December 13, 1999
Prized archives of French publishing house on display
Some of the most stunning reproductions of the work of William Blake, Marcel Duchamp,
and many other artists was produced in Paris between the 1940s and 1980s by a small
but eminent publishing house named the Trianon Press. Established by Arnold Fawcus
and operated by Fawcus and his wife, Julie, who continued the business after Arnold's
death, the press quickly gained an international reputation for excellence for its
exquisite publications.
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| "Ne Continuez Pas! Sans Avoir Vu Guillaume Blake! (Don't go any further without seeing William Blake!)": A collage by LeRoy Burkett, production manager of the Trianon Press from the mid-1960s until the close of the press in the early 1980s |
In the early 1980s, Julie Fawcus designated UCSC as the home for the press's materials. The acquisition of the Trianon Press Archive was widely considered one of the major achievements in the history of Special Collections, which houses the rare and valuable materials of the University Library.
An exhibition on display in McHenry Library through December presents some of the treasures of the archive.
Exhibition coordinator Maureen Carey and several other library staff had their
work cut out for them in selecting which items to display from the extensive archive.
To get a sense of the breadth of the archive, it helps to know that it arrived in
two massive shipments. The first, which came in 1983, was packed in a 900-cubic-foot
container that weighed some five tons. A second, similar shipment arrived in 1988.
The Trianon Press Archive includes manuscripts, proof copies, variant editions, plans,
design work, correspondence, unpublished artworks, maquettes, negatives, color decompositions,
guide sheets, and stencils. The unrivaled set of the press's collection of its own
works numbers more than 70 volumes, many of which are the publisher's unnumbered
deluxe copies.
The exhibit features insights into the personalities of the Trianon Press, some of
the productions of the press, and a display of volumes demonstrating the techniques
of the facsimile reproduction used to create the beautiful volumes of the archive.
A virtual exhibit
of the archive has been posted and will remain online indefinitely. The exhibit contains
text, illustrations, and photographs on the press and its founder as well as links
to the William Blake Archive hypermedia archive, an oral history of Julie Fawcus
(produced by UCSC's Regional History Project staff), and many other sites.
