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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Title Collection Number OCLC Number Creator Provenance Extent,Scope, and Content Note Arrangement and Processing Note The collection is organized by series. The original order has been retained. Series 1: General Works, 1968-2003: original writings and correspondence from the press. Language Restrictions on Access Rights and Permissions Citation Historical Note “I have been painting since the age of 13. I studied with Sidney Laufman, Wallace Harrison and Josef Albers, and at the Academia di Belle Arti, Rome, where I painted for a year and had a one-man show at the Teatro dei Satiri. I had my first one-man show at the Norfolk (Virginia) Museum in 1953 while serving in the Navy. Subsequently, I had several one-man shows and took part in many group shows. In 1989-1990 I was artist-in-residence at the William Steeple Davis House in Orient village. Working in Davis’ old carriage house studio, I completed 45 paintings of the area, with particular emphasis on the classic picket fences to be found in the village. The resulting show at the Oysterponds Historical Society was aptly titled “Fences.” Recent exhibitions in eastern Long Island include: The Mattituck/Laurel Library; The East End Arts Council, Riverhead; the Cook Pony Farm office, Sag Harbor; the Art-trim in Melville, sponsored by the Huntington Arts Council; and at Martha Clara Vineyards. After having painted in places as different as Maine, London and Fame, I find the North Fork suits me and my work. It is a perfect place for artists who want to transfer their vision of nature to paper, canvas or stone. In Mattituck, my studio is a converted chicken coop. I show my work in the big white barn behind the house where we have lived since 1997. Visitors are always welcome.” From the website vincenttorrebooks.net. “Vincent Torre was seven years old when he made his first miniature hand-sewn books. In his teens, he made copies calligraphically or with individual pieces of type carved in wood and printed one letter at a time. While serving in the US Navy, 1951-1954, stationed on the USS Orion, he printed his first books under the imprint of The Inkwell Press. During his Navy career, he produced a total of 12 titles on Navy equipment, in small editions of six to 20 copies. After his discharge, he acquired a hundred-year-old hand press and a Vandercook press, on which he printed over 60 titles in 50 years of activity. His biggest project, which took 12 years to complete, was four companion volumes of his own fables and poems, printed from handset type and illustrated with 80 full-colored woodcuts printed from the blocks. Torre binds all Inkwell Press books by hand. Besides being represented in many private collections, Inkwell Press books are in the special collections of: The British Library; The New York Public Library; The Yale Library; Stony Brook University; The Kerlan Collection, Minneapolis; The University of Kentucky; Texas Christian University; Duke University; The University of Sydney, Australia; and others. The British Library and the University of Delaware Library have recently acquired a full set of his Fable books and other Inkwell Press productions. He has received many awards and favorable reviews in: The Five Owls; Bookman’s Weekly; Fine Print; The Pentatette; Book Design and Production (Britain); Publishers Weekly; Attenzione Magazine; Printing History. Torre was staff designer at Alfred A. Knopf, Publishers, 1959-1964; and free-lance designer for most of the New York publishers in a career of over 45 years. “Charles Dickens His Journal of a Journey from London to Canterbury in the Year 1830, Adapted from His Works and Edited by Vincent Torre” was published by George Braziller in 2010. This book received an award from the World Dickens Fellowship. Subjects Series 1: General Works Box 1 Correspondence, etc., in the production of A Tribute to W.A. Dwiggins, undated Box 2 Notes on Book Design, 1972 Series 2: Prose and Poetry Works Box 3 Limericks, 1970-1972, 1983-1984 Box 4 Limericks, 1996-1997 Box 5 Limericks, 2000-2001 Box 6 Poems, 1969-1971 Box 7 Lyrics and Ballads, 1972 Series 3: Bound Proofs Box 8 A Book of Fables, Fables from Aesop and Original fables written and illustrated by Vincent Torre, undated Box 9 Fables, 1985-1986 Box 10 The Leaping Knight, undated Box 11 Poems and Fables, 1991 Box 12 Verse and Fable, 1991-1992 Series 4: Ink Drawings Box 13 Vincent Torre, 1961 Box 14 Ink Drawings, 1995 Box 15 Ink Drawings, June-July 1996 Box 16 Ink Drawings, May-June 1999 Box 17 Ink Drawings, 2001 Box 18 Ink Drawings, 2001 Box 19 Ink Drawings, 2002 Box 20 Ink Drawings, 2003 Box 21 Ink Drawings, 2003 Box 22 – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2000 Box 23 – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2004 Box 24 – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2004 Box 25 – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2004 Box 26 – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2005 Box 26A – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2006 Box 26B – Oversize books Ink Drawings, 2008 Series 5: Pencil Drawings Box 27 Vincent Torre May 1992 Series 6: Portfolios Box 28 Portfolio, 1981 (ink) Box 29 Ink Drawings by Vincent Torre, 1988 Series 7: Printing Plates and Blocks Box 30 16 carved wood blocks from the ‘Nudes’ title. Box 31 28 carved wood blocks from the ‘Nudes’ title. Box 32 4 carved wood blocks of ‘flowers.’ Box 33 7 carved wood blocks of ‘flowers.’ Box 34 4 oversized carved wood blocks of ‘flowers.’ Box 35 1 carved wood block of ‘field.’ 14 carved wood block of ‘carousel horse.’ Box 36 56 lithographic plates from the printing of “The Leaping Knight.” |
