Requiem for Victor Hammer

  • Requiem for Victor Hammer
  • Requiem for Victor Hammer
  • Requiem for Victor Hammer
$100.00

We have some bad news: the Austrian-born American painter, sculptor, printer, and typographer Victor Hammer has died. He died fifty-seven years ago, but still. We thought you should know. The good news is that Joe Blumenthal printed this burial service in 1967 at his famed Spiral Press. We can’t tell if this was printed from Blumenthal’s Spiral type or his Emerson and we don’t care to spend ten minutes trying to figure it out. But the whole thing is a handsome showing of Blumenthal at his best, in one size of type, in tribute to one of the important type designers of his era. But what we can tell you is that this was Doc Leslie’s copy. How do we know? It’s got his bookplate right on it. (We actually have quite a few of his books right now. Come see, all ye typophiles.)

  • Size: Small quarto (We forgot to take measurements and only realized that while at home on Sunday morning. We’d guess this is 6  ×  8ish, but will make this right when we go in to work later in the day.
  • Pages: 20
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Edition: 250 copies
  • Condition:

    The binding shows a little wear at the edges. This is probably because the paper that wraps the boards was a pretty bad choice. Although this wasn’t a book that would be handled a lot and in theory wouldn’t need sturdy materials, it is a book that would be saved and thus just by the fact that things that last a long time tend to show wear even if not used, something more sturdy should have been picked for the cover. But, really, the book is in good shape and the interior is spotless save for the previous owner’s bookplate as mentioned above.

  • Publisher: The Spiral Press, 1967