Cuneiform Press
Buffalo, New York
[Written: October, 2005]
Kyle Schlesinger has published and lectured on
topics related to poetry of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, history of typography and artists' books. He received his Ph.D. in
English with a concentration in Poetics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His dissertation, “Letterpress Printers
of the Postmodern Era: Poetry, Media & Typography” was facilitated by Professors Robert Creeley, Susan Howe, Myung Mi Kim and
Michael Basinski, Curator of the Poetry and Rare Books Collection. His scholarly books include The Perishable Press Limited (Poetry
& Rare Books Collection, 2003) and Schablone Berlin in collaboration with Caroline Koebel (Chax Press, 2005). He is currently
writing on Asa and Pip Benveniste’s Trigram Press of London and Jonathan Williams’ Jargon Society of Highlands, North Carolina.
In
addition to his scholarly activity, Schlesinger is known as a book artist, fine press publisher and experimental poet. His work has
been exhibited and collected in special collections libraries including: the John Hay Library at Brown University, Poetry Center at
the University of Arizona, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and the Poetry and Rare Books Collection
at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Recent titles include A Book of Closings (Cuneiform Press, 2004), Moonlighting (Cuneiform
Press, 2005) and Mantle in collaboration with Thom Donovan (Atticus Finch, 2005). He is now working on an artist’s book and prose
poem concerned with the historical and ontological aspects of book burning.
He began printing in the autumn of 1997 at Goddard
College after conducting an interview with Will Hamlin about his experiences as a student at Black Mountain College. During the interview,
Hamlin reminisced about his work with the college's press where he learned typesetting from Joseph Albers. He recalled, "[Albers]
hated periods after abbreviations because they called attention to themselves and were always too black." He retrieved a pamphlet
he had printed by hand for a production of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" shortly after the College moved to the Lake Eden Campus
in the late 30's.
Two months after the interview he purchased a George Prouty & Sons platen press manufactured in Boston
(circa. 1889) onto the bed of a three-quarter ton pickup truck and set up shop in a converted milking shed. The early experiments
in printing books were full of blunders and wonder - broken chases, inky fingers & dropped cases. As Director of the Goddard College
Press, he printed the College's literary review, compost-toilet instructions for the Ecology house, broadsides for the Hubris reading
series, stationary for Gertrude Stein, and a few short poems. In 1999, he left Vermont and shortly thereafter the College’s campus
program folded. The platen press, type cases, etc. were lost.
