You are invited to experience letterpress printing on the library’s 1909 Albion handpress and take home a unique keepsake for your sweetheart.
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| Photo of Harold Berliner (1963), News-Call Photographs, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library |
This year we will be printing a broadside which pays tribute to printer Harold Berliner and illustrator Wolfgang Lederer. San Francisco native Harold Berliner (1923 - 2010) might be best-known for writing the text of the Miranda Warning “you have the right to remain silent.” From 1957 to 1973 he served as Nevada County California’s District Attorney and took great satisfaction in his environmental and consumer protection legal work. But his early interest in fine printing lasted and sustained him his entire life. According to his friends and family, creating fine press books was his “big love.”
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| Photo of Harold Berliner at Wolfgang Lederer's memorial service (2003), Courtesy of Tom Lederer |
Wolfgang Lederer (1912 – 2003) was a master book designer and illustrator who fled Nazi Germany in 1939. By 1941 he was working at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland creating their book design and commercial art programs. He was chairman of the Graphic Design Department at CCAC from 1950-1980 and after retirement continued on as professor emeritus. He designed dozens of books for the Harold Berliner Press in Nevada City, California.
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| Photo of Harold Berliner, Hanni & Wolfgang Lederer (1998), Courtesy of Tom Lederer |
Berliner and Lederer collaborated on many projects. Below are images of a few of the broadsides they made together.
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| Chief Seattle, This We Know, designed and illustrated by Wolfgang Lederer, printed by Harold Berliner (1992) Grabhorn Collection, San Francisco Public Library |
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| Mozart 1756-1791, designed and illustrated by Wolfgang Lederer, printed by Havilah Press |
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In addition to books and broadsides, Berliner printed lots of ephemera including greeting cards. Below are a selection of them.
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| Harold Berliner greeting cards, Grabhorn Collection, San Francisco Public Library |
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| Harold Berliner greeting cards, Grabhorn Collection, San Francisco Public Library |
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| Harold Berliner greeting cards, Grabhorn Collection, San Francisco Public Library |
Our co-sponsors, the American Printing History Association’s NorCal Chapter will provide printing assistance during the valentine printing event.
Click here to see how we do it. And here to see more photos of a previous event.
Everyone is welcome to print at the event,
but broadsides will be limited to the first 100 people.
Below is the final valentine we printed on February 4th.
May these valentine greetings carry you through the rest of this year.
See you next year!
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