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Main Gallery

  • Tumbling Blocks for Pris and Bruce 1996

    edition of 200
  • Detail from The Gospel of Mary 2006

    Artwork by Claire Van Vliet and Katie MacGregor
  • Batterers 1996

    Text by Denise Levertov, Edition of 100
  • Woven and Interlocking Book Structures 2002

    Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner

Janus Press: The New Zealand Connection

17 October 2014 - 01 November 2014

Established in 1955, the internationally renowned, Janus Press is the oldest private press currently operating in the United States and has published and co-published over 90 handmade and hand printed books, each of which can be considered a work of art. 

Typically Janus Press books are appreciated for not only the originality of their contents, but also the attention given to design, binding, typography, use of handmade papers, and printing. This exhibition provides a unique opportunity to view a collection of over twenty of these special books, which are held by Auckland book makers Elizabeth Steiner and Beth Serjeant, whose friendship with Claire Van Vliet spans more than twenty years.

According to Elizabeth Steiner, the influence of the Janus Press has been felt in New Zealand, since Claire Van Vliet’s first visit to the first book symposium in 1992. Claire enjoys working collaboratively and a number of creative projects have grown out of the New Zealand association with Janus Press involving New Zealanders such as Alan Loney, Judith Haswell and Keri Hulme. 

Exhibition visitors will have the opportunity to handle a few of these books, in order to study the design and structure more closely.

Click here to download a copy of the publication Janus Press:The New Zealand Connection