The Petrarch Press

CAN YOU BELIEVE TWO YEARS have almost passed since the first CODEX book fair in 2007 gathered together an impressive congress of the world’s finest private presses, book artists, artisans, curators, collectors, and scholars?

With such an impressive beginning, we wouldn’t dare miss the 2009 biennial CODEX International Book Fair and Symposium, scheduled from February 9 through 11, 2009 on the campus of The University of California Berkeley. We have reserved our place among the 120 booths for printers and international publishers and we hope to see you there.   More…

RETURNING FROM THE BEAUTIFUL early fall colors at Oak Knoll to the unusually warm and dry climate in the Sierra foothills just brings home the point of how varied the world, and the world of fine press is. This year seemed more personal and more poignant as we met our old friends and eased others into the fold of fine press camaraderie.

Wonderful stories were told by Henry Morris about his Bird & Bull Press, whose first booklet he sold for $3 and was happy to find selling in 1980 for $900. We appreciated his tip about using the magic flat rate postal service boxes which, much to the dismay of his postman, came from all parts of the U.S. stuffed full of lead type for his newest book The Private Type Casters, but most importantly Henry Morris reminded us all about how fun this work really is.   More…

THE PETRARCH PRESS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE our upcoming publication, Canticle of the Creatures by Francis of Assisi, with the original Umbrian text and a new English translation by John Venerella. Canticle of the Creatures, sometimes popularly called Canticle of the Sun, is a short song begun in Francis’s early years and completed near the time of his death. The original text, considered by many to be the earliest poetical masterpiece in the Italian language, is newly transcribed from the oldest remaining manuscript of the song – that in the thirteenth-century Assisi Codex. Francis’s charming verses in Umbrian dialect – praising God through his creations “Brother Sun”, “Sister Moon”, and the four elements – are printed with the English translation opposite.   More…