S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 7 3 A about 50 of them!” Wolfe and Milliken ran Shagbark for five years before selling in 1992 to another former Anthoensen employee, Scott Vile. If An- thoensen was the source of Portland’s print- ing stream, Shagbark may have been the confluence–Vile and Wolfe have worked and collaborated ever since. Wolfe spent a fur- ther five years at the famous Stinehour Press in Vermont before returning to Portland and establishing Wolfe Editions in 1997. “One of the things that has kept me here is my ability to adapt and change,” Wolfe says of his professional longevity. Origi- nal works span from letterpress posters de- signed for Tide Institute of Modern Art to the handmade exterior signage for Wood- ford Food & Beverage. Wolfe also collabo- rated with celebrated artist Dahlov Ipcar shortly before her death in 2016. Togeth- er they reproduced her famous oil painting Odalisque (1960) as a series of one hundred woodblock prints for Maine College of Art, the proceeds of which benefit student schol- arships. “We chose that painting because, well, everybody loves cats,” he says. “It was a pivotal piece in her career. It was one of her first forays into patterns. I had to cut the im- age out myself. She told me her hands were too crippled to hold the materials.” Having weathered the uncertain years of the early 21st century, Wolfe now has the sense that Maine is poised to lead the print renaissance. His son, Sean Wolfe-Parrot, plans to open an annex of Wolfe Editions in Eastport to manage the steady workflow. Meanwhile, according to Wolfe Sr., “Big print shops in New York, Boston, and San Francisco are closing down because of rent costs. I’ve been getting commissions from clients in New York. It’s cheaper to work with printmakers here instead.” Master printer Pilar Nadal runs Pickwick Independent Press on Congress Street. Sociable Machines Over thirty years into his career, Scott Vile of Ascensius Press is riding the current wave of print popularity with the calm air of a veteran of the craft. “Maine is thriving right now because of the large printing costs in this line of work,” he says. “I have a me- dium Heidelberg cylinder, a large Albion handpress from 1860, a couple of Vander- cook 4T models–these machines take up space. A good friend near Boston is cur- rently seriously considering closing business after 30 years. His rent alone is $3,000 per month.” Meanwhile, Vile enjoys the luxu- ry of affordable space in Maine. He recently relocated his studio to a 3,500-square-foot former supermarket in Bar Mills. While Wolfe is a print polymath, Vile is a dedicated bibliophile. He launched As- censius Press in 1988 with the aim to pro- duce high-quality books and “books about books” for private libraries and arts organi- zations along the East Coast. He’s also wit- nessing the effects of a strangled print in- dustry in the big cities, with the ripple ef- fect felt in Maine. “I’ve been making statio- nery and literature for condo developers in Manhattan. They have plenty of money to spend. I really don’t like that kind of work, though,” he says, “I love making books. I still have some of Anthoensen’s clients from the 1930s and ’40s.” Ascensius’s stellar catalog of creations includes an illustrated edition of Henry David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods printed on Maine paper and sold in a Maine-made white pine box. “All 45 copies sold in 2001. Last year, I saw that one of these editions was being re-sold for $3,500.” In 2011, As- censius printed a special edition of David Foster Wallace’s acclaimed essay, “Consid- er the Lobster,” with illustrations by David Godine, and, in 2014, an edition of Robert Frost’s North of Boston in celebration of the centennial of the anthology’s publication. Ascensius’s Maine focus deepened fur- ther once Vile was enlisted to produce let- terpress invitations, promos, and small books for the L. L. Bean family, including “materials for Leon Gorman’s funeral in 2015.” The partnership blossomed when a young Bean’s designer stumbled across As- censius online and was captivated by au- thentic production quality of letterpress printing. According to Vile, this enthusi- asm is bubbling up in a new generation that have grown up on a diet of screen and tran- printer’s devil