At Arion Press, the San Francisco fine letterpress printer and publisher, founder and publisher Andrew Hoyem and senior editor Diana Ketcham are retiring but will remain available for special projects.
Founded in 1974, Arion Press specializes in hand-crafted, limited edition books pairing literary texts with original art by prominent contemporary artists, publishing three to four books a year. Titles by such artists as William Kentridge, Jasper Johns, Wayne Thiebaud, Kara Walker, Richard Diebenkorn, Alex Katz, Jim Dine, Julie Mehretu, and Martin Puryear are collected by major museums and libraries and are recognized as among the great printed books of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Among its most admired books are a handset edition of Moby-Dick; Joyce's Ulysses illustrated by Robert Motherwell; a two-volume edition of Don Quixote; and a letterpress-printed, two-volume Folio Bible.
All elements of the book, except paper, are made at Arion. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has designated it one of "the nation's irreplaceable cultural treasures" under its Save America's Treasures program. The company is located in an industrial building in the Presidio.
Hoyem began his career as a fine printer in 1961, learning letterpress printing from the Grabhorn brothers.
Ketcham has served as program director of the Grabhorn Institute, in addition to her role as senior editor at Arion Press. She was also book editor of the Oakland Tribune from 1980 to 1994, has published several books and written on cultural subjects for such publications as ARTnews, the New York Times, the Nation and the New Republic.
With the retirement of Hoyem and Ketcham, owner Grabhorn Institute is putting the press and its parent company, Lyra Corp., up for sale. Potential investors/owners should contact Susan Reich at Book Advisors via e-mail or at 510-304-2627.