Paul Johnston (July 17, 1899 – February 18, 1987) was among the printers and artists who defined a new American style of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
,
typography
Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...
and
book design
Book design is the graphic art of determining the visual and physical characteristics of a book. The design process begins after an author and editor finalize the manuscript, at which point it is passed to the production stage. During productio ...
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
, New York City.Special Collections, New York Public Library, Research Call Number: ssCol 1580/ref> Flying Stag Press published ''Drawings by Rockwell Kent: A Portfolio of Prints'', 28 black and white illustrations, in 1924. Now part of the bohemian Village scene, while still working for Arens, PJ set up his own press, intending to publish a magazine of new literature, like ''Transition'' in Paris and ''Broom'' in Italy. Then, having a different idea, he published the material in six pamphlets called ''The Latterday Pamphlets''. He showed an editor at Random House his work along with a proposal to print fine press editions of the country's best contemporary poets and writers.PJ audiotape transcripts, interviews by Mary Clark, 1980
''The Poetry Quartos,'' a limited edition of 475 copies, designed and printed at his press in Silvermine, Connecticut, was published by Random House in 1929. ''The Poetry Quartos'' consisted of one booklet for each poem by twelve well-known poets, with an illustration by PJ on each cover. All the booklets were then enclosed in a folder. The poets were Robert Frost, Genevieve Taggard,
Vachel Lindsay
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (; November 10, 1879 – December 5, 1931) was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern ''singing poetry,'' as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.
Early years
Lindsay was born ...
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalism (literature), naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despi ...
Carl Van Vechten
Carl Van Vechten (; June 17, 1880December 21, 1964) was an American writer and Fine-art photography, artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary estate, literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame ...
, Louis Bromfield and Theodore Dreiser.
During the next fifteen years, Johnston moved back and forth between the Village and Woodstock, New York, which was flourishing as an artistic community. In Woodstock, Hervey White hired him to be the editor and advertising manager of ''Hue And Cry'', the weekly artistic newspaper. In the early 1930s Johnston wrote and published ''The Book Collector's Packet''. About the same time, in March 1932 he published 250 copies of ''The Crow's Nest Funerealities'' by the poet Peggy Bacon.
Career in literature
Johnston's
critique
Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is frequently understood as fault finding and negative judgment, Rodolphe Gasché (2007''The honor of thinking: critique, theory, philosophy ...
of the art of printing contributed to the spirited debate of the times. In ''Beauty and The Book: Fine Editions and Cultural Distinction in America'', Paul Johnston commented: "It should be obvious that there would be more vitality in an activity concerned with contemporary letters and book design" rather than reprints of European classics which taxed fine press printers' resources. He favored instead creating a new, modern American style of
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
,
graphic arts
A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional graphics, i.e. produced on a flat surface,Covici-Friede in 1930, is a standard book on typography. It was based on research and his articles and correspondence with fine press printers and typographers. The articles were published previously in The
''American Collector'', ''The Bookman'', The '' Atlantic Monthly'' Bookshelf, Book Chat, ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', ''Books'', ''The Publishers' Weekly'', and ''The American Printer''. In ''Biblio-Typographica'', Johnston analyzed the work of William Addison Dwiggins, Daniel Berkeley Updike, Bruce Rogers, Stanley Morison, and others, showing the development of an American style, with spare clean lines, as opposed to the European style, through these innovators.
"Bruce Rogers," Johnston said, "in 1899 or so was working for
Houghton Mifflin
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...
. D. B. Updike was a very careful and thoughtful printer. Both Updike and Bruce Rogers had nobody to lead them in their styles, but themselves. They had only the history of good printing to look back on, and they were making their contributions to a movement that started in the 1400s, well, I would say, 1500, it began to take on a very distinctive style.... I found an unknown New York printer who had, like Updike, a style of neat printing, and they were printing dissertations of students and politicians and poetry, in the 1790s, to put some style in their work: T & J Swords. So I researched and did a story on them. When Updike began in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
in early 1900s, he had nothing to guide him but his own good taste in printing. He was not imitating because there was no style in printing. Rogers was up against the same thing."
Johnston's article on the American type designer Frederic Goudy appeared in '' The Fleuron'', published by Stanley Morison. His correspondence with Frederic Goudy and the typescript manuscript for this article are in the Providence Public Library (Rhode Island) Special Collections.
His other books include ''My Typographical Tour'', published in 1933, and ''Frederic W. Goudy, American Typographer'', 1930, both in the possession of the New York Public Library.
