In 2004, by a series of coincidences and chance connections, I was selected as the featured artist in Amphora 135. I hadn't realized that the journal's format had changed so significantly, and started collecting the recent issues because they featured artists. The new format thus fit into my art book collection quite well, and I was re-introduced to the book arts. This also triggered me into a block cutting and printing spree, which Amphora continues to publish to my thankful appreciation.

Early in 2005 I was asked if I would be interested in writing an anecdotal article on the 40 year long history of Amphora. This sounded like an interesting project, and I immediately began collecting back issues of the journal for review. The Alcuin Society checked through their remaining back issues, and sold me about 50 issues. The owner of Macleod's Books put all of his copies of Amphora in a box for me to look through, and I found another 50 issues that I didn't already have.

I compiled a checklist of issues, and realized that I now had all but 15 of them. Richard Hopkins, Chair of the Alcuin Society Editorial Committee, looked through his collection and added a couple of recent issues I didn't have, leaving me 13 short of a complete collection. I decided that this was enough to serve as a solid foundation for a 40 year review, and began reading my way through them all. I ended up with partially read copies of Amphora on the kitchen table, in the living room, on the bedside table, on my desk at work, and, um, yes, in the bathroom. They covered most of the free horizontal spaces in my apartment, and also insinuated themselves into my briefcase, backpack, and coat pockets. It became difficult to remember which ones I had read and which ones not.

I read myself to sleep with them, ate breakfast with them, read them while waiting for my meal at restaurants or while riding in taxis, and even began dreaming about some printing presses. Some of the prints by George Kuthan also insinuated themselves into my dreams. At last I'd read almost every issue, and added dozens of yellow post-it notes to interesting pages. I wrote an outline for the article, and then put the project on hold for a couple of months while other tasks needed doing. In April emails began arriving asking how the article was going. In early May emails gave the first indication of when the article was due - either May 16 or May 30! It was clearly time to start writing in earnest, and set about my task.

The issues varied widely in thickness and content. There were themed issues, anniversary issues, issues with ephemera enclosed, and a variety of cover images and colours. Many articles were reprinted from other sources, a number were written about local booksellers and letterpress publishers, and a great number of articles appeared to be written by people with unusual names. The stories attached to Amphora's history slowly became clear, especially with the help of Richard Hopkins and Jim Rainer. What emerged was a picture of an enormous and extended volunteer effort by many people to produce the journal for forty years. There were lean times, with pleas for help and money, and there were happy issues celebrating the Society's accomplishments. Offering were made for upcoming Society publications, and subsequent issues detailed the delays and setbacks encountered in producing books like Flowers in Heraldry and In Praise of Scribes. The issues waxed and waned in size, ranging from the 4 pages in Issue I to the 144 page Amphora Millenium Issue 118. Recent issues have ranged from 24 to 60 pages, and it is clear that finding interesting and topical content remains an ongoing problem for the journal.

Amphora had a humble beginning, detailed in The Alcuin Society - A Compilation of Its Publications From 1965 to 1998, published by the Society in 1999. A series of letters and newsletters were sent to Society members from 1965 to 1967. Amphora Issue I was a slight four page volume, published in 1967. Issue II, published in Spring 1968 was a hearty 40 pages long, designed by Wil Hudson, printed by Donald Atkins, with calligraphy by Ann Tresize. The second issue provided a complete list of members of the Society, a copy of the Society's Balance Sheet listing $1,893 in assets and a $2,488 operating deficit, notes from the Annual General Meeting, and a number of articles including a lengthy one by Geoff Spencer, founding President of the Society, writing about publications by Thomas Mosher.

Officers and Directors of the Society were named, "Directors whose term of office expires in:" made its first appearance, and committees were listed. The Society's terms of references were given, including the limited membership of 875 with various categories. The Alcuin Society at that time was headquartered in a small room at the Arts Club Theatre, and Society members were automatically honourary members of the Arts Club.

It was noted that "members receive copies of Amphora, the Society's semi-annual magazine, along with a bonus distribution of such printed curiosities as may strike the fancy of the Selection committee." An editorial by Geoff Spencer noted that "we need a minimum of 350 members to break even. At this moment we have 175 in good standing...", with twelve members having let their memberships lapse. Speaking of selection committees, I noticed in at least one Amphora (a much later issue, its number not coming to mind immediately) that the selection committee for Amphora articles had been broken into a "younger" group and an "older" group, their separate recommendations being put to the chair of the committee for final decision. It would be interesting to know the story behind that.

Amphora was published semi-annually until Issue XIV in 1973, after which it was published quarterly, a schedule that continues to this day - albeit with occasional lengthy periods between issues and a subsequent flurry of catch-up issues. The slender eight page Christmas Issue XVIII was the last to use Roman numbering. Amphora IV was printed letterpress with woodcuts by George Kuthan, in a slightly larger size, 9.625" high by 6.25" wide than Issue II at 8.3" x 5.6". Amphora V had a letterpress cover and lithographed contents, a format that would recur over the years. Amphora VI returned to the smaller size of Issue II, a format that continued until Issue 125. The current format of 11" x 7.25" began with Issue 126 in Winter 2002.

