Dates

• Existence: 1904-1989

Biography

Carroll Coleman (1904-1989) was born in Appanoose County, Iowa, and graduated from Muscatine High School in 1923. He was still in high school when he acquired his first small press and began printing. After graduation he took several jobs in commercial printing and worked for the Muscatine Journal, the local newspaper, for seven years. Bad health forced him to quit his job with the paper. He then moved to Chicago where he studied with the noted designer, William Kitterage. Returning to Muscatine, Coleman started his own press. In 1935, his Prairie Press published four books and the following year one of his books (What Laughing God? by Whitelaw Saunders) was named among the Fifty Best Books of the Year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. This would be the first of thirteen such honors. In 1945 he moved his press to Iowa City and joined the faculty of the University of Iowa where he taught typography for the new Typographic Laboratory. In 1956 he added the position of University Editor, Director of Publications and Manager of Printing Services to his professional duties. It became increasingly difficult to balance his responsibilities to the University and run his press. In 1961 he returned full time to the Prairie Press, where he continued publishing the works of living writers.

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