Legacy
Johnston's papers were acquired in 1979 by the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
for its Special Collections. This collection of Johnston's book arts papers include his book covers,
mockup
In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...
s, layouts, lettering, writings on typography, history of printing and manuscript preparation, and correspondence with Elmer Adler, publisher of
The Colophon, A Book Collectors' Quarterly
''The Colophon'', subtitled ''A Book Collectors' Quarterly'' or ''A quarterly for booklovers,'' was a limited edition quarterly periodical begun late in 1929 and continuing in various guises until 1950. It was the brainchild of Elmer Adler (1884 ...
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, George Macy, Desmond Flower, Dard Hunter, Oliver Simon, W. A. Dwiggins, Eric Gill, Burton Emmett, and Sir Francis Meynell, founder of Nonesuch Press. This acquisition also included the work of printmaker Joseph Low. PJ was one of the founding members of the Typophiles, an association of typographers and fine printers. After starting several small presses, he worked for Van Rees Press in Greenwich Village, designing books for trade and university publishers, including the University of North Carolina Press.
The Will Ransom Papers, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections at the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois, has a selection of Johnston's papers. The Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin, has Johnston's letters to Egmont Arens (1932–34) and Frieda Lawrence (1934) in the D. H. Lawrence Collection.
Personal life
Johnston, "PJ," was born July 17, 1899, in
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...
. He met his wife, Virginia Fitzwater, in Woodstock, New York. With the help of Egmont Arens, they eloped to
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
, and were married in the home of Rockwell Kent. " Carl Ruggles played the wedding. And instead of her father, Rockwell Kent gave the bride away." After marrying, Johnston worked for Alfred A. Knopf Publishing Company for one year.
Johnston's interest in contemporary literature began as a teenager in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, when he read ''Bruno's Weekly'', edited by Guido Bruno, and ''Quill.'' Both magazines were published in New York City's Greenwich Village. A few years later, he read the literary and artistic magazine ''Playboy'' (named for Synge's " The Playboy of the Western World"), published by Egmont Arens and his wife, the
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
Josephine "Jo" Bell. In 1919, Johnston moved to Greenwich Village and visited Arens.
Johnston became good friends with Bobby Edwards, the publisher of ''Quill'' and a ukulele maker and player, who performed in the Greenwich Village Follies. ''Quill'' chronicled the 1920s Bohemian Village scene in a tongue-in-cheek style, assessing its unique characters and social and artistic trends."The Story of Greenwich Village Part 1" ''The Quill'', Vol. 12, No. 2, February 1923.
For many years, Johnston lived in a garret on the third and top floor of 128A West 10th Street, on the corner of Greenwich Avenue, the former home of Egmont Arens.
His diary began after his divorce and near fatal hospitalization in mid-life, and was thousands of pages long, typed single-spaced on onion-skin paper. He called it "The Document," his "lifelong stream of consciousness."
In the 1950s Johnston worked on
Textile Design
Textile design, also known as textile geometry, is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are interlaced to form a piece of Textile, cloth or Textile, fabric, which is subsequently printed upon or otherwise adorned. Texti ...
. During the 1960s and early 1970s he attended many of the Happenings at the Judson Memorial Church. One of his companions was the dancer and performer Olga Adorno. He wrote notes on many Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway plays. From 1978 to 1980 he published several booklets in
chapbook
A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...
form. Among them were an excerpt from his unpublished novel, ''Tender Branch'', and his philosophy in ''Words''. His concept of "living consciously alive" carried on the 1920s Greenwich Village "revolution of consciousness."
Johnston died at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City on February 18, 1987.
Bibliography
* ''The Poetry Quartos'', printed and illustrated by Paul Johnston, New York: Random House (1929)
* ''The Prose Quartos'', printed and illustrated by Paul Johnston, New York: Random House (1930)
* ''Biblio-Typographica: A Survey of Contemporary Fine Printing Style'', by Paul Johnston, illustrated with examples; cloth, 1050 copies printed at the Southworth Press, New York: Covici-Friede (1930)
* ''The Book Collector's Packet: A Miscellany of First Editions, Bibliography, Typography & Kindred Literary Matters'', Woodstock, New York
* Article, Egmont Arens, "Rockwell Kent-Illustrator," ''The Book Collector's Packet'', 1.9 (1932)
* ''The Crow's Nest Funerealities'', Peggy Bacon, New York (1932)
* ''Words'', by PJ, New York (1980)