Reprinted courtesy of the Monadnock Ledger, Peterborough, New Hampshire Written by Andy Kollmorgen, Monadnock Ledger Staff Photograph by Carole Allen, for the Monadnock Ledger Engraving Image © Randy Miller Randy Miller Wood Engravings ALTERING THAT which has remained unaltered for nearly 200 years is a fairly humbling responsibility, said Alstead, New Hampshire, wood engraver Randy Miller. He's been commissioned to refurbish the title page of The Old Farmer's Almanac -- something that hasn't been done since 1809 -- in preparation for its first issue of the third millennium. The Almanac, according to its publishers, is the oldest continuously published periodical in the United States. Given the rather inflexible scheduling parameters of his commission -- another millennial opportunity won't roll around for a while -- Miller is honor-bound to deliver the work on time. Not to worry -- he's well ahead of schedule. The engraving -- an intricate work tooled into seasoned end-grain maple -- is done. All that remained (in early April) was to commit the design to paper, a process as delicate as the engraving, said Miller. The title page of the Almanac, said Miller, served as its cover from the periodical's inception in 1792 until 1851, when the pale yellow cover we see today, rife with motifs of cultivation, was introduced. Though there were two different title pages in the first five years of the Almanac, its editors settled on an interpretation of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, in 1797. Ceres was replaced in 1809 by a less classical but no less beneficent figure unofficially known as "father time," who has greeted readers for the past six or seven generations. In devising a title page for the 21st century, Miller paid homage to the earlier Roman version. He did so for both historic and aesthetic reasons. "The founding fathers and early inhabitants of America looked to Greco-Roman mythology for inspiration," said Miller. The subject was a source of inspiration for him as well, he said. Reviving the image, moreover, imbues his engraving with a fitting spirit of continuity, said Miller. That's not to say, however, that he didn't make some changes. The Almanac's eighteenth-century version of Ceres, said Miller, is somewhat blockier than his own. In general, he opted for greater curvature of line and fuller detail. In her previous incarnation, which Miller had opportunity to study at the Almanac's archives in Dublin, New Hampshire, the goddess stands beneath a tree gesturing charitably toward a farmer at work in the field. At her feet are various farming implements. In Miller's version, Ceres, still beneath a tree amidst hoes and sickles, pours water from a pitcher onto a flowering bush. The flow of her gown, said Miller, is more pronounced. Miller also added numerous cosmetic touches to the embroidery that frames the central figure. "This one's a bit fancier," he said. But not too fancy, he said, lest he overstep the creative bounds of his commission. Miller was given a free hand in redesigning the page, he said, but the latitude was based on a mutual understanding of what the Almanac wanted. "They knew what they were getting," he said. It didn't hurt that he's been a research editor at the Almanac for three years. His experience as an engraver, however, considerably predates that. A longtime member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, Miller has fulfilled commissions for the New Hampshire Historical Society and Faneuil Hall in Boston, among others. More pertinently, he first did freelance engraving work for the Almanac in 1980. "They were aware of my art background," he said. He and Almanac art director Margo Letourneau, as well as managing editor Susan Peery, concurred in general terms on what the new page would look like, said Miller. Engraving is a uniquely paradoxical art, said Miller. Instead of adding lines and forms to white space as in painting, the engraver subtracts space from a black void of ink. Only the wood that hasn't been touched by chisel makes contact with the paper, said Miller. "I act as the sun on a nighttime canvas," said Miller. "It's a question of what I decide to illuminate." Furthermore, the wood has to be engraved backward for printing purposes, as in photography. The imprint of the engraving will then be digitally transferred and tinted to form the new title page. It took Miller approximately three months to complete the engraving, he said. Considering the Almanac's manifest reverence for tradition, his work will grace its title page for a good deal longer than that.