The Devil's Artisan

A ROGUES' GALLERY
OF THE CANADIAN BOOK AND PRINTING ARTS

Will Rueter

The Aliquando Press was founded in Toronto in 1963 as a private press, to allow me to investigate personally all aspects of the handmade book. I continually attempt to perfect those bookmaking skills through personal involvement with most aspects of a book's creation, and I try to keep faith with the authors' message.

I enjoy selecting texts that interest and inspire me: music, art, and literature (often set bilingually), and I am very fortunate to have a wide selection of typefaces and ornaments. It is challenging to work within the traditional codex format, using handset type and letterpress printing, while attempting to experiment with letterforms, colour, texture, illustration and ornament. I have collaborated with Wesley W. Bates, Maureen Steuart, Don Taylor, and other artists, and I have also created my own wood engravings and linocuts for some texts.

Seven years ago I moved to Dundas (an hour's drive west of Toronto) where I work in a former dairy (ca 1920) that barely contains all my equipment. It is a magical workspace, a constant source of inspiration and contentment.

Recently I completed my ninety-sixth book, the Quebec novelist Gaétan Soucy's The Anguish of the Heron, translated by Sheila Fischman. Future projects include a Boccaccio story, a collection of favourite aphorisms, and a continuing variety of broadsides.

Each new project requires decisions about the choice of format, type, paper, illustration and binding, and demands renewed and improved skills and responsibilities. Through the creation of handmade books I hope to continue respecting the innate qualities of the book form and to discover new insights into the form and content of the book as an entity.