Robert Motherwell

The biggest publishing houses in America still don't know what to do about Amazon, but at a rarefied end of the bookmaking world that you probably didn't know existed, business is still good. The current issue of Harvard Magazine features a fascinating article by journalist Nathan Heller about Arion Press of San Francisco. Heller describes Arion as "the only full-service letterpress left in the United States." Put another way, Arion is the only publisher going that still makes books the way Gutenberg made books.

Last summer, a book retailer on the Lower East Side of Manhattan produced a window display to promote Weekend Utopia, written by noted architectural columnist Alastair Gordon. It was a stunning display—dozens of copies produced a sea of sepia, orange and pastel blue. "How inviting," I thought. This beautifully stylized book by Princeton Architectural Press was not only an instantly successful seller, but laid the foundation for a modernist architectural renaissance. How did this happen? Was it due to the appearance of the book? Not entirely. Gordon credits the initial success of the book, in part, to the creation of