an article from the Elizabeth Daily Journal by Dorothea H. Wingert.
Nostalgia (Pastels in Prose), by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1954.
Cromwell type; printed in three colors; 5 copies on Cheltenham H.M. and 30 copies on W & A All Rag paper; patterned boards with vellum spine and printed labels; 4.125 x 7.75 inches; 60 p.
Ishill is not generally thought of as an author, yet early in his career he did a great deal of writing. These five stories evoke images of Ishill's youth in Rumania, and also tell the tales of new immigrants coping in the United States. The volume is open to "Cassian," the story of a Rumanian boy's dream of an enchanted forest. Ishill also reprinted a letter from J. William Lloyd in this volume, in which he said, "I began to read 'Cassian,' thinking it another of your translations, but was at once impressed by its beauty, but when I saw your name at the end I was thunder struck, for, someway, I had never thought of you doing original work, at least in English. . . . It is gripping in its beauty."
Joseph Ishill and the Oriole Press, by Marian C. Brown. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1960.
Kennerley type; printed in black and green on Strathmore Pastelle paper; wrappers; 4.75 x 8 inches; 16 p.
Reprint from a newspaper article which appeared in the Berkeley Heights Beacon June 9, 1960. Also included are excerpts from letters to Ishill.
Scriptor Ignotus - to his printer, by Samuel Duff McCoy. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1958.
Printed in black and blue; wrappers; 6.5 x 10 inches; 2 p.
According to a note on the title page, this is a press proof copy.
Joseph Ishill et l'Oriole Press, par Jacques Mesnil. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1951.
Garamond and Cloister types with Bodoni ornament; printed in two colors; 50 copies on rag paper; wrappers; 4.25 x 7.5 inches; 17 p.
This essay originally appeared in the French journal Arts et Métiers Graphiques in May 1938, one of several articles which Mesnil published in French periodicals about Ishill and his work. Mesnil was an art historian whose main work included books on Masaccio, Botticelli, and Frans Masereel (a book which Ishill published). A smaller body of work by Mesnil, though more relevant to this discussion, was his writings on anarchism, and especially syndicalism. Much like anarchists, syndicalists believe that government should be overthrown. Syndicalism emphasizes trade unions as the main unit of organization, and advocates the seizure by laborers of the means of production.
Joseph Ishill & the Oriole Press, by Jacques Mesnil. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press, 1958.
Cromwell type with Hadriano for title; printed in three colors; brown wrappers; 4.125 x 6.25 inches; 9 p.
This is an English translation of Mesnil's original French essay Joseph Ishill et L'Oriole Press.
