Here is a little background information on Victor and Carolyn.
Victor & Carolyn, cira 1960
Victor Hammer, an Austrian-born artist trained at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, moved to the United States in 1939, teaching first at Wells College, in Aurora, New York, and later at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. In addition to painting, he worked in the field of the mezzotint, which enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Hammer recaptured its methods in the twentieth century. Victor Hammer's career as a printer illustrates his commitment to techniques from the past which require the complete command of the artist. Hammer designed his own wooden hand press, based on an early Italian example at the Laurentian Library in Florence. He designed his own typefaces, patterned after the uncial letters in medieval calligraphic forms and also cut the punches for this type himself (Fig. 1). He set, printed, and bound his books, occasionally illustrating them with engraved decorated initials or portraits. Hammer's choice of texts included the Tindale translation of the Four Gospels into English, a selection of twenty sonnets of Tasso in Italian, and a volume of the Gedichte of Hoelderlin in German. He also published several volumes by the Catholic monk Thomas Merton. Hammer's printing was done with the assistance of several apprentices, including Edgar Kaufman Jr., who later studied with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Fig. 1 American Uncial
In 1955 Victor Hammer married Carolyn Reading. Together they continued to publish, using Hammer's Stamperia del Santuccio imprint. They also participated in the productions of the Anvil Press, a publishing venture supported by a circle of loyal patrons. Victor Hammer died in Lexington in 1967.
Carolyn Reading began her work as a private press printer in the 1940's with another printer, Amelia Buckley. At their Bur Press, they produced a series of books on themes relating to Kentucky, ranging from biographies to an illustrated architectural monograph. Later, two other friends, Harriet Holladay and Mary Spears, added their talents to the enterprise.
In 1956, Carolyn Hammer founded the King Library Press at the University of Kentucky, where she served as curator of rare books. With the participation of colleagues and student apprentices, the King Library Press began printing books, including work on Victor Hammer's Florentine wooden hand press, after it was given to the university. Over twenty books have been produced at the King Library Press.
To log this cache you need to answer (e-mail me) these three questions, which can be found on a grave marker which is located about 20 ft in front of, and to the right of the Hammer's lot. (It has a bush on each side of the stone.*
1. What 'smiling' man is buried here?
2. What occurred in 1982?
3. What is the full quote on the stone?
Please be respectful when visiting this site. It would not be wise to log the cache on a Sunday morning due to the church service traffic.
*Note: This stone could make a virtual on its own.
First to find:Paddy Yenar