Fine press ephemera collection

The Fine Press Ephemera collection is primarily comprised of catalogs, announcements, advertisements, and other ephemera produced by fine presses and publishers in the 1970s and 1980s.  Much of this material was mailed by fine presses to Victor Berch during his tenure as Special Collections Librarian at Brandeis University.  Other examples of fine printing are also part of the collection, including eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French currency, and color proofs and other materials pertaining to illustrator and graphic artist Arthur Szyk.  The Szyk materials were donated by Bern Dibner. Catalogs and other mailed materials produced by fine presses are not simply advertisements; they are also examples of each press's aesthetic philosophy and technical approach to printing.  As such, this collection is pertinent for those studying contemporary fine presses and book publishing, typography and printing processes, book collecting, and the history of the book.