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Home > The Collection > Fine Printing > Henry Evans (1918-1990)
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Henry Evans (1918-1990)

Henry Evans was a man of many talents - a rare book dealer, a printer, and an artist. He owned the Porpoise Bookshop in San Francisco. He acquired his 1852 Washington Hand Press in 1949 and established the Peregrine Press by which he produced a number books he was interested in printing and the art work of Bay Area artists, such as Rick Barton, Mel Fowler, Mark Luca, Robert Quick, Leonard Basking, and Edward Hagedorn.

Henry began to cut linoleum blocks so that he could learn to understand the best way to print the works of these artists. After learning to cut the linoleum, he started making his own botanical prints. Henry would draw his subjects directly from living plants and depicted life size. He would draw the design on the linoleum and cut the design in the block. He liked linoleum as a material because when properly warmed it would cut like butter due to the softness of the material, which would result in fluid and supple prints. Henry would destroy his linoleum blocks once his particular printing edition was completed. Marsha Evans, his wife, would do most of the printing. Marsha has indicated that it could take four days to make a particular print if the drawing contained four colors.

Henry Evans began making his botanical prints in 1958 and during his career he drew more than 1400 subjects. In 1964, he decided to close the bookstore and to become solely “Henry Evans –Printmaker.” His botanical prints became very popular with the public and with museums and galleries. He has had more that 250 one-man shows and his works are in the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Albertina in Vienna, the Clark Library at UCLA, the Gleeson Library, and the Bancroft Library, just to mention a few. Dr Donovan McCune was an early admirer and patron. The McCune Collection has one of the largest holding of Henry Evans prints in the nation.

The Henry Evans portfolios are exhibited on the McCune website with the permission of Marsha Evans. Additional Henry Evans prints can be seen and purchased from Marsha’s website: http://www.henryevans.com.

San Francisco, CA. Henry Evans (1918-1990) was a printer, artist, and botanist. He had the Porpoise Bookshop and Peregrine Press in San Francisco. He is especially recognized for his hand-made botanical prints which he designed on linoleum blocks.

Portfolios

Book Listings

Flowers: A First Coloring Book.(view photo)
Rick Barton. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1960. 80 Copies printed by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press.
Man.
16 Block Prints cut by Rick Barton. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1959.
Animalarium. Volume One.
28 Blocks cut by Rick Barton. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1963. 50 copies printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press. Unbound. Signed by Rick Barton.
Netsukes.
21 Blocks cut by Rick Barton. The Porpoise Bookshop. 1959. Unbound. 88 copies printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press.
Bohemians San Francisco.
Henry Evans. The Porpoise Bookshop. 1955.
An Alphabet Book.
Patricia Healy Evans. The Peregrine Press. MCMLIII (1953).
Stone & Pulse.
Poems by Paul Dreykus. The Porpoise Bookshop. 1956. 60 copies printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press. Signed by Paul Dreykus.
Catalogue Fourteen. Herodotus to Holderlin.
The Porpoise Bookshop. 1956. Printed by Henry Evans.
If You.
Poems by Robert Greeley. Illustrations by Fielding Dawson. Poems and Pictures #8. Porpoise Bookshop. 1956. 200 copies. Printed by Henry Evans.
Anomalies.(view photo)
A Poem by Henry Herman Evans. 1952. 100 copies.
John Baskerville The Gracious Infidel.
Henry Evans. Peregrine Press. 1953. 150 copies printed by the author.
A Guide to Rare Books.
Compiled by H.H. Evans. Porpoise Bookshop. MCMXCVIII (1948). 1500 copies. Printed by Haywood H. Hunt, San Francisco.
A Contribution Toward a Check List of Bibliographies and Reference Material Relating to the History of the States and Territories of the American West.
Henry Herman Evans. Printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press. 1949 & 1950. 75 copies. Signed by Henry Evans.
Small New Poems.
Henry Evans. Poems & Pictures #9. Porpoise Bookshop. 1957. 150 copies.
Western Bibliographies.
Henry Herman Evans. Peregrine Press. 1951. Peregrine Press. 122 copies.
Hopscotch.
Patricia Evans. Porpoise Bookshop. 1955. Printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press.
Six Portraits engraved by Leonard Baskin.
(The portraits include: George Stubbs, William Morris, Albretcht Altdorfer, Jacopo De Barbri, Andrea Mantecna, Vittore Pisanello). Print Portfolio #5. Porpoise Bookshop. 1960. 100 copies. Printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press.
A Modern Herbal.
Patricia Evans. Illustrations by Rick Barton. Porpoise Bookshop. 1961. 165 copies. Printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press. With ephemera.
Peregrine Press Sampler.
(Miscellaneous Ephemera).
The Mycophagists’ Book.
Patricia Healy Evans. Peregrine Press. MCMLI (1951). 175 copies. Printed by Henry Evans.
Rimbles a Book of Children’s Classic Games.
Patricia Evans. Doubleday & Co. Garden City. 1961.
A Portfolio of Nudes.
Mel Fowler. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1957. 150 copies printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press.
Ten Nudes.
Edward Hagedorn. The Peregrine Press. San Francisco. 1952. 86 copies printed by Henry Evans. Numbered and signed by Edward Hagedorn. #47.
Champagne and Shoes.
An Essay on John T. Little’s Coloma Emporium with an Original Double Leaf from its Journal: 1850-1851. Kenneth M. Johnson. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1962. 76 copies. Printed and illustrated by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press.
Proofs of Champagne and Shoes.
Sent to Ed Simpson, M.D. on 31 May 1962 and 30 August 1962 from Henry Evans. Note to Verla dated 3 December 1963 from Henry Evans. Note to Ed dated 17 January 1964.
Champagne and Shoes.
An Essay on John T. Little’s Coloma Emporium with an Original Double Leaf from its Journal: 1850-1851. Kenneth M. Johnson. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1962. 76 copies. Printed and illustrated by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press.
Back to the Cave.
Twelve Prints by Mark Luca. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1956.
Fourteen Poems
by O.V. De L. Milosz. Translated and with an introduction by Kenneth Rexroth. Illustrated by Edward Hagedorn. The Peregrine Press. San Francisco. 1952. 129 copies by Henry Evans. Signed by Kenneth Rexroth, Edward Hagedorn, Henry Herman Evans.
Winemaking in California.
I. How Wine Is Made. II. From the Missions to 1894. Ernest Peninou and Sidney Greenleaf. The Peregrine Press. San Francisco. 1954.
Winemaking in California.
III. The California Wine Association. Ernest Peninou and Sidney Greenleaf. The Peregrine Press. San Francisco. 1954.
Praise for Carl Sandburg.
From some of his friends on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Chicago. January 6, 1953. Broadcast Music, Inc. Printed by Henry Evans at Peregrine Press. December 1952. 15 copies. Handwritten note on page: “This copy is one of five sets of proof sheets in a trial binding. Henry Evans.”
Family in the Forest and Other Poems
by Harold Witt. Illustrations by Mel Fowler. The Porpoise Bookshop. San Francisco. 1956. 150 copies printed by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press.
Prospectus of Prints.
Portfolios of original contemporary prints from the Peregrine Press. Three catalogs (Spring 1961) and ephemera in the back cover.
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