Wilson, Adrian

Biographical Information

Adrian Wilson was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on July 1, 1923 to Dutch immigrants, Adrian P., a horticulturist at the University, and Christine Wilson. When Adrian was seven years old, Adrian P. Wilson moved the family to Amherst, Massachusetts, where he worked at Smith College.

Adrian graduated high school in 1941 and went onto study at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. However, his studies were cut short by World War II and he was drafted in 1943. Possibly due to the influence of his mother, a pacifist, Adrian registered as a conscientious objector (CO) and was sent to a Civilian Public Service camp in upstate New York. Throughout the course of the war, he worked at a number of different camps, finally finding himself in Waldport, Oregon. It was in Waldport, at a camp that had been established for artists and craftsmen, that he first began his printing career, printing the camp newsletter, the Compass, on a platen press. Working to plant trees as part of a reforestation project during the day, the COs spent their leisure time pursuing the arts, producing plays and concerts. It was also at Waldport that Adrian met his future wife, actor Joyce Lancaster.

Upon the conclusion of the war he and Joyce married and moved to San Francisco (1946) with other friends from Waldport to found a theater company, The Interplayers, for which Adrian printed programs and posters. In 1948, Adrian began to work with Jack Stauffacher at Greenwood Press. In 1950, he founded his own press and in 1958 Adrian, Joyce, and their daughter Melissa spent a year in Europe studying the history of typography and the book. Upon the family's return in 1959, Adrian set up his design studio and press in what would become its permanent location, One Tuscany Alley.

Joyce's own interests in art extended far beyond the theater. She was an avid writer and artist, writing and designing numerous children's books, often using her own block prints. She coauthored a number of Adrian's books. While conducting research for The Design of Books in Europe in 1965, the couple discovered the earliest known layouts for a printed book, The Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). Adrian and Joyce spent years researching these layouts, an endeavor which culminated in the publication of The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle in 1978.

In 1983, Wilson was named a MacArthur Fellow to facilitate his work as a designer, printer, and scholar. At the time, in addition to his work at One Tuscany Alley, he and Joyce were working closely with researchers at the University of California, Davis to develop a method for analyzing ancient books using the cyclotron at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory.

Adrian Wilson suffered from heart problems and underwent the first of numerous open heart surgeries in 1964. He died in 1988 at the age of 64 awaiting a heart donor. Joyce continued the Press at Tuscany Alley until her death in 1996.

From the guide to the Adrian Wilson papers, 1884-1993, 1941-1988, (The Bancroft Library.)