Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Guild, the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the destructive 'restoration' of ancient buildings occurring in ...

, and the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was formed in London in 1887 to promote the exhibition of decorative arts alongside fine arts. The Society's exhibitions were held annually at the New Gallery (London), New Gallery from 1888 to 1890, and roug ...

Life

Walker was born in London. His father was a

coach builder A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

. He obtained a very old book when he was twelve that gave him a love of books. A year later his father's failing sight meant that he had to leave school.Emery Walker
his museum, Retrieved 29 July 2015 In the late 1870s, Walker befriended

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

, with whom he shared both socialist beliefs and a keen interest in printing. They lived near each other. Walker's expertise and his collection of 16th-century

typefaces A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

inspired Morris to create the

Kelmscott Press The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published fifty-three books in sixty-six volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many ...

. After Morris's death, Walker set up his own printing enterprise, the Doves Press, with bookbinder T. J. Cobden Sanderson which in turn inspired the private presses of the 20th century. The capital for the enterprise which was £1,600 was supplied by

Anne Cobden-Sanderson Julia Sarah Anne Cobden-Sanderson (; 26 March 1853 – 2 November 1926) was an English socialist, suffragette and vegetarian. Life Cobden was born in London in 1853 to Catherine Anne and the radical politician Richard Cobden. After her father ...

. The font that they created was intended to be shared. By 1906 the partners had fallen out over Walker's low interest and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson's obsessive interest. Despite the agreement, Cobden-Sanderson did not deliver a copy of the font and instead arranged for every copy of the design to be dropped into the Thames. In 1910, Walker photographed

the Rice portrait The Rice portrait is believed by the owners and others to be of Jane Austen and painted by Ozias Humphry in 1788 or 1789 when Austen was 13. Experts at the National Portrait Gallery (and elsewhere) have disputed this, suggesting that the paintin ...

of Jane Austen, subsequently published in the 1913 edition of ''Jane Austen: her life and letters, a family record'' by William Austen-Leigh and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh. In 1922 Anne Cobden-Sanderson's husband died. After his death, she paid a large sum to settle the dispute with Walker. This money was to compensate him for the loss of the Doves typeface that her husband had thrown into the Thames when his partnership with Walker ended.Anne Cobden Sanderson
Spartacus, Retrieved 27 July 2015 "Emery Walker, Esq. Process engraver and Printer. Past Master of the Art Workers' Guild. Late President of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. A Trustee of the Wallace Collection and a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher educatio ...

" received a knighthood in 1930. Walker's daughter, Dorothy Walker, and later Dorothy's live-in companion, Elizabeth de Haas, preserved many of Walker's private papers and the family collection of Arts and Crafts decorative items and ephemera at the family home at

7 Hammersmith Terrace 7 Hammersmith Terrace is an historic house in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, and the former home of English engraver and printer Emery Walker. Walker was an important figure in the English Arts and Crafts movement, an ...

, London. The house is now a museum run by the Emery Walker Trust, a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

. Emery Walker's library of private press books was sold to Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum to endow the trust.Emery Walker Trust
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References

External links

Emery Walker Trust
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Emery 1851 births 1933 deaths Arts and Crafts movement artists English printers English socialists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Private press movement people Masters of the Art Worker's Guild Guild of St George