City Arts Loves Letterpress: Griffith's Bookmarks

When our photographer Andrew Waits arrived at Griffith William's East Point West Press to shoot our feature story, he was met with a surprise. Griffith had readied the press for a limited run of custom City Arts bookmarks. After printing about twenty himself, he let Waits take over. "It was a pleasure to work with Waits on the shoot — but he's a pressman now!" Williams says with a laugh.

The illustration of the painter on the bookmark comes from a very old set of cuts that came with his press. "It was part of a giant collection of other things — I think it's at least fifty years old," Williams remembers. "I wanted to use something that showed the vintage quality of the technology."

The gesture was well received when I passed the souvenirs out around the City Arts office. The bookmarks reveal the intangible joy of a medium forever linked with tangible beauty.