Book cover, spine, and gilt edges

Fore-edge printing feature

Page spreads

Deluxe edition packaging

Savage Impressions:
An Aesthetic Expedition Through the Archives of
Independent Project Records & Press

Bruce Licher is a musician, artist, and designer who founded Independent Project Press after learning the art of letterpress printing at the Women's Graphic Center in downtown Los Angeles at the beginning of 1982. His initial projects centered around creating album covers, postcards, and promotional stamps for his band Savage Republic. It didn't take long before he was producing work for other Los Angeles underground music groups, along with a growing number of clients in the Los Angeles design community. In addition to packaging and releasing music on his own record label, Independent Project Records, and his other music-related clients, Independent Project Press also produces elegant and creative business stationery, invitations, wine labels, promotional stamp sheets and booklets, and numerous other pieces of letterpress-printed ephemera for clients large and small. Licher was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for his album packaging, and has been credited with starting the trend in letterpress-printed CD and record packaging using industrial-style chipboard. His graphic design and letterpress work has been featured in two major design exhibitions at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City, and has also been exhibited in California, Arizona, and Paris, France. After 17 years living and working in Sedona, Arizona, Licher and his wife, the artist Karen Nielsen Licher, have relocated Independent Project Press to the Eastern Sierra town of Bishop, California.

With the current explosion of interest in letterpress printing, many are looking to see how new work can be influenced by the past. Active since 1982, Bruce Licher’s Independent Project Press is a contemporary studio that has bridged technological eras and produced an unparalleled body of work. It has culled from the past while simultaneously turning it on its head with a distinct visual vocabulary that continues to influence current aesthetics. This book stands as a major documentation of one of the most influential letterpress studios currently in existence.

This book is the first extensive monograph on Bruce Licher's Independent Project Records & Press. P22 Publications has produced this book in a quantity and quality that displays the limited edition, hand-made work of IPR&P in over 200 pages of full color illustrations, from mechanical process work to finished works of art—for clients such as REM, Stereolab, and Camper Van Beethoven—with insights into the creative process along the way. This book is a profound reminder of the value of the hand-made and how it can interface with the mass produced.

Standard Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9631082-6-5
SPECIAL OFFER: Free shipping within US (Standard Edition only)

12” x 12” hardcover
Full color, plus spot metallic gold throughout
Over 1,000 images
Gilt edges
Fore-edge printing
240 pages
Edition of 650 copies

Scratch ’n’ Dent: ISBN: 978-0-9631082-6-5

Same as Standard Edition
With additional minor flaws
All sales final
While supplies last

Deluxe Limited Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9631082-7-2
Same as Regular Edition with additional:

Gold vinyl Tape Excavation LP 12” record with 14 previously unreleased audio tracks, in a gold and black letterpress-printed, numbered, die-cut sleeve by Bruce Licher
Perforated chipboard letterpress bookplate tip-in,
signed and numbered by Bruce Licher
Special letterpress commemorative stamp sheet tip-in,
signed and numbered by Bruce Licher
Letterpress-printed “slipcase” wrapper
to hold book and record together as a set
Limited edition of only 350 copies

Un-numbered Deluxe Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9631082-7-2
Same as Deluxe Limited Edition, except:

Tipped-in stamp sheet, book-plate, and album are un-numbered
Limited availability

Faux Deluxe Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9631082-6-5
Same as Standard Edition with additional:

Black vinyl Tape Excavation LP: 12” record, in a silver and black letterpress-printed, die-cut sleeve by Bruce Licher
Letterpress-printed “slipcase” wrapper
to hold book and record together as a set
Unnumbered edition
Limited availability

Tape Excavation LP: available à la carte.

Reviews
Savage Impressions is a valuable primer for those unfamiliar with Independent Project Press (or letterpress in general) and a worthwhile compendium for longtime admirers. It’s a welcome addition to this reviewer’s printing reference (and inspiration) library.
- Paul Moxon, American Printing History Association

This stunning book is a document of one of the best music related graphic designers of all time, on the level of legends like Barney Bubbles and V23.
- Glenn Donaldson, Free Form Freakout

Besides also featuring many of the non-record designs Licher has generated over the last forty years, essays and detailed captions reveal many of the behind-the-scenes stories and processes behind their creation. Sometimes strange and humorous accidents presented unexpected obstacles. Sometimes those led to even more inspired final designs; sometimes they hindered their completion. Sometimes they did both.
- Richie Unterberger, Please Kill Me

This is what happens when music, design and letterpress printing commingle ... Independent Project Records & Press has bridged technological eras to produce an unparalleled body of work.
- Steven Heller, The Daily Heller

It’s a wonderful volume and I am digging it to the max ...incredible visual electricity...really fantastic...I highly recommend you check it out.
- David Fricke, The Writers Block, SiriusXM

Standard Book - $79.95		purchase
Scratch ’n’ Dent Sale Price - $49.95		purchase
Deluxe Book - $169.95		soldout
Un-numbered Deluxe - $149.95		purchase
Faux Deluxe Book - $104.95		purchase

Savage Impressions Book

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