http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8j96csq No online items Merrymount Press Records: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti and Kate Peck. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © January 2020 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Merrymount Press Records: mssMerrymount 1 Finding Aid Overview of the Collection Title: Merrymount Press Records Dates (inclusive): 1893-1950 Collection Number: mssMerrymount Creator: Merrymount Press Extent: 364 boxes and 236 volumes (439.92 linear feet) Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection consists of the business records of the Merrymount Press of Boston, Massachusetts, and papers of its owner Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). The Press, which operated for 45 years, was known for its excellence in typography and design, especially in the field of decorative printing and bookmaking. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. Merrymount Press Records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance The specimen and financial volumes were purchased from John Bianchi in 1949 and chiefly received by Huntington in 1950; the correspondence, bills, and estimates were the gift of Daniel B. Bianchi in 1958. Processing Information The collection was processed by Sue Hodson and Allen Hanish in the 1970s and they maintained Merrymount Press's original filing system. From 2018-2020, Diann Benti, Kate Peck, and Gina Giang completed physical control over the collection and improved the physical condition of materials by separating out overstuffed folders and boxes. This added 33 boxes to the collection; no new material was added. The new boxes appear in the same order, with the original box numbers and appended with the letter ‘a’. The finding aid was prepared and encoded by Diann Benti and Kate Peck in 2018 and updated by Gina Giang in 2020. Historical Note on the Merrymount Press The Merrymount Press was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1896 by Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). The Press, which operated for 45 years, was known for its excellence in typography and design, especially in the field of decorative printing and bookmaking. In 1893, Updike established himself as an independent printing designer, but it took several years to acquire type, and only in 1896 did he name his business the "Merrymount Press." The Press completed a variety of printing jobs including small jobs like bookplates, letterhead, invitations, and cards; institutional and commercial work including school catalogs, diplomas, and advertising booklets; trade publications for publishers; privately printed books; and limited editions, including two of the Press's most well-known works, the Altar Book (1896) and the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer (1930). Updike and the Press worked with a variety of suppliers, publishing houses, craftsmen, and artists, including illustrators T. M. Cleland, W. A. Dwiggins, and Rudolph Ruzicka. Italian immigrant John Bianchi (1874-1957) was integral to the Press, first as its foreman and later, in 1915, as Updike's partner. It was Bianchi who managed the financial aspects of the company and was responsible for doing the Press's estimates. Following Updike's death in 1941, Bianchi ran the business until early 1949. Biographical note on D. B. Updike Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on February 24, 1860. Updike did not attend college; at 18 he began working as an assistant at the Providence Athenaeum, before becoming a clerk for Houghton, Merrymount Press Records: mssMerrymount 2 Finding Aid Mifflin and Company in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1880. Updike worked for the company for a decade before transitioning to their Riverside Press imprint in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Updike worked there for two years before emerging independently as a printing designer in 1893 in Boston; he named his business the "Merrymount Press" in 1896. Updike became known for scholarly interest in typography; his book "Printing types, their history, forms, and use: a study in survivals," based on lectures, was first published in 1922. He was a founder of the Society of Printers in Boston and a president and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Updike died in Boston on December 29, 1941. Scope and Content This collection contains of the business records of the Merrymount Press and the related papers of its founder Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). The bulk of the collection consists of financial volumes; correspondence with customers, publishers, illustrators, craftsmen, and suppliers; bills; estimates; and scrapbooks with specimens of work. While the majority of the correspondence is comprised of letters, there are occasionally proofs, specimens, and cloth, paper, fabric samples, etc., found with the correspondence. The records reflect Updike's involvement with printing across the United States and in Europe, though much of his work was produced for clients in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York City. Some of the correspondence reflects Updike's personal interests including Rhode Island history and churches and charitable work with poor children as well as prison inmates. Correspondence, 1893-1906 Incoming correspondence for 1893 to 1906 is arranged chronologically in boxes and there is currently no name index. Consequently, a researcher searching for correspondence by a specific individual or company needs to look in all folders within an applicable date range. Copies of outgoing correspondence are held in chronological letter books (Volumes 1-31), each with a front alphabetical index. There is also one letter book containing miscellaneous personal correspondence of Updike dating from December 1903-January 1907 (Volume 32). Much of the correspondence in Volume 32 relates to Updike's involvement in various plans to develop a press for Harvard University. Correspondence, 1907-1952 For 1906-1952, original incoming letters, carbon copies of outgoing correspondence, bills, and estimates are grouped in correspondent files arranged according to the year in which the first communication was received by the Press. This filing system was created to work with an alphabetical card catalog (Boxes 321-322) that contains correspondent names, addresses, and group numbers. In some cases the cards also have cross references to related groups. The origin of this organizational schema remains unclear, but its idiosyncrasies impact the ability to find material. There are over 2000 entities assigned individual group numbers in this system. The group numbers were presumably assigned before the material was transferred to the Huntington Library in 1958, and the group numbers were written in blue pencil at the top of each piece of paper along with a sequential item number. (Note: in some cases, items were misfiled or sequential item numbers were incorrectly assigned; consequently the blue handwritten numbers may not be entirely accurate.) This finding aid provides the group number, correspondent name, and the date range of included documents. It does not provide an indication of piece count, and it should be noted that a file may contain only letter or it may contain hundreds of pieces. In addition, the group name typically reflects the main correspondent represented in the file, but in some cases there is related correspondence with other individuals, companies, or organizations. Most of the entities represented are customers of the Press, but numbers were also assigned for individuals and companies doing business with the Merrymount Press or its owner Daniel Updike (such as the Edison Electric Company, tax offices, and investment firms); or for individuals with whom Updike had personal communication. Updike, Bianchi, and Bianchi's son Daniel Berkeley Bianchi also have correspondence files that provides information about the activities of the business. Daniel Bianchi (Group 2214) worked as a representative for the Press in New York beginning in the late 1930s, as did Vrest Orton in 1934-1935 (Group 2176), and their files provide reports of meetings with customers. While most groups are named for individuals or organizations, some materials are filed by type including: Group 125 (Boxes 75-76): Updike, Daniel B. Personal miscellaneous correspondence Group 246 (Box 95): Miscellaneous Business Papers, 1906-1917 Group 549 (Boxes 126-128): Applications for employment Group 737 (Boxes 144-145): Foreign booksellers Group 847 (Boxes 152-153): Miscellaneous correspondence, 1907-1919 arranged alphabetically Group 847 (Boxes 154-160): Miscellaneous correspondence, 1920-1929 arranged alphabetically Group 847 (Boxes 161-172): Miscellaneous