Vance Gerry & the Weather Bird Press / with contributions by Vance Gerry, Simon Lawrence, David Butcher, Patrick Reagh, James Lorson and John Randle & with a checklist of publications compiled by David Butcher. by [Whittington Press] John Randle - 2018.

Risbury, Herefordshire, England:: Whittington Press,, 2018.. Edition of 235. 9.5 x 13"; 10 unnumbered pages, 86 numbered pages, 2 unnumbered pages of plates, XII pages of plates: illustrations (some color), facsimiles. Includes bibliographical references and index. Set in 13 point Poliphilus type. Printed letterpress on Zerkall mould made paper. Numbered. Contents: "Vance Gerry, a memoir" by Simon Lawrence; "Vance Gerry & the Weather Bird Press" by Vance Gerry; "Vance in his own words, 1989-2005" by David Butcher; "My friend & fellow printer, Vance Gerry" by Patrick Reagh; "Vance Gerry & Lorson's Books & Prints" by James Lorson; "Checklist of Peach Pit Press & Weather Bird Press publications, 1963-2005" by David Butcher.  Also included "Fair Wind" (4 pages, no date), a tipped-in reproduction containing an excerpt from "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana Jr; and, two leaves of facsimiles in a pocket of inside back board.  Edition of 235 issued in three states: 40 A copies; 40 B copies; 155 C copies.'A' copies "bound in full leather, with a portfolio of some 21 booklets and items of ephemera found in Vance's shop after he died - most were unbound and we bound them up in his usual understated style. They perfectly catch the essence of his style of printing and illustration. With a separate facsimile of Vance's 'Jazz Instruments, generally regarded as the finest of his pochoir books, and a descriptive booklet of high resolution black/and/white photographs of his workshops in their various locations in Southern California. All in a leather-backed solander box. Whittington Press: "Vance Gerry began printing books in 1963 when he started his Peach Pit Press. Four years later he changed the name to the Weather Bird Press which he ran in South Laguna, California from 1967. Until his death in 2005 he produced a stead stream (he'd have preferred 'trickle') of some of the most understated, beautifully printed and ravishingly illustrated books from any private press, ever. Vance's lightness of touch, his incomparable facility as a draughtsman, the slightly starved look he gave to the inking of his type, the quiet humour of his writing (when the mood took him), combine together in books that have few parallels elsewhere.  "He was an undisputed master of the medium of the pochoir, or stencil, technique, and the editions he issued of these, and the other books, are therefore small.