states of america is considered the nation s leading publisher of fine press books according to the minneapolis star tribune . 1 founded in san francisco in 1974 it has published 95 plus limited edition books most printed by letterpress often illustrated with original prints by notable artists . the press writes michael kimmelman of the new york times carries on a grand legacy of san francisco printers and bookmakers . 2 the press was founded by andrew hoyem continuing the tradition of the grabhorn press of edwin and robert grabhorn . hoyem had been partners for seven years with the younger grabhorn brother and after his death hoyem started arion press preserving the grabhorn s historic collection of american metal type . 3 4 since 2001 arion press has been a cultural tenant at the presidio where it shares an industrial building with its typecasting division m & h type the oldest and largest hot metal type foundry in the u.s. for letterpress printers . 5 the arion press gallery is open daily and tours of the letterpress print shop typefoundry and book bindery are also available to visitors on a weekly schedule . arion press has a nonprofit branch the grabhorn institute founded to help preserve and continue the use of one of the last integrated typefoundry letterpress printing and bookbinding facilities in the world . in recognition of this effort in 2000 the grabhorn institute was designated by the national trust for historic preservation as part of the nation s irreplaceable historical and cultural legacy under its save america s treasures program . 6 the press publishes three to four new books each year in editions of 400 copies or less . its editions of such classics as moby dick and contemporary works that pair poets and artists are considered to be among the most exquisitely printed books in the world in the words of john king of the san francisco chronicle . 7 the press s lectern edition of the bible will probably be the last lectern bible to be produced using traditional methods and will no doubt be regarded as one of the finest examples of book making . 8 in part due to their scarcity many of arion s books are highly collectible . 9 publisher andrew hoyem has focused on creating limited edition books of notable literature illustrated with original prints from prominent artists . the press s livre d artiste series launched in 1982 includes robert motherwell s etchings for james joyce s ulysses jasper johns s etching for the poetry of wallace stevens richard diebenkorn s etchings for the poetry of w. b. yeats and martin puryear s woodblock prints for jean toomer s cane . other artists who have collaborated in arion press editions include jim dine john baldessari wayne thiebaud alex katz kiki smith r.b. kitaj sol lewitt mel bochner and stephen shore . the press has published such contemporary writers as seamus heaney allen ginsberg tom stoppard lawrence ferlinghetti david mamet edward albee and arthur miller . other writers published by the press include samuel beckett h.g. wells graham greene virginia woolf and emily dickinson . arion press books are in the collections of the museum of modern art the huntington library and the british library among others . three of the press s books were honored among the one hundred great books of the 20th century in the 1994 museum of modern art exhibition one hundred years of artists books . further reading edit andrew hoyem selling the goods arion press in parenthesis ; 20 2011 spring p. 26 27 references edit her l minneapolis star tribune june 6 2003 . http query.nytimes.com gst fullpage.html res 9a03e2d7123ff936a35752c1a9609c8b63 & sec & spon & partner permalink & exprod permalink http mulibraries.missouri.edu specialcollections privatepressefg.htm grabhorn https www.youtube.com watch v i 5nhxyrqui & feature youtu.be retrieved 2016 01 05 missing or empty title help http www.briarpress.org 1528 http www.saveamericastreasures.org projall.htm california http www.sfgate.com cgi bin article.cgi f c a 2006 06 18 mngaojenv01.dtl & hw arion press & sn 003 & sc 660 http www.jyanet.com cap 2000 0704fe0 . shtml http collectiblecat.com publisher arion.html external links edit official website m & h type grabhorn institute pbs news hour video tour and interviews at arion press retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title arion press & oldid 713449321 categories book publishing companies of the united statespublishing companies established in 1974hidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urls navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 4 april 2016 at 03 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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