hand work

i never remember what hk stands for. i had to look it up: hendrik nicolass. any designer who has anything to do with letterpress will certainly know hk werkman’s designs. i have long been a fan. in my many visits to book stores and book fairs i have seen werkman’s books on numerous occasions. his next call edition pops up most often. oddly, i have never bought a copy. the price is certainly the main reason. i’m not even sure i have ever seen a first edition. i never tire of looking at his compositions. i dream of one day buying a hand press and beginning the experimentation myself. the smell of ink, the physical effort, the release of the paper—such is the dream. as a matter of fact, learning of the recent sale of an extremely special hand press made me consider that dream once again. i have seen pictures of karl martens’ hand press and have bought one of his works myself. my little gem. that’s what it is, a little gem of a design by hk werkman himself—an ex libris for p j hiemstra, whoever he may have been. a quick search yielded this very ex libris sold at auction at christie’s in 1996 for 159 dollars. i don’t know if he was a friend, client or associate, or if werkman created many such designs, but i am extremely proud to own this piece of his. hopefully, it is new to you. it’s always inspiring to me.