Rump Wrecker! Salsa Tropical! Sound Factory! Just a few examples of typical language from Colby posters. On behalf of my dear friend Clive and his wife Ann Field, I am happy to be able to donate this collection of Colby prints to the HMCT archive. Clive and I had both independently acquired some of their posters through a shared interest in Californian vernacular letterpress printing, of which Colby was an inspiring example of the mostly wooden type used in a vigorous and playful manner. We curated a small display of the posters at HMCT in 2016, which formed the basis for this donation. In addition to the examples of Colby typographic posters acquired from shop owner Glenn Hinman in the early 1990s, I have also donated business cards I designed for LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) in 1992 which were printed on the backs of over-runs of Colby posters and then trimmed out, each one thus being unique; as well as a copy of the God ® Bless™ America © artwork I made in 1993, set and printed by Colby. This work was included in the exhibition and catalogue In the Good Name of the Company in 2013, a celebration and survey of Colby’s commercial work, including their collaborations with artists, after the closing of the Colby print shop in 2012.
—Simon Johnston, Creative Director, HMCT