The Lead Plates of the Romm Press Artist's Book by Jacob Romm
“This pocket-sized artist's book contains some reflections, through word and image, on a Yiddish poem by Avrom Sutzkever called ‘the Lead Plates of the Romm Press,’ which describes a fictional scene of melting the printing plates used to produce Yiddish and Hebrew books into bullets during the Vilna Ghetto Rebellion. I use this powerful and complicated image of turning words into bullets as a prism through which to consider my own ancestral relationship to the Romms of Vilna, the pain of watching violent nationalism distort Jewish culture, and the complexities of being a Jewish printer during a Jewish genocide.
Typeset in Perpetua and Hebrew Condensed and printed in gray ink on Mohawk Superfine and gray Somerset Velvet. Numbered edition of 90.” - Jacob Romm
4” x 5”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
“This pocket-sized artist's book contains some reflections, through word and image, on a Yiddish poem by Avrom Sutzkever called ‘the Lead Plates of the Romm Press,’ which describes a fictional scene of melting the printing plates used to produce Yiddish and Hebrew books into bullets during the Vilna Ghetto Rebellion. I use this powerful and complicated image of turning words into bullets as a prism through which to consider my own ancestral relationship to the Romms of Vilna, the pain of watching violent nationalism distort Jewish culture, and the complexities of being a Jewish printer during a Jewish genocide.
Typeset in Perpetua and Hebrew Condensed and printed in gray ink on Mohawk Superfine and gray Somerset Velvet. Numbered edition of 90.” - Jacob Romm
4” x 5”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
“This pocket-sized artist's book contains some reflections, through word and image, on a Yiddish poem by Avrom Sutzkever called ‘the Lead Plates of the Romm Press,’ which describes a fictional scene of melting the printing plates used to produce Yiddish and Hebrew books into bullets during the Vilna Ghetto Rebellion. I use this powerful and complicated image of turning words into bullets as a prism through which to consider my own ancestral relationship to the Romms of Vilna, the pain of watching violent nationalism distort Jewish culture, and the complexities of being a Jewish printer during a Jewish genocide.
Typeset in Perpetua and Hebrew Condensed and printed in gray ink on Mohawk Superfine and gray Somerset Velvet. Numbered edition of 90.” - Jacob Romm
4” x 5”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
Jacob Romm (he/him) is a Ph.D. student in Renaissance Studies, a translator of French, Yiddish and Hebrew, and the founder of Letter and Spirit Press, where he prints chapbooks, broadsides, and ephemera from moveable type. Although his work often draws on the visual conventions of early modern printing, Jacob is committed to using the art of letterpress to amplify queer and trans voices, both historical and contemporary. He lives, studies, and prints in New Haven, CT.