This smaller size was rationalized in Issue VI for the following reasons:
1. The larger size was too wasteful of paper, the reduced size cutting the cost of Amphora from $200 for Issue V to $90 for Issue VI.
2. A new cylinder press had been installed in December 1969 that allowed for the smaller format that also matched their offset press size.
3. An extensive range of Times New Roman had been purchased.

Amphora VII included a one page call for members titled HELP US TO MUSHROOM, illustrated by a nice wood engraving by Kuthan. This battle for support would continue for many years. The Special Christmas Edition (Issue X) of 1972 was the last of the early issues published in Vancouver. Publishing then moved to Richmond up until the December 1981 Issue 46. Issue 47 of March 1982 gave a Vancouver post office box address. In Spring 1983 the Alcuin Citations were inaugurated, and winners were noted in Amphora for many years until the renamed Alcuin Awards were expanded into a dedicated annual publication of their own.

Amphora 63 was a special edition, an exhibition catalogue for "Hand to Hand: A Gathering of Book Arts in British Columbia". The exhibition was intended as a historical chronicle of books arts in B.C., and included many important letterpress printers and publishers, as well as artists, calligraphers, paper makers, book binders, and type designers. Amphora 79 (March 1990) was an emergency stop-gap issue, after plans for a 25th Anniversary Issue (the best of Amphora over 25 years) didn't work out as planned due to "resource difficulties" ("What Happened to the Cover?", Madeline Williams, Chairman, the Alcuin Society, Amphora 79, page 1.) The editorial also noted the transition to computerized systems for producing Amphora while asking the subscribers to "bear with us" during the time of transition. The cover was printed letterpress by Stuart Isto on his tried and true C&P press in the basement.

Amphora 80 (June 1990) was another special edition, issued for the Alcuin Society's 25th Anniversary. Issue 80 consisted of a listing of the table of contents of the first 79 issues. Images were not listed, nor page numbers, but it is still a useful list when looking for a specific article that you "know is in there somewhere". There have been surprisingly few Editors of Amphora during its forty year history. Geoff Spencer was the first Editor, and for a while he and Neil Brearley were alternate Editors. There were a number of issues where no Editor was named, I seem to recall that Geoff Spencer was living in England for a while. Barbara Hemphill, Guy Robertson, and Jean Macdonald were all named as Editors in various issues. Geoff Spencer took up the yoke of Editor again, holding the position until 2001, when the current Editor Dr. Richard Hopkins was appointed.

Amphora XIII introduced the first article in what would become a long series of articles written by a large collection of authors with unusual names, in this case T.W.O. Hoots. Although this practice commenced slowly and one hopes with caution, eventually many issues had numerous articles by "authors" of dubious origin, including: Eugen Faltenbugler, Olga Glockenspiel, B. Gorrah, Rose Blight, C. Urchin, George Lidlifter, A. Sonovabic, Horst Feathers, Axel Feathers

Cautious enquiries to the Alcuin Society elicited that fact that all of these authors (and many more) were the pen-names for their long-time editor (Geoff Spencer). He was simply "fluffing up" the issues with snippets of book history and commentary, the odd personal rant against something or other (the Canada Council, as often as not, for example), and seemingly as many erotic letterpress images as he could find to fill in pages. Many of these "authors" had mini-biographies following the article, for example the note on Axel Feathers: "This contributor is an admirer of the late Marie Stopes and has been trying ever since to develop a method of achieving involuntary birth control in rabbits by playing Schonberg's music continuously in their hutches. By trade he is a chick-sexer, trained in Arkansas. He hopes to break new ground by using a similar technique for alligators in the Florida Everglades."

The first apparent response to this slowly-developing use of somewhat less than otherwise desired material took place when there was a subtle change to the information on the back inside cover of Amphora Issue 115 of Spring 1999. A line of text was added that said: The directors do not necessarily agree with views expressed by contributors to Amphora. The same wording appeared in Issues 116 and 117, but in 118 of Winter 1999/2000 the wording was subtly revised to be, perhaps, a bit more inclusive: The directors do not necessarily agree with views expressed in Amphora. The wording disappeared entirely in Amphora 119 to 124 but the issue hadn't entirely gone away. By Issue 125, Fall 2001, the matter was settled, and "From The Editor's Desk" introduced a new Editor, Dr. Richard Hopkins, a long-time director and supporter of the Society. His two page editorial summarized some of Amphora's long history, partially explained recent events leading up to his appointment as Editor, and looked ahead to upcoming improvements.

