Collecting Books: The Book Club of Washington

The inaugural program the Book Club of Washington presented at Dearborn House in January 2015 featured master printer Richard-Gabriel Rummonds (1931-2024), who had just completed his memoir Fantasies & Hard Knocks, assisted by BCW member Jim Jones.
We are so pleased to now have the opportunity to hear from Mark E. Fischer, who studied with Rummonds as a teenager in Verona, Italy, 1973-1980 and is carrying forward the printing legacy of his Plain Wrapper Press (PWP).
By age 14, Fischer had established his own press, the Stamperia Ponte Pietra, publishing four limited editions between 1976 and 1980. Despite this promising beginning in fine press printing and publishing, Fischer went in a different direction as an adult.
In 2021, Fischer returned to the passion of his youth, exploring the possibility of creating book editions in the tradition of the PWP, which had ceased operation in 1988. On Rummonds’ 90th birthday, he proposed a “Plain Wrapper Press Redux.”
Fischer’s illustrated presentation will acquaint us with the activities of his Plain Wrapper Press Redux, whose publications are inspired by the memory of his mentor. For details about how Fischer first connected with Rummonds and his subsequent career before he returned to the pleasures of printing by founding the Plain Wrapper Press Redux, see this blog post by Jim Jones.
Mark E. Fischer founded the Stamperia Ponte Pietra in Verona, Italy, in 1976 at age 14. He had started learning the art of handprinting and fine-press publishing from Gabriel Rummonds as soon as his family had moved to Verona in 1973. By the time he matriculated at Harvard College in 1980, his press had published four editions, which had already been collected by Harvard’s rare-book Houghton Library (as well as by several other rare-book collections in the US). These were Marsh Marigolds (in English), L’Indovinello Veronese (in Italian), Blue (in English and French), and Est Modus in Rebus (in Latin, Ancient Greek, English and Italian). Fischer had studied these languages while attending the Liceo Classico Maffei in Verona. At Harvard, Fischer studied descriptive bibliography, Latin, Ancient Greek, and French, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.
While Fischer continues to pursue his other great professional passion—corporate finance—he now runs the venerable Plain Wrapper Press as Plain Wrapper Press Redux, saddened by the loss of his original printing and publishing mentor Rummonds, but no less enthusiastic or determined. The mission remains to print and publish among the most beautiful books in the world, rich in high-quality text and artwork, and designed, printed, and bound by hand with exacting craftmanship and the finest materials.
In addition to being the publisher of Plain Wrapper Press Redux, Fischer performs financial analysis for a US financial-services company.

We’ve put together a lively bibliophile weekend in Portland for Book Club of Washington members and their guests, commencing with a visit to Lewis & Clark College to view highlights from the Watzek Library’s Special Collections and Archives, with an emphasis on their outstanding Lewis and Clark Expedition materials, then remaining on campus for cocktails and dinner. We’ll be joined by members of the Himes and Duniway Society, librarians from Special Collections, representatives of the Lewis & Clark Trail Alliance, and local book dealers. The following day we’ll visit four outstanding bookstores as a group. On Sunday we’ll make our way to Andre Chaves’ Clinker Press Studio just outside Portland and then wrap up the weekend with a private collection visit at the home of David and Julie Goggin in Vancouver, WA.
SEE www.bookclubofwashington.org for more info and hotel reservations! DON'T DELAY!

Having successfully revived this summer tradition two years ago, we can't wait to stage this again for members and their guests. Our host Josef Venker was recently the subject of a blog post. Click here to read it. Tim Schmidt will once again be our grill master extraordinaire. Burgers, chicken, and a vegetarian option will be available from the grill, and the Book Club will provide a variety of beverages. Attendees fill out the menu by contributing appetizers, salads or other sides, and desserts.

For now, just save the date until you receive an email near the end of June announcing that registration has opened. The address and directions will be sent a few days prior to the event to those who have registered.