Founded in San Francisco in 1974, it publishes limited-edition books illustrated by notable artists using letterpress equipment dating to the 1910s.
[1] Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times wrote in 2006 that Arion Press "carries on a grand legacy of San Francisco printers and bookmakers.
[5] M&H's collection of antique type is the second largest in the United States, after that of the Smithsonian Institution,[1] and is used by other small presses in addition to Arion.
In 1979 it published a multi-volume edition of Moby-Dick on hand-made paper, illustrated with wood engravings by Barry Moser, which took 14 months to print;[1] in 2006 in the San Francisco Chronicle John King characterized this and Arion's publications pairing comtemporary poets and artists as "among the most exquisitely printed books in the world".
[9] In 2000, in celebration of the new millennium, Arion Press published a lectern edition of the Bible in 400 exemplars, which took two years to print.