THE DOVES PRESS COLLECTION OF PROFESSOR TOM SIMONE Collinge & Clark 13 Leigh Street London WC1H 9EW United Kingdom 0044 (0) 20 7287 7105 http://www.collingeandclark.co.uk [email protected] The items in this catalogue are offered at nett U.S. dollar prices for cash upon receipt. Postage and insurance for books in transit are extra and new customers may be requested to pay against pro forma invoices. In respect of condition, every effort has been made to collate and describe the books accurately, but satisfaction is of course guaranteed. This means, unequivocally, that any book may be returned if it does not fulfil expectations provided that return is made within a reasonable time. Customers are reminded that shop opening hours are 11.00 to 6.30 weekdays and 11.00 to 3.30 Saturdays. In extremis, my mobile number is 07906 933352. NOTE A century ago T.J. Cobden-Sanderson famously threw the types and matrices of the Doves Press into the River Thames at Hammersmith Bridge. This act, which had been in his mind for some six years was illegal as the types were the property of his former partner Emery Walker. After his death, in 1922 the matter led to a protracted lawsuit with his widow Annie which, after the intervention of friends, was finally settled out of court. The whole saga of the ‘Doves Face Roman’ was a curious episode in the English Arts and Crafts movement. William Morris’s ‘Golden’ type lay treasured in the British Museum, Charles Ricketts’ ‘Vale’ and ‘Avon’ types already rested upon the bottom of the Thames at Hammersmith and no one has ever made an attempt to recover those, but the Doves types, just like the Doves Bindery bindings, were venerated perfect. The Doves Press books are the first ‘modern’ private press books, notable for the simple beauty of their type, lettering and almost extravagant craftsmanship. Although “The Doves” sprang from very much the same Arts and Crafts inspiration as the Kelmscott Press, that elaborately decorated medievalism is nowhere to be found. There is no woodcut illustration, no horror vacui. Likewise there is nothing of that true hero of art nouveau, Charles Ricketts or his friend the artist Lucien Pissarro. In its time, the Doves Press stands alone, and not imitated. Yet the types of the Doves Press were to prove enormously influential in design over the next fifty years, most particularly in Germany and the Netherlands where several proprietary founts were based upon it. Perhaps it is interesting to reflect that Edward Johnston’s Railway Type (1918) was the first of the twentieth-century sans serifs and is still used by London Underground today and it is a nice thought that but for Cobden- Sanderson’s actions, we might be reading the timetables in Emery Walker’s elegant roman. The greatest of the forty or so Doves Press books are ‘Paradise Lost’ (arguably the finest of the lot) and ‘The English Bible’ (with its unforgettable IN THE BEGINNING), ‘Paradise Regain’d’ and ‘Faust’. Take the ‘The English Bible’: The lettering was designed by Edward Johnston. The type, excepting the Arabic numerals, was a redrawing, supervised by Emery Walker, of the type used by Nicholas Jenson in his 1476 edition of Pliny’s ‘Historia Naturale’. No Bible, and only one book, the ‘Paradise Lost’ printed earlier at the Press, was ever printed like this before in England. The theory underlying its design is to be found in Cobden-Sanderson’s ‘The Ideal Book or Book Beautiful’, the intended first book printed at the Doves Press in 1900. The perfect craftsmanship is Walker’s contribution. As early as June 1911, in his ‘Last Will and testament’ or Consecratio’, Cobden-Sanderson had spelled out what he proposed to do: ‘To the Bed of the River Thames, the river on whose banks I have printed all my printed books, I bequeath The Doves Press Fount of Type the punches, the matrices, and the type in use at the time of my death, and may the river in its tides and flow pass over them to and from the great sea for ever and for ever, or until its tides and flow for ever cease; then may they share the fate of all the world, and pass from change to change for ever upon the Tides of time, untouched of other use and all else.’ The punches and matrices were thrown into the Thames on Good Friday, 1913, however the first lot of type did not go from his chosen spot on green-and-gold Hammersmith Bridge until 31 August, 1916. Thereafter in a process of about 170 trips, a small, frail seventy-six year old man carried more than a ton of type from 15 Upper Mall over about five months. This catalogue of Doves Press books commemorates these strange events in First World War London. Anyone with a fellow mind to commemorate can drop into the “snug” at The Dove, 19 Upper Mall, around eight on Friday, 16th December for a drink before proceeding up to Hammersmith Bridge to see what spirits might be abroad on that night Oliver Clark CATALOGUE This is an unusually broad collection of Doves Press books on offer. Please note that for the convenience of the vendor prices are listed in U.S. dollars. All books are on display at the shop. 1.Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Agricola. Cornelii Taciti de vita et Moribus Julii Agricolae Liber. 4to, 23.5cm, 20 leaves, pp.[4] i- [xxxiii]. Colophon reads: Officina Colburaum excuderunt T.J. Cobden-Sanderson et Emery Walker textum recensuit J.W.Mackail typos composuit J.H.Mason prelum exercuit H.Gage-Cole XIV Kal. Nov. MDCCCC [19 October 1900]. One of 225 copies printed on specially watermarked handmade paper (plus 5 on vellum), done entirely in black in ‘Doves’ face type. Cased in full limp vellum, lettered in gilt TACITI AGRICOLA, inner pastedown stamped THE DOVES BINDERY. Small library label on the rear pastedown, otherwise an immaculate copy. $1,000 The first book of the Doves Press. The Latin text displays the text with admirable evenness. 2.Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson, The Ideal Book or Book Beautiful. The Ideal book or Book Beautiful A Tract on Calligraphy Printing and Illustration & on the Book Beautiful as a Whole. 4to, 23.5cm, 8 leaves, pp.[1-4] 1-[10], Colophon reads: This Tract, written by T.J. Cobden Sanderson was printed by him & Emery Walker at the Doves Press and finished Oct.19, 1900. Compositor J.H. Mason. Pressman J.H. Gage- Cole. Sold at the Doves Press. One of 300 (plus 10 vellum) copies on specially watermarked handmade paper printed entirely in black in ‘Doves’ face type. Limp vellum, gilt lettered THE IDEAL BOOK, inner pastedown stamped THE DOVES BINDERY. Small library label on the rear pastedown, otherwise an immaculate copy. $1,800 The second book of the Press is a revision of a paper originally read by Cobden-Sanderson to the Art Workers Guild in 1892. On 8 June 1900 Cobden-Sanderson wrote to Edward Johnston saying that he planned to print it ‘at our new press, as a sort of pronouncement” of its views.’ From any point of view, it must be regarded as a seminal work of the Arts and Crafts movement. 3.John William Mackail, William Morris. William Morris An Address delivered the XII November MDCCCC at Kelmscott House Hammersmith before the Hammersmith Socialist Society. 4to, 23.5cm, 16 leaves, pp.[4] 1- 27, Colophon reads: This address was printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker at the Doves Press and finished April 24, 1901. Compositor J.H. Mason. Pressman H. Gage-Cole. Sold at the Doves Press. One of 300 (plus 15 on vellum) copies set in 'Doves' face types and printed in black and red on specially watermarked hand-made hand-made paper. Bound in full vellum, gold- lettered WILLIAM MORRIS on the spine. A fine copy. $800 This copy of the third book has a lengthy presentation inscription from Daniel Evans to J.H. Bingham on the front endpaper. 4.Tennyson, Alfred Lord, Baron Tennyson – [Selections and Extracts.] Seven Poems & Two Translations Alfred Lord Tennyson. 4to., 23.5cm, 28 leaves, pp.[1-4] 5-[56], Colophon reads: Printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson & Emery Walker at the Doves Press by permission of Lord Tennyson and Messrs Macmillan & Co., and finished April 7 th 1902. Compositor J. Guttridge. Pressman J. Ryan & T. Waller. Sold at the Doves Press. One of 325 (plus 25 vellum) copies on specially watermarked handmade paper printed in black and red in ‘Doves’ face type. Full limp vellum, gilt lettered TENNYSON, inner pastedown stamped THE DOVES BINDERY. Small library label on the rear pastedown, otherwise an immaculate copy. $1,000 The fourth book of the Doves Press 5.John Milton, Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost A Poem in XII Books the Author John Milton. 4to, 23.5cm, 200 leaves, pp[1-2] 3-388 [12], Colophon reads Printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson & Emery Walker at the Doves Press and finished 3 June 1902. Compositor J.H. Mason. Pressmen H.Gage- Cole, J. Ryan, T. Waller, A. Beaumont. Penmen Edward Johnston, Grayley [sic] Hewitt. Sold at the Doves Press. One of 300 (plus 25 on vellum) copies set in 'Doves' face types on specially watermarked handmade paper. Seven- six- four- and two line initial letters printed in red. Four-line initial letters at the beginning of Books 2-12 are written in blue and red alternately. Bound in full limp vellum gilt-lettered PARADISE LOST, inner pastedown stamped THE DOVES BINDERY.