VAN DYKE, Cheryl (poet) & Tree SWENSON (calligrapher, designer, printer). [Pacific Northwest Poetry] [Copper Canyon Press] [Fine Press Poetry] [Calligraphy]

Diana [An Original Calligraphic Manuscript]. Together with: Cheat Grass (A Copperhead Chapbook) & Kuhn Spit [A Copper Canyon Press Broadside]. Lot of three significant works by Cheryl Van Dyke and Tree Swenson.

[Port Townsend, WA]: [Copper Canyon Press / Copperhead / Tree Swenson / Sam Hamill], 1975-1980. First editions. Fine Press Paperback Books & Broadside. From the library of the poet, Cheryl Van Dyke. This lot of three items includes a likely unique calligraphic manuscript (executed and produced as a fine hand-made single-poem book), a chapbook with pre-publication design proofs, and an early Copper Canyon letterpress broadside. Together, these items trace a lovely collaboration between poet Cheryl Van Dyke and designer Tree Swenson during the most prolific years of Copper Canyon Press.

–Item #1:

DIANA. [Port Townsend, WA]: Winter Solstice, 1980. Original Calligraphic Manuscript. [12]pp. Quarto [32cm x 25cm / 12.5" x 9.75"]. Hand-sewn in original black fine paper wrappers. The front cover is embellished with a hand-drawn illustration of a stylized eclipse design in gold calligraphy. The internal text is calligraphed in white and gold on midnight-blue fine paper. Collation: [1–2] blank; [3] title page featuring the author’s name, poem title, and a decorative illustration in white and gold; [4] blank; [5–10] poem text executed in white calligraphy; [11] blank; [12] colophon reading: "Calligraphy completed on the Winter Solstice of 1980 by Tree," accompanied by a small calligraphic square device (mark). In Near Fine condition with only minor sporadic spotting and light rubbing to covers. An exceptional, likely unique artifact.

A significant, likely unique manuscript by Tree Swenson, co-founder and designer of Copper Canyon Press; produced for and presumably presented to the poet Cheryl Van Dyke. Swenson displays her mastery of a calligraphic hand in executing the poem, "Diana," by Cheryl Van Dyke. This manuscript, dated on the Winter Solstice of 1980, is a beautiful formal and thematic rendering of the poem. The use of black and midnight-blue papers with white and gold illumination suggests a thematic alignment with the solstice date of its completion as well as the astrological, constellational, and mythological references of the poem. While Swenson’s typography defined the visual identity of the Pacific Northwest poetry renaissance of this period, this item represents a primary, hand-rendered document devoid of mechanical reproduction, making it an important piece of regional literary heritage, offering a unique counterpoint to the era’s celebrated fine-press output. A beautiful and elegant work.

–Item #2:

CHEAT GRASS: A COPPERHEAD CHAPBOOK. [Port Townsend, WA]: Copper Canyon Press, 1975. First Edition. [24]pp. Quarto [25.5cm]. Original letterpress-printed wrappers, string-sewn. Colophon states: “Designed and printed by Tree Swenson and Sam Hamill at Copperhead. The text is 70 lb. Curtis Tweedweave. The type is hand-set 14 point Centaur. Illustrations by Cheryl Van Dyke.” Unsigned/unnumbered, as issued. With the accompanying material: two folded sheets, laid in—presumably pre-publication design proofs; one of the illustration by itself, and another of the cover/title page (which are designed in exactly the same way). A Near Fine copy with only some light fading to the cover near the spine.

An early and essential title from the foundational years of Copper Canyon Press in Port Townsend. Published as part of the "Copperhead" series. “Cheryl Van Dyke has had poems in Kayak, Paintbrush, Port Townsend Journal, and in other periodicals. Cheat Grass is her first published collection.”

–Item #3:

KUHN SPIT. [Port Townsend, WA]: Copper Canyon Press, 1976. Broadside [36.5cm x 26cm / 14.5" x 10.25"]. Letterpress-printed in three colors on light brown paper. Comprising the title, thirty-three lines of verse in four stanzas, and a stylized printed illustration. Unsigned/unnumbered, as issued. Near Fine condition with a light bump and soft crease at the top right corner.

This poetry broadside was published in 1976, shortly after the release of Van Dyke’s chapbook Cheat Grass. Like most ephemeral productions from Copper Canyon Press during its early Port Townsend years, it was likely designed and printed by Tree Swenson and Sam Hamill. Clean, lovely letterpress work on high-quality paper. Near Fine. Item #71395

From the personal library of the poet Cheryl Van Dyke, a Pacific Northwest poet and artist whose early work, Cheat Grass, helped define the nascent literary landscape of Port Townsend’s Copper Canyon Press in the 1970s. An integral figure in the region's fine press circle, she also managed The Imprint from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s—a bookstore that served as a vital social and literary hub for the burgeoning Pacific Northwest poetry community.

Tree Swenson is a master typographer and calligrapher who co-founded Copper Canyon Press in 1972 (with Sam Hamill and others). Her rigorous design aesthetic and commitment to letterpress excellence established the visual identity of the press for decades.

Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit, independent poetry publisher that "believes poetry is vital to language and living." The press made its start in 1972 in Denver, CO, and moved to Port Townsend, WA in 1974.

Price: $1,000.00