Houghton Library welcomes Brian Cassidy, rare book dealer and co-founder of Type Punch Matrix, who will give the Spring 2023 Philip and Frances Hofer Lecture on the Art of the Book. Cassidy, an expert on duplication and self-publishing methods, will present on the true story behind the publication history of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” A copy of the poem annotated by Ginsberg, typed by Robert Creeley, and reproduced on a Ditto machine by Marthe Rexroth appears in the current Edison and Newman room exhibition, Do It Yourself! Self-Publishing from Letterpress to LaserJet. Reception to follow. 

The Philip and Frances Hofer Lecture Series was established in 1968 to sponsor “lectures on subjects of special interest to Harvard students and scholars within the range of the Printing and Graphic Arts field." Philip Hofer—Harvard College class of 1921 and founding curator of Houghton's Department of Printing and Graphic Arts—endowed the lecture fund in his and wife's names when he retired from Houghton Library.

Bio: Brian Cassidy has been in the book trade since 1994. From 2004-2019 he was proprietor of Brian Cassidy Bookseller, before co-founding the firm Type Punch Matrix. He serves on the faculty of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar and Rare Book School, where he teaches a class on Understanding and Identifying 20th Century Duplicating Technologies.