A DOCUMENTARY ACCOUNT of the BEGINNINGS of the LABORATORY PRESS, CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. By PORTER GARNETT.

Published by THE LABORATORY PRESS, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, 1927. FIRST and LIMITED EDITION. One of only 255 copies, so stated on the Colophon Page (the last page).

SIGNED, INSCRIBED and DATED by PORTER GARNETT on the front free endpaper to his long-time FRIEND and BOHEMIAN CLUB cohort, WiLLIAM H. SMITH, JR.:

"To / William H. Smith, Jr. / this souvenir of an old and valued friendship. / Porter Garnett / San Francisco / June 25, 1928."

Both William H. Smith, Jr. and Porter Garnett were active members of the Bohemian Club. William H. Smith, Jr. held various offices in the Club, including Secretary, wrote a Grove Play, directed Grove Plays (including one by Porter Garnett), and both were involved with the Bohemian Grove Hijinx encampment.

Hardcovers, parchment covered spine and paper covered boards, spine title label, 7.5x10 inches, Pagination: x + 131 pages + 46 unnumbered pages at the rear containing a descriptive and illustrated bibliography of the works of the Laboratory Press.

Illustrated with facsimiles of pages from the press, photographs, and five full page calligraphic initials in red.

The Laboratory Press was founded in 1923 as a part of Carnegie, set up to give students a chance to see what fine hand-printing and illustration involved. One of the more elusive American private press bibliographies.

VERY GOOD condition: Sunning / slight toning to spine, inner pages toned at the margins; otherwise tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. A solid, lightly used, very presentable copy.

About PORTER GARNETT (from Wikipedia):

******Porter Garnett was born in 1871 in San Francisco. He was an active member in San Francisco's literary scene and a MEMBER OF THE BOHEMIAN CLUB, writing and directing plays at Bohemian Grove. In 1896, he joined The Lark, founded the previous year by Gelett Burgess and Bruce Porter. In 1907 he became assistant curator of Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley.

IN 1922, GARNETT BECAME PROFESSOR OF GRAPHIC ARTS AT THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, teaching traditions, development and ideals of fine printing. There, HE FOUNDED THE LABORATORY PRESS, as the only program in the country FOR THE TEACHING OF FINE PRINTING until the press closed in 1935. The Press was one of the only dedicated to education in printing as a fine art. In 1932, he was awarded the AIGA Medal.

When Porter and his wife Edna retired, they established their home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Garnett died on March 21, 1951, in Calistoga, California. After his death, an archive of his papers was created in his name in the Bancroft Library.******

RARE, especially so SIGNED and INSCRIBED by the Author, Printer and Bohemian PORTER GARNETT to his friend, fellow BOHEMIAN CLUB member WILLIAM H. SMITH, JR.******

(1) PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE OF ANCIENT FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF CANADA... at its SIXTEENTH ANNUAL COMMUNICATION, HELD AT OTTAWA, ONTARIO... 1971. HAMILTON (Canada): Spectator Steam Printing House, 1871. Disbound from a larger work that probably contained other proceedings, there are 314 pages in this proceedings with the pages numbered 602 to 915 plus a title page and a 6 page index at the rear, 5x8 inches. Only FAIR condition. Disbound, as noted above, title page is almost loose, there is chipping to the fragile page edges, mainly on the first and last few pages, the pages are toned with age, the last page has much of its upper portion torn away and has a 3 inch tear, there are previous owner's pencil marks here and there throughout; nonetheless a complete copy of this interesting Canadian Masonic report from 1871. (2) PROCEEDINGS OF THE M. W. GRAND LODGE OF THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND... Held at Charlottetown June 25, 1894. CHARLOTTETOWN (Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Canada): Haszard & Moore, Printers, 1894. Disbound, 5.5x8.5 inches, 47 pages. Only FAIR condition. Disbound, as noted above, waterstaining / shorelining to the gutter and bottom margin of most pages, chipping to the edges and corners of the first and last few pages, a vertical crease down the middle where the booklet was probably folded in half to fit into a pocket, pages are toned, there are previous owner's bright blue pencil marks here and there throughout; nonetheless a complete copy of this interesting Prince Edward Island Masonic report from 1894.

Scarce original 1897 San Francisco Royal Arch Masons Secret Society Mens Club Members Only Book that belonged to an important local landscape architect and cemetery designer, Henry Wigger.

Before San Francisco's infamous secret men's clubs like the Bohemian Club, and the Pacific Union Club, there were The Royal Arch Masons, established in The City in 1850. All of San Francisco's wealthy leading white men were members of Chapter Number One. Members were professionals, shop owners and businessmen with shared social class and economic background, and this Gold Rush era fraternal network helped make them even wealthier. Unusual for the time, many members were Jewish, membership gave them respectability and practical advantages. A unique glimpse at the men San Francisco named streets and buildings after.

By-Laws Of San Francisco Chapter, No.1 Of Royal Arch Masons Held At San Francisco. With Lists Of Past High Priests, Officers And Members From Its Organization, July 7, 1850. Also Of Life Members And Members Borne Upon The Roll, July 1, 1897. Published by Geo. Spaulding & Co. Printers, San Francisco, 1897. Illustrated red card covers, 6.5" x 4.75", 80 pages. VERY GOOD Condition: some light wear, otherwise tight, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, no copies held in OCLC collections worldwide. Only UC Berkeley and the California Historical Society hold two later editions (1907 and 1920) which are also quite scarce.

A truly ephemeral item, I can't find any original 1897 examples, I've search auction records and rare book catalogues, this is a unique piece of early San Francisco ephemera. What makes it even more desirable is it's provenance, having belonged to Cemetery Designer Henry Wigger (1874-1948), who along with his wife Hannah Rohde Wigger (1884-1968), were a prominent San Francisco and Napa pioneer family.

******* You can read about HENRY WIGGER in the History of Solano County and Napa County California by Marguerite Hunt and Harry Lawrence Gunn, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago 1926.

From his wife's obituary:

HANNAH ROHDE WIGGER (San Francisco 1884 - 1968 Napa) Burial Tulocay Cemetery, Napa. A resident of Napa since 1907 and matriarch of a prominent Napa family. Widow of the Landscape Architect for Napa State Hospital when it was built. Mrs. Wigger was the mother of Napa County Supervisor Henry Martin Wigger, Rohde V. and James G. Wigger, who operate Wigger Brothers clothing store, and Dr. Wilder N. Wigger of San Francisco; and grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of three. ******