Joseph Ishill (1888-1966) was a Jewish anarchist, a vegetarian, a writer, a teacher, but above all, a printer who used his skills and his platform to amplify the voices of revolutionary writers and artists. After leaving Romania and settling in the United States in 1909, Ishill began publishing small batches of beautiful, hand-printed books and journals by and about influential radical thinkers like Emma Goldman, Piotr Kropotkin, Elie and Elisée Reclus, or Benjamin Tucker; as well as lesser-known figures, like his wife, poet Rose Florence Freeman, or Eugen Relgis, a pacifist and anti-authoritarian writer from Romania. Ishill’s work reflects his lifelong commitment to revolutionary thought, his abiding love of nature and carefully-crafted objects, and his idiosyncratic and solitary spirit.
At the turn of the 20th century anarchist circles in Romania attracted a consistent number of Jewish workers. They mostly gathered around ”Revista Ideei” (1900-1916) and Panait Mușoiu, its editor. Joseph Ishill (or Iosif Ișileanu) was also introduced to anarchist ideas by Panait Mușoiu, whom he had met during his stay in Bucharest. His life-long dedication to printing and letters had its roots in this vibrant political and cultural milieu around Mușoiu and his famous libertarian magazine.
The presentation will provide an overview of Ishill’s life and work and an opportunity to further discuss his context and his relevance to contemporary radical thought, practices and literature.
The main presentation and discussion will be in English, with only the introductory part, dedicated to the broader context of his life in Romania, in Romanian.

”Until the dawn of a more luminous day, let at least the few in quest of truth and beauty find their need of content in the written word. Nothing, alas, in this era of harsh reality can quite take the place of books.”
”I always want to live my own life and create things after my own heart. I must admit it has been a hard road, though an honest one, and I intend to pursue it to the end of my life.”
”Above all thoughts and aspirations, the most precious is the idea of humanity, that cosmic brotherhood, which aspires to live freely, to create without the nagging hindrance of poverty, the goading lash of domination, or the paralysing inertia of wealth.” (Joseph Ishill)