Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Webb, Louise, Webb, Jon Edgar, and Miller, Henry, 1891-1980
- Abstract:
- The Loujon Press mss., 1962-1969, consists of correspondence to Jon and Louise Webb of the Loujon Press from friends, printers, literary figures, and patrons dealing with the struggle of the Webbs to operate an independent fine printing business, as well as color separations of drawings by Henry Miller.
- Extent:
- 13.25 Linear Feet (1 box, 6 oversize folios)
- Language:
- Materials are in English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Loujon Press mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Jon and Louise Webb are the founders and operators of the Loujon Press, first of New Orleans and later Tucson, Arizona, where they designed, printed, bound, and distributed their own publications. In 1961, the first issue of The Outsider, a literary quarterly, appeared with poems by Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, and many then-unknown poets. The first Loujon book, It Catches My Heart in its Hands, by Charles Bukowski, was an innovation in book design and received wide recognition, as have their subsequent publications. Order and Chaos Chez Hans Reichel by Henry Miller received the Type Design Corporation award in typography, type direction, and design in 1966. For these books the Webbs used an antiquated hand-operated press. In 1967 Donald Borzak of Service Offset Corporation in Chicago began organizing a group to buy a modern machine-run press for the Webbs. A year later the press was installed, and the fourth and fifth numbers of The Outsider appeared shortly afterwards.
- Scope and Content:
The Loujon Press mss., 1962-1969, consists mainly of correspondence to Jon and Louise Webb of the Loujon Press from friends, printers, literary figures, and patrons dealing with the struggle of the Webbs to operate an independent fine printing business.
The correspondence in this collection deals with the contents of future issues of The Outsider; with sales, promotion, or praise of Loujon books; with the campaign of Donald Borzak to buy a press for the Webbs; with solicitation letters, replies, progress reports addressed to "Dear Group"; with printers discussing the technical questions about the press; and with the Lilly Library and Borzak and Webb concerning Indiana University's part in the purchase.
Correspondents in the collection include Glen C. Adams, Mrs. Elizabeth (Winters) Bartlett, John Bennett, Sara Betty Berenson, Philip Boatright, Donald Borzak, John W. Boyd, John Braden, Millen Brand, Ashley Buck, William Rae Cagle, Wesley Payne Callender, John William Corrington, Allan Covici, David Curry, Jerome Cushman, Leo Daugherty, Rolf Gunter Dienst, Louis Dudek, Dan Duryea, J. M. Edelstein, William Robert Eshelman, Marcus J. Grapes, Loren Gruber, William Armstrong Katz, Harry Lewis, Samuel Joseph Marino, Jack Micheline, George Robert Minkoff, Jens Nyholm, James Roman, Will Slotnikoff, Robert Brown Voitle, Herbert Faulkner West, William B. Wisdom, Noel Young.
Additions to the collection consist of Loujon Press color separations of Henry Miller's drawings published in his Insomnia or the Devil at Large (1970).
- Acquisition information:
- Gift: 1987
- Arrangement:
This collection is arranged following original order.
- Physical location:
- ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility); Wells - Map Case
Indexed Terms
- Subjects:
- Art
Publishers and publishing
Hand presses - Names:
- Loujon Press
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Loujon Press mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@indiana.edu