TYPOGRAPHY

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. The letterhead describes the firm (‘formerly Walker and Cockerell’) as being ‘Process and General Engravers, Draughtsmen, Map Constructors Copper-plate Printers Collotypers and Photographers of Works of Art’. Signed ‘Emery Walker’. He is sending Wright ‘proofs of the plan from Coutts’ Bank’, and is sending a duplicate to ‘Mr. Fayle’, asking him ‘to let me have the lettering, that is, if he wishes on seeing the plan to vary it’. He is having ‘proofs of the title page from Messrs.

Two good substantial letters, filled with personal and professional content. See the entries for Thorp and Wrench in the Oxford DNB. Both letters in brown ink in Thorps calligraphic hand. ONE (to Sir Evelyn Wrench): 2pp, 8vo. On cream paper with brown italic letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Signed ‘Peter’. Begins: ‘My dear Evelyn / We are going to make a great change in our way of life. For a long time I have felt that both physically & financially this house is beyond our strength.

Two attractive pieces of Curwen Press ephemera. 'Cornucopia' is scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only two copies on JISC at Lancaster and Aberystwyth. The 'Short History' is better represented. ONE: 'Cornucopia'. 12pp, landscape 12mo. Stapled into illustrated wraps. Printed in brown on cream paper. Booklet designed by James Shurmer, with text by Basil Harley. Many illustrations of unicorns arranged in eight 'plates'. Internally in good condition, but front cover grubby, and blank back cover stained. TWO: 'The Curwen Press / A Short History'. 39pp, small 4to.

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

A nice piece of First World War ephemera, from the period of transition from volunteering to conscription. Newnes was a leading British publisher of the period, and the present item may have been inserted in one of its periodicals, which included ‘The Strand Magazine’, ‘Women’s Own’ and ‘John O’London’s Weekly’. It is printed on a leaf of good quality cream 4to wove paper, and was intended for completion. In fair condition, lightly aged, with light wear and creasing to extremities.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering to the outer edges. Folded twice for postage. Writing during the Siege of Paris, he begins by thanking him ‘for the specimen of the present Paris printing. Alas how different is this blurred & blotted mass of types from the beautiful pages of typography which that brilliant city afforded!

JISC records copies in five Scottish libraries, Birmingham University and the BL. Duplicated typescript. 50pp, 4to. Five-page introduction paginated, the rest not. Leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Printed on versos of leaves and stapled into buff paper wraps with title printed on the front. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The forty-four pages of the catalogue proper carry a total of 106 scholarly entries on exhibits.

Of the five copies on JISC only that at the BL is from one of the deposit libraries. 21pp, 4to. Collotype of engraving of Caxton as frontispiece. Sewn into grey card wraps with Yapp-style edges and title repeated on cover. In good condition, lightly aged.

See Nicolas Barker’s typically-elegant obituary of Williamson in the Independent. 2pp, 4to. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. On aged and worn paper; folded three times. Signed ‘Hugh Williamson:’ and addressed to ‘Mr Block’. Thirty-one lines in a close, calligraphic hand.

One page, 12mo, good condition. Text: I read the notice with the deepest feeling of sympathy, knowing how extreme, desperate, has been the pain & agony of this long illness & separation; and I have perceived & marvelled at, the courage with which you have borne your burden, the end of which cannot yet have been reached. But you have the prayers of [...] Note: Orlo Williams is described in one book as a gentle and musical civl servant, member of a coterie attached to 'The Times' (Tom Burns, 'The Use of Memory: Publishing and Further Pursuits', p.123).

A very nice artefact relating to a beautiful Rampant Lions production, published in 1975. Printers' dummy, produced to indicate the intended layout of the book, consisting of duplicated typed leaves, with emendations and printing instructions in manuscript, showing the intended arrangement of the 125 pages of letterpress (and including an alternative version of p.78), with eleven illustrations loosely interleaved. In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[12]pp, 16mo. Tastefully printed in brown and black, and stitched into grey-green wraps, on the cover of which is the word 'If' in large gold print, enclosed in a brown rectangle. In good condition, lightly aged. Colophon on reverse of title, and on facing page a note with facsimile signatures of 'Robert S.

[16]pp, 16mo (11.5 x 7.5 cm). Stitched unpaginated pamphlet, tastefully printed with decorative headpiece to title, and the Press's celebrated device to the colophon. A frail survival, aged, worn and spotted, with one corner of last leaf dogeared. At foot of title-page: 'Any volume will be sent on receipt of Postal Order in advance.' Following the title-page are two pages with a history of 'The Chiswick Press. | Founded 1789.' Then a full-page advertisement for 'A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography', with a full page containing 'Some Press Opinions'.

The only copy of this item on OCLC WorldCat is in the Canadian National Archives. An attractive and characteristic piece of late nineteenth-century French printing. The present copy is 14 + [1] pp, 16mo. With frontispiece and eight illustrations and vignettes. Stitched booklet (13 x 7.5 cm). In wraps printed in black and red. In fair condition, lightly aged, in grubby wraps.

Elegantly printed in black and grey-blue. [28] + [1]pp., 4to. On loose leaves, on eight bifoliums, arranged in four pairs. In very good condition, lightly aged, wrapped in brown paper.

8pp., 12mo. Stitched into grey printed wraps. Aged and worn. On reverse of title: 'This booklet is produced in accordance with Paper Control regulations and is therefore limited in size and scope | It is publication number one of the Imprint Society and was first issued in August 1944'. The pamphlet begins: 'The idea that led to the Imprint Society being formed was conceived when two compositors, working in Johannesburg in 1939, realized that most of the printed matter produced in South Africa was ugly and uninspired, and that nothing was being done to remedy this.

