Author Description

ULTIMA AND AFTER: A HUNDRED YEARS OF PRINTING AND PUBLISHING 1839 -1939 was written by Guy Servant and was translated into English from French by George Frederic Lees (It was also published in French as 1839-1939 CENT ANS D'IMPRESSION ET D'EDITION). Both the French and English versions were published in 1939 by Marcel Servant of his Imprimerie Lecram-Servant (Vendome Press). Although ULTIMA AND AFTER is not a book that was published by the Obelisk Press it is none-the-less an important book to collectors of the Obelisk Press books. It was published in 1939 by Marcel Servant as part of the celebration and exhibition commemorating the centennial (1839 - 1939) of his printing works located at 338 rue St. Honore in Paris. The book traces the history of the printing works from its founder Charles Jouaust to the then present owner and master printer Marcel Servant. Among the publishers who owned and/or used the printing works throughout the years were Charles Jouaust, Damase Jouaust (Charle's son), Herbert Clarke, Sylvia Beach (Shakespeare & Company), Jack Kahane (Obelisk Press), and Marcel Servant (Vendome Press). Only five hundred copies of the book were printed and original copies are extremely rare and have a value of three to five thousand dollars. This facsimile was created by painstakingly photographing each page of the original 1939 publication. The target copy is owned by the handsack press. This is the 2nd book in the handsack press's Obelisk Press facsimile series. *There is a required ISBN label on the back cover of each book which is the only issue point difference between the original and this facsimile.