Peter Rutledge Koch, also known simply as Peter Koch (born 1943)[1] is an American letterpressmaster printer,[2]artists' book maker and publisher, typographer, educator, author and book designer. Koch is internationally known for his fine press artists' books.[3] Over the years he has published under a variety of imprints, including Black Stone Press; Peter and the Wolf Editions; Editions Koch; Hormone Derange Editions; and Peter Koch Printer[4] and The REAL LEAD Saloon.
Biography
Peter Rutledge Koch, book designer, printer, artist, and author founded Black Stone Press and Montana Gothic: A Journal of Poetry, Literature & Graphics, in 1974 in Missoula, Montana.[1][2] In 1978, Koch moved Black Stone Press to San Francisco and embarked on a one-year apprenticeship with book designer Adrian Wilson at his renowned press in Tuscany Alley.
Black Stone Press was dissolved by 1983, and the press was renamed Peter Rutledge Koch, Typographic Design.[5] In January 1990, following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Koch changed his press name to Peter Koch Printers and moved the location to Berkeley, California.[6]
Koch has extensive knowledge on typography, paper making, printmaking, bookbinding, and the design of books. From 1991 to 2011, he taught the history of the book and printing, "The Hand-produced Book in Its Historical Context," at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).[7]
In 2005, Koch and his wife, Susan Filter, founded the Codex Foundation, to preserve and promote the art of the book.[8][9] The Codex Foundation has hosted the biennial CODEX International Book Fair since 2007.[10][11][12]
Koch's books and artworks have been the subject of solo exhibitions at the New York Public Library,[13] San Francisco Public Library,[13] the Widener Library at Harvard University,[14]Yellowstone Art Museum,[15] and the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art.[16] The Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford University hosted the exhibition Peter Koch Printer: A Forty-year Retrospective (2017).[7] The Grolier Club[8] presented the exhibition Peter Koch Printer Retrospective (2019).[8] A three-volume catalogue raisoneé, Peter Koch Printer a Descriptive Bibliography, was published by Stanford University Libraries[17] to accompany Koch’s 45-year retrospective at Stanford University Libraries (2017) and at the Grolier Club (2019).
Koch was previously married to printer Shelley Jean Hoyt, from 1975 to 1984.[19] Together they had one son. In 2005,^ he married Susan K. Filter, who works as a paper conservator.[8][4]
Bringhurst, Robert; Koch, Peter; Trujillo, Roberto G.; Roth, Alison (2011). The Art of the Book in California: Five Contemporary Presses. Stanford, California: Stanford University Libraries. ISBN9780911221466.
Koch, Peter Rutledge & Schneider, Nina M. Peter Koch Printer: A Descriptive Bibliography, 1975-2016 (2017). Stanford, California: Stanford University Libraries. ISBN 0911221603
Portfolios
Bringhurst, Robert; Koch, Peter Rutledge, eds. (2015). The California Tradition in Type Design (art/design portfolio). San Francisco, California: The Book Club of California.
