The Aliquando Press ~ Ontario, Canada
(William Rueter)

Laudes Musicae
Words in Praise of Music
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: The Aliquando Press, 2020. Edition of 40.

5 x 7"; 52 pages Red paper free end pages and pastedowns. Compiled, designed, printed, and bound by William Rueter. Letterpress printed using a variety of typefaces, decorations, and papers. Sewn binding. Bound in paper over boards with paper title label on spine. In paper slipcase with paper title label on spine. Numbered.

William Rueter, colophon: "Since my early teens, music has been essential in my life. Perhaps the most abstract of the arts, music can entertain us or touch our deepest emotions, Music comforts and sustains us, affirms our humanity, and triumphs over distress.

"Creating this book has unearthed joyful memories of concerts, recordings, and conversations about music. This book honours and celebrates the musicians and composers whose music has enriched by life."

A lovely tribute to music via the words of noted lovers and creators of music. The presentation flows in and out of the words like the refrains of musical compositions. "Laudes Musicae" begins with Alessandro Striggio's words "I am Music, and with sweet emotions / I can calm every troubled soul …" and ends with Aaron Copland's words "So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany & sustain it."
$225

The Season of the Rose Eighteen Minnesongs
By Hendrik Van Veldeke
Selected and Translated by Willem Campschreur
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: Aliquando Press, 2017. Edition of 50.

5.5 x 9"; 48 pages. Introduction and translation of "The Season of the Roses" set digitally in Quadraat and printed by offset at Gaspereau Press. Middle High German text handset in Jessen-Schrift, with Dartmouth initials, and printed letterpress at The Aliquando Press. Printed, designed, and bound by William Rueter. Printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. Illustrations by the printer inspired by figures in the Manesse Codex and other medieval manuscripts. Bound in Chiyogami paper covered boards. In paper slipcase with printed paper title on spine. Numbered.

The poems appear in both the original Middle High German and Campschreur's English translation.

William Rueter, Colophon: "It has been a great pleasure to work on this book with Willem Campschreur, who suggested translating Veldeke's poems and shared his insights via delightful emails. His care, expertise, and infectious enthusiasm resulted in a joyful collaboration."

Willem Campschreur, Introduction: "The poet / troubadour Hendrik van Veldeke is a wonderfully ambiguous figure in almost all known aspects of his life. … Most literary scholars believe Veldeke was born around 1140, in a region of the Netherlands described as 'Maasland' (the land of the river Maas) … Maasland was situated at the crossroads that connected the French tradition with the languages and literary traditions of the Dutch, Limburg-Flemish and German regions in Veldeke's time.

"This book contains a selection of eighteen 'minnesongs', courtly love lyrics, from possibly thirty to thirty-five texts. 'Minne' means roughly strong, unrestrained feelings of love between man and woman, but it can also refer to one's feelings towards God, family, and friends.

"Veldeke's minnesongs … are the last known works from his hand. … Probably Veldeke not only wrote his minnesongs but also sang them himself at the courts."
$150

A visit with William Morris
edited by William Rueter
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: The Aliquando Press, 2018. Edition of 40.

4.75 x 6.25"; 44 pages. Letterpress printed. Designed, printed, and bound by William Rueter. Numbered. Bound in wraparound cover with slip slot closure. In paper slipcase.

The text is a reconstructed interview taken from essays printed in the Pall Mall Gazette of 1891, the Daily Chronicle of 1893, the English Illustrated Magazine of 1895, and Bookselling of 1895.

The frontispiece wood engraving of William Morris by Robert Bryden, c. 1899, is based on an 1884 photo by Frederick Hollyer.

William Rueter, colophon: "In making this book, I have been inspired by Morris' passion for the Middle Ages. The text type, Nephi Medieval, was designed and cast by Jim Rimmer, who also cast the Cavatina ornament designed by the printer. The Tell Text 5 type is an adaptation of Morris' Chaucer typeface design."

Vamp & Tramp: "This lovely little tome is worthy of its subject."
$150

The Triumph of the Alphabet
By William Rueter
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: Aliquando Press, 2017. Edition of 25.

3.25 x 3.25"; 27 pages. Accordion fold extending from the back page. Bound in paper-covered boards with printed paper title on spine. Twine tie closure.

Colophon: "This nameless wood type alphabet was made c. 1900 by the Hamilton Mfg. Co. Here at The Aliquando Press it is affectionately called 'Ali-oops!'"

Books on Books Collection – William Rueter
$40

The Light-house
By Edgar Allan Poe
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: The Aliquando Press, 2016. Edition of 50.

4.25 x 8"; 20 pages. Letterpress printed. Bulmer and Nuland typefaces. Printed on Mohawk Via paper. "Illustrations" created from a variety of papers. Hand-marbled papers by Robert Wu used on the cover and frontispiece. Bound in stiff wraps. Numbered. Designed, printed, and bound by William Rueter. In a gray paper slipcase.

A printing of Poe's short story "The Light-house". Instead of traditional illustrations Rueter has used pieces of different marbled and colored papers to form spaces between the journal entries.
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Pressing Matters
By Leonard F. Bahr, Paul Hayden Duensing, Rollin Milroy, and William Rueter
Dundas, Ontario, Canada: The Aliquando Press, 2013. Edition of 50.

