PICKERING PRESS BROADSIDE designed by JOHN ANDERSON with a woodcut by JOHN DEPOL, playfully awarding honorary membership to Fridolf Johnson.

Pickering Press, 1958., 1958.. Very good. - An original 12-1/4 inch high by 9-1/8 inch wide broadside handsomely printed in black on cream paper bestowing honorary membership to small pressman Fridolf Johnson. Preceded by an attractive wood engraving of a hand holding a rose by John DePol, the printed text reads "Know All Men that the Chapel of Pickering Press (after prolonged examination and consideration) has elected to Honorary Membership: Fridolf Johnson Effective 1 November 1958 Address all correspondence to the Home Office Dues Payable in Advance". Fridolf Johnson's name was penned in ink in an attractive calligraphic hand. There is creasing to the edges and top corners with some spotting to the bottom of the page and s small ink mark at bottom left. Very good.

The book designer, typographer and printer John Anderson (1915-1997) was inspired by the activities of the aviation pioneers, the Wright Brothers, who ran a printing press. Anderson acquired his own small hand press when he was only 13 years old and went on to establish himself as one of the foremost small pressman. He set up his first commercial press founding the Bantam Press in 1934. Needing to further his education, he went on to work as an apprentice to Peter Beilenson of the Peter Pauper Press and, in 1946, founded the Pickering Press. After moving to Pasadena, California, Anderson briefly worked for the Castle Press but quickly moved on following clashes with the press' foreman. Within the year Anderson started working for Paul Weaver's Northland Press in Flagstaff, designing many award-winning books. Returning to Philadelphia in 1963, Anderson reopened his Pickering Press and resumed his collaboration with the wood engraver John DePol, with whom he'd worked since 1950.