SANTA CLAUS AT SIMPSON'S BAR

Rochester, N.Y.: [Privately printed for Winifred, Eino, and John Wigren; printed by Eino Wigren?], 1941. 16, [2] pages. Illustrated with title-page vignette and pictorial headpiece on the first page of text, both printed in red. Original decorative paper over stiff wraps with printed paper cover label. [17.6 cm.] Good plus. Front wrap shows faint stains from slight misapplication of glue used to affix label, a few spots, and toning near the base. Some spotting to endpapers. Text is clean and bright. FIRST OF THIS EDITION. A charming Christmas gift book. The final page bears a greeting signed (in type) by "Winifred and Eino and John Wigren." The book was undoubtedly designed and probably illustrated by Eino E. Wigren, a layout man and educator in Rochester, N.Y., who may have set, printed, and bound it as well. OCLC records two other imprints designed by Wigren. In 1931, he designed, illustrated, and handset an edition of Voltaire's "Memnon" which he had privately printed in Chicago, where he was working for Douglas McMurtrie. In 1948, “for the fun of it,” he designed, illustrated, set, printed, and bound an edition of Hubbard's "A Message to Garcia," issued in Rochester in a “small number” (quotes from OCLC). Eino E. Wigren (1908-1992), a graduate of Carnegie Tech, worked under Douglas McMurtrie at the Ludlow Typographic Company before settling in Rochester, N.Y. There he worked in the creative department at the Case-Hoyt Corporation and as an instructor at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute. By the late 1940's, Wigren became co-director of the Rochester Typographic Service, collaborating with Joseph Thuringer who established the firm in 1945. Wigren later moved to Newark, New York where he was the printing designer for the Baker-Britt Corporation. Rare. OCLC locates only three copies (Rochester Public, University of Oregon, and Carnegie Mellon). Not in NUC or BAL.