Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/113



Vol. 8

BY COMMON consent, John Henry Nash was the “headliner” of the 1925 Oregon Newspaper Conference. There was inspiration as well as information in this truly great printer. Oregon print ers met a man who has the enthusiasm and the simplicity of a genius. ‘ -‘ The day will ever be remembered," said a student of printing, “when I petted those celebrated books . . . . and had the good luck to meet the man who collected, earned the money to own them, and was himself a printer beyond reproach.” Printers, from the most practical to the most visionary, got something from Nash. They will remember what he told them—in that talk of Saturday morning which lasted more than an hour and seemed but a few minutes—of the former lofty status of the printer, who has lost the prestige of the days when Jenson was acclaimed the greatest man in the world—lost ' the prestige of long ago largely by his own wrong mental attitude. The overtalking of price by printers, and a certain failure to realize their own importance, was pointed out. The idea of price competition i s farth est from the mind of Nash, who displayed in both his talks to the printers a depth of learning, an ability to do, and a sense of the artistic that raise one above the plane of the merely mechanical. It i s these that stamp him the artist, beckon ing others up the steps toward higher artistic conception and attainment. “A proud artist with something to be proud of,” i s the characterization of Nash made by one of the journalism students who heard him. He told his hearers at the Conference of his work as‘ a printer, of his experiences as a collector of old and rare volumes, and of his per sonal contacts with men interesting in the world of printing and of books. “When I get too much money in the bank and begin to get afraid that I will get lazy and want to retire,” he said, “I print another book.” Quality, not quantity, i s his aim, and nothing goes out of his little workshop in San Fran cisco that i s not as perfect as his ability can make it. He works for the love of the thing and not for the money. But the financial end takes care of itself: He does not attempt letterheads under $100; a thousand letterheads with envel opes printed for a San Francisco mil lionaire were priced at $800, and the millionaire was delighted to have them done at that figure. Of equal interest with Mr. Nash him self were the specimens of his rare bo.oks . which he brought north with him. He has a library which actually cost him .+(i0,00 and i s now valued at several times that figure. As he mentioned the names of the early printers, including Gutenberg, Ratdolt, Jenson, Bodoni, Manutius, and Garamond,| he illustrated ‘their artistry with copies of their printing and in some cases with examples of the originals themselves. Among the most important of these specimens was an original sheet from the Book of Numbers, of Gutenberg’s Bible series, printed in 1455. This was one of the first pieces of work done with