Richard Hopkins' name had perhaps first been noted in Amphora in Issue V, where it was announced at the 1969 Spring Convocation that he had won the first Alcuin Society Prize while at the University of British Columbia. He became one of a number of long-standing members of the Society who contributed an immense amount of time over the years to support the Society. The former editor Geoff Spencer (also Founding President of the Alcuin Society, and much more) founded his own journal "The Broken Urn", and continues to attend Alcuin events such as the Wayzgoose held at the Vancouver Public Library last year.

The Society asked Robert Reid to design a new look for Amphora, and the new format appeared in Winter 2002 Issue 126. The front and back covers could be printed in colour every issue, the paper stock was improved, and the larger size in combination with Reid's page layout produced a handsome journal. Issue 126 included reproductions of block prints by seven Canadian artists, including Alistair Bell, Leonard Hutchinson, and a colour cover by Robert Bruce Inverarity.

Recent issues featured artists including Alistair Bell, Michael Kluckner, Andrea Taylor, Arnold Shives, Jim Rimmer, and Shinsuki Minegishi. Many examples of the excellent work of George Kuthan had also been published over the years, including eight letterpress woodcuts in Issue IV alone. Technology has been taken in stride and used in production of Amphora. Current issues are laid out in Pagemaker or Quark programs running on computers, text is dumped from a number of digital document types, images are scanned and digitally pasted in. The final document is copied to CD-ROM and sent to the printer, where it is output on a Docutech high-speed digital printer.

Most of the finished run of the magazine is shipped in bulk to a mailing service, where the Amphorae are put into mail-merge labeled envelopes for delivery, perhaps along with a letter or piece of ephemera. Almost all issues of Amphora have been printed at Benwell Atkins, although some early work was done by the printing class at Vancouver Vocational Institute. Don Atkins has been a long-time member of the Society, has fundamentally helped it to exist, and cannot be thanked enough for his enduring support. A number of copies are kept for later sales, membership offerings, and as samples at events where the Alcuin Society has a display. Ironically, the upgrade in quality of publication has also resulted in attempts to keep the print run down, and thus the overall cost to produce it.

When Amphora had a smaller size it was less expensive to produce. More copies were printed, and these formed the bulk of the spare copies that were handed out for free, and are still available. The recent limited print runs of the higher quality version have already gone "out of print", and no stocks are on hand for later use, although the Alcuin Society is rumoured to have one or two complete sets of Amphora for sale. Currently around 400 copies are printed for each issue. Many keepsakes and pieces of ephemera were included in issues of Amphora. Although most of the issues that I myself collected for review prior to writing this article were bereft of the bonus piece, a few issues did hold little treasures either stapled into the center of the journal, or loosely tipped in:

1. a four page multi-colour letterpress printing by David Clifford of Monkey Business, with Kuthan woodblocks, in Amphora 122, Winter 2000/1.

2. A short "Report Re: Three Booklet Proposals for Alcuin Society" dated January 5, 2001, wherein the reporter seemed a bit snippish, as in "I would eliminate 25 pages as being verbose, inconsequential, too topical, too academic, etc."

3. A letter of invitation to Alcuin members dated August 30, 1974 inviting them to a tour of the City of Vancouver Archives.

4. Letterpress memoriam for Robin Skelton dated 1997, printed by Stuart Isto, who is currently in charge of production of Amphora.

5. Reproduction of the calligraphy by Martin Jackson titled "Do What Thy Manhood Bids Thee Do", folded along with a prospectus for Robert Reid's "A Typographic Frolic"., both tucked into the Summer 1999 issue.

6. "Happiness This Side of Heaven", a sonnet printed by Benwell Atkins in Vancouver, included with the 30th Anniversary Issue 100 of Amphora.

7. "Beware the One True Answer", part of Isaiah Berlin's acceptance speech for an honourary doctorate, printed in 1997 by David Clifford in an edition of 500.

8. "The Natural Style of a Child...", printed at Bird & Bull Press in May 1997.

The Alcuin Society plans to include a series of limited edition woodcut prints in future issues of Amphora. The woodcuts are to be based on the idea of a printer's mark that "should have existed, should exist now, or should exist in the future". Well, forty years of Amphora. Once again my desk is covered in piles of multi-coloured volumes - letterpress, litho, and laser. What a rich history, what a massive legacy of books arts, commissions, books, ephemera and keepsakes recorded and promoted in its pages. It is, in sum, a compelling and magnificent record of the work of many volunteers, of their many thousands of hours of work. The success of Amphora is also built upon the support of the Alcuin Society's members, whose fees not only entitle them to receive Amphora four times a years, but also enable the Society to host events such as the Antiquarian Books Roadshow - where I first encountered them - and the Wayzgooze - held very successfully last year for the first time. The Society has every right to a just pride in their accomplishments over many years. The proof is before us in 140 Issues of Amphora. Best wishes for another successful forty years!