16pp., 12mo. Stitched into cream wraps with title printed in red on cover. In good condition, with slight wear to overlapping edges of wraps. Inscription in pencil at head of first page: 'ABR from Bob, 1972 | - see colophon' ('ABR' is the London antiquarian bookseller Anthony Bertram Rota). The 'Acknowledgments' (rather than a colophon) on the last page begin: 'Saul and Lillian Marks wish to thank Mr. Robert Elwell for inviting the Plantin Press to show its work at the Grolier Club, [...]'.

1p., 4to. Nicely printed (by the Curwen Press?) on watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. A nice piece of First Edition Club ephemera. The year to which the circular relates is meant to be added in manuscript, but has not been. Begins: 'The Committee appointed to choose the Fifty Books of the Year for [blank] will be grateful if, at your early convenience, you will submit such of your publications as seem to you most likely to be selected. I may perhaps remind you that the criteria by which judgment is made are | 1. TYPOGRAPHICAL DESIGN | 2. PAPER | 3. BINDING | 4.

Both items are printed with elegant restraint, and  designed by Sebastian Carter (from the horse's mouth). Both are in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. The service with a horizontal central fold and the ticket with a vertical fold. The funeral service is printed in black and red on deckled-edged wove paper. The second page gives details of 'The Music' and the third 'The Order of Service', which features Michael Morpurgo, Richard Hoggart, Robert Lusty and Harry Paroissien, with Rev. Austen Williams officiating. The last page gives details of the eight musicians.

The three items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Booklet: [2] + iv + 29 + [2]pp., 8vo. With fold-out table at front. Nicely printed in green paper wraps with white label printed in red and black. According to the colophon 'The type is 14 point Monotype Bembo 270 augmented by 7 newly designd characters engraved by Ludlow Ltd Hertford | About 100 copies impressed on Archive Text paper in September 1989'.

Printed in black ink on one side of a piece of 18 x 11 cm piece of laid paper. Dimensions of image 15.5 x 10 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The image forms the upper part of the engraving, within a decorative border, with the caption, covering eleven lines, as the lower part, within its own lapidary border. The image is, as the caption explains, from 'a curious M.S. in the Archbishop's Library at Lambeth'.

16pp., 4to. Stapled into light brown wraps, with 'GOUDY' nicely printed in dark brown decorative letters on front cover. In fair condition lightly aged and creased. Inscribed in a small calligraphic hand at foot of front cover to 'DE fr. WGT [W G Thomson?] xi.48'. A well-printed item, with two pages carrying photographs of Goudy, a six-page 'Appreciation', two pages of 'Goudy Monotype Faces', and the final page carrying an 'appreciation' of Goudy by Bruce Rogers, ending 'He worked to the last, and he died at the zenith of his powers.

[1] + 28pp, 8vo. Paginated 135-162. Stapled pamphlet, in printed green wraps. In good conditon, lightly aged and worn. Inscribed at head of title-page: 'For Dr. S. H. Steinberg with all good wishes from Rollo G. Silver'. Contains an eleven and a half page appendix of 'Abstracts from Some Printers' Bills in the Masschusetts Archives'. The only copy on COPAC at Trinity College, Dublin.

16 x 20 cm booklet, consisting of a bifolium stitched with black green thread into covers of thicker paper. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of clear plastic front covering. On the front cover is a heavily-inked art photograph superimposing an image of a musical score over the edges of an fanned-out signature. On the inside of the back cover is a facsimile of a calligraphic inscription in Latin, in Renaissance style. The inner contents consists of two facsimiles.

Printed in black on a 45 x 28 cm piece of white card, folded twice to make a 22.5 x 14 cm bifolium. When opened out the card has the printing details and 'THE 35TH DINNER' on the otherwise blank reverse. Aged and worn. The outer covers of the card, opening out to 45 x 14 cm, carry a reversed photograph of a Miller & Richard chase, with form featuring the words 'DOUBLE CROWN CLUB'.

16pp., 8vo. Printed in black and red. In card wraps, with title on front cover also in black and red stylised lettering on front, and an advertisement on the inside back cover ('This is the first of a series of three informative pieces of literature which are to be issued and presented by the printers of the country to users of printing. [...]'). Saddle-stitched with brown thread. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

2pp., 4to. Carbon. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Begins: 'The third of a series of lectures arranged by the Norwich Printers' Joint Industrial Council was held at the Norwich Central Public Library on March 19, when the City Librarian (Mr. Geo A. Stephen, the author of "Commercial Bookbinding" and other works) gave a lecture on "The Making of a Modern Book". The lecture was illustrated by about a hundred lantern slides and exhibits. [...] Mr. F.S.

23 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stitched, in blue printed wraps. Aged and worn, with creasing to wraps and fly-leaf, which is inscribed 'Ivor James | from | J. A. Grosvenor | May 20. 1921.' Excessively scarce: the only copy on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at the British Library.

[3] + [80] + [1]pp. The eighty pages of the article paginated 283-362, and with the last twenty-four pages (339-362) containing the illustrations. In brown printed wraps. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and creased wraps. An attractive production, with presentation inscription ('no 94') to the publisher George Bentley, signed 'RB' and dated 7 June 1886. This offprint is uncommon: no copy at the British Library, and only six copies listed on OCLC WorldCat, only two of which in the United States.

1p., 12mo. Attractively printed within a decorative border, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | The Specimen Book sent you herewith, of which I have much pleasure in asking your acceptance, contains a history of the Caslon Foundry printed with the justly celebrated types engraved by its founder in the early part of last Century.