7 x 11"; 60 pages. Letterpress printed using Palatino and Optima types with Egmont Inline initials and a variety of the Press' typographic resources. Printed on Hahnemühle paper. Cloth flatback case binding with paper title on spine. Of fifty copies produced, copies 11 to 50 are bound in hand marbled paper covered boards.

Five essays on the private press to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the press. Thoughts and opinions about the private press by Leonard F. Bahr, Paul Hayden Duensing, Rollin Milroy, and William Rueter.

Heavenly Monkey Press, blog: "Pressing Matters presents two essays by Leonard Bahr on the private press, augmented by a chapter on the subject by Paul Hayden Duensing, and one on the economics of private press publishing by us/HM/ Rollin Milroy.

"Bahr was a commercial typographer whose greatest creativity was reserved for his own private imprint, the Adagio Press. In the 1960s and '70s he issued many items, from ephemera to substantial pamphlets, with type and typography the over-riding focal points. His most ambitious project, by several orders of magnitude, was An Account of the Work of T.J. Cobden-Sanderson & Cobden-Sanderson's Partnership with Emery Walker (1969), with texts by Norman Strause and John Dreyfus, and two original Doves Press leaves tipped into each copy.

"Will received galley proofs from Bahr of his essays when they were first set in the early 1970s. Bahr had initially intended them to be the first parts of a book that would look at different aspects of private press publishing. Chapters 1 and 2 from Pressing Matters — "The Idea of the Private Press" and "The Private Press Defined" — were issued by Bahr, in a revised form, in the first two issues of his periodical Typographia (no more numbers were published). The book for which they were initially conceived was also to include chapters on the purpose of the private press; how imagination, innovation and patience should be employed to bring out the unique advantages of the private press; and economics — how a private press can be made to survive, if not prosper, within our not-too-bookish society.

"For whatever reasons, the type remained standing after Bahr pulled the proofs later sent to Will, but the project was abandoned. 'After proofing his essays Leonard seems to have been unwilling to speculate further on the private press, feeling that the topic was in constant change,' Will writes in the books afterword, where he also offers his own thoughts on Bahr's questions about purpose and the importance of imagination.

"The most striking feature of the new Aliquando book is the 17 'mini-broadsides' throughout the book, each presenting a quote related to the topic of the private press drawn from sources as diverse as Rudolf Koch, Peter Beilenson, and William Everson. Each of these employs Will's extensive collection of types and ornaments, combined with his talent for extravagance in the use of color (and numerous press runs!).

"Perhaps even more than private press printing, Paul Hayden Duensing's interest lay in private type design and casting. He was an important mentor to people like Bahr and Will, plus Jim Rimmer (who created a type named after PHD) and many others who were interested in learning how to cast type. His chapter in Pressing Matters, titled "Private Printing, Private Typefounding," is a collection of his writings on the topic, both published and in correspondence with Will. 'His words seem to me an essential adjunct to Leonard's thoughts,' Will explains in his afterword. (PHD and Will collaborated in 1976 on what may be the only American-Canadian private press co-publication, Buchstabenfreude, the Delight of Letters.)"
(SOLD/Out of Print)

The Seafarer
By William Rueter
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: Aliquando Press, 2016. Edition of 40.

5.5 x 7.5"; 44 pages. Samson Uncial, Nephi Medieval, and Albertus typefaces printed on mould-made Hahnemühle paper. Bound in hand-made Nepalese paper. In gray paper slipcase with title label on spine. Designed, illustrated, printed, and bound by William Rueter. Numbered.

The book contains the poem is both Old English and Rueter's Modern English rendition.

William Rueter, Colophon: "The Seafarer is a remarkable poem, one of the finest examples of Old English literature. Many version and translations exist, of which those by Ezra Pound, Burton Raffel, and Christopher Patton are among the most admirable. This rendition attempts to capture the alliteration and urgency of the Anglo-Saxon poem. Some of the text is corrupt and the last 21 lines of the poem may be a scribal addition. I am deeply grateful to John Ferns and Manfred Dietrich, both excellent poets, who made invaluable and encouraging suggestions, and to Professor Alvn Lee, who expertly fine-tuned the final version. I have substituted 'th' for the thorns and eths in the Old English text. The textual divisions and errors are mine."
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Steale Not Thys Book
A Compendium of steale not warnings & invectives
Against those who would purloin desecrate or injure books
[Dundas], Ontario, Canada: The Aliquando Press, 2020. Edition of 40.

3.75 x 4.5"; 32 pages plus green paper free end page and pastedowns. Letterpress printed in a variety of fonts and colors. Bound in marble paper covered boards with paper title label on spine.

William Rueter, colophon: "Most of these curses are anonymous and come from medieval manuscripts and folk rhymes. Forty copies of this cautionary book were produced by William Rueter at The Aliquando Press in April 2020 to honour the librarians, collectors, and book lovers who respect and cherish the physical book."

"This book is one thing. God's curse is another. They that take the one, God give them the other."

"A curse upon the person who steals this book, and a blessing upon he who keeps it safe. If anyone cuts or removes a page, may he be cursed."
(SOLD/Out of Print)