Fine press

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

and

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

comprises historical and contemporary printers and publishers publishing

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s and other printed matter of exceptional intrinsic quality and artistic taste, including both commercial and

private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, gra ...

es.

History of fine press

As part of the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Englishman

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 ...

wanted to counter the industrialization of culture through a revival of craft in printing, printmaking, and publishing. One of the books they published was the

Kelmscott Chaucer 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. Man ...

. Soon, fine presses began to spring up in the United States as well. The most prominent was the Roycroft Press. Los Angeles was a center of the fine press movement, particularly centered on the Ward Ritchie press. In the 1920s, San Francisco became known for the elegant publications of John Henry Nash, and likewise became a fine press center on the west coast.

List of fine presses

United States

* Alderbrink Press (1897 - 1928?) * Blue Sky Press (1899–1906) * Clerk's Press (1908–1919) * Cranbrook Press (1900–1902) * Elston Press (1900–1904) * Marion Press (1896–1931) *

The Mosher Press Thomas Bird Mosher (1852–1923) was an American publisher out of Portland, Maine. He is notable for his contributions to the private press movement in the United States, and as a major exponent of the British Pre-Raphaelites and Aesthetes as w ...

(1891 - 1923+) Set up by

Thomas Bird Mosher Thomas Bird Mosher (1852–1923) was an American publisher out of Portland, Maine. He is notable for his contributions to the private press movement in the United States, and as a major exponent of the British Pre-Raphaelites and Aesthetes as ...

in 1891, in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

* No Reply Press (2019-Present) * Philosopher Press (1896–1904) * Roycroft Press (1896 - 1915+) Set up by

Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as the ...

in 1895 * Trovillion Press at the Sign of the Silver Horse Set up by Hal W. Trovillion in

Herrin, Illinois Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois. The population was 12,352 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and is a part of the Carbondale- Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area with 123,27 ...

in 1908 * Hammer Creek Press (1950–1962) * Thornwillow Press, New York (1985 - Present)

California presses

* Colt Press, San Francisco * Grabhorn Press, San Francisco * John Henry Nash, San Francisco * Plantin Press, Los Angeles. Founded by Saul and Lillian Marks, in 1931 * Saunders Studio Press, Claremont. Founded by Lynne and Ruth Thompson Saunders in 1927 * Ward Ritchie Press *

Arion Press The Arion Press in the United States book publishing company founded in San Francisco in 1974. It has published 120 limited-edition books, most printed by letterpress, often illustrated with original prints by notable artists. Minneapolis Star Tri ...

, San Francisco

United Kingdom

* Ashendene Press (1894–1935) *

Daniel Press The Daniel Press was a private press in England, run by Charles Henry Olive Daniel (1836–1919) and members of his family, firstly at Frome and afterwards in Oxford. Henry Daniel began printing in 1845, when still a schoolboy, at Frome in Somer ...

Oxford (1874–1903) *

Doves Press The Doves Press was a private press based in Hammersmith, London. During nearly seventeen years of operation, the Doves Press produced notable examples of twentieth-century typography. A distinguishing feature of its books was a specially-devis ...

(1900–1916) - Founded by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and

Emery Walker 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 G ...

* Eragny Press (1894–1914) *

Essex House Press Charles Robert Ashbee (17 May 1863 – 23 May 1942) was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement, which took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the soc ...

(1898–1910) * Fine Press Poetry (founded 2013) by Andrew J Moorhouse *

Folio Society The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fict ...

- Founded by

Charles Ede Charles Richard Montague Ede (22 October 1921 – 29 May 2002"Ede, Charles Richard Montague (1921–2002)" by Brian Wolfson in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2006, online edition, January 2011. Retrieved 2 ...

in 1947 *

Golden Cockerel Press The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961. History The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...

- Founded by Harold Midgley Taylor in 1920 * Gregynog Press (1922-) - Founded by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies *

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 ...

(1891–1898) - Set up by

in 1891 *

Nonesuch Press Nonesuch Press was a private press founded in 1922 in London by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel, and their mutual friend David Garnett,Miranda Knorr"The Nonesuch Press: A Product of Determination" An Exhibit of Rare Books at the Oka ...

- Founded in 1922 by Francis and Vera Meynell, and David Garnett * The Press of

Gaetano Polidori Gaetano Fedele Polidori (1763–1853) was an Italian writer, political and scholar living in Highgate. He was the son of Agostino Ansano Polidori (1714–1778), a physician and poet who lived and practised in his native Bientina, near Pisa, ...

Rampant Lions Press The Rampant Lions Press was a fine letterpress printing firm in Britain, operating from 1924 to 2008. The firm was founded by Will Carter (24 September 1912 – 17 March 2001), publishing its first book in 1936, and was continued by his son, Seba ...

(1924-2008) * St James Park Press of

James Freemantle James Freemantle (born 1979) is an English bibliographer, private press historian, printer and book-collector. His official posts include as Chairman of the Private Libraries Association, Trustee and Honorary Secretary of Milton's Cottage, a ...

(2014-Present) *

Strawberry Hill Press The Strawberry Hill Press was established on 25 June 1757 at Strawberry Hill, by the house's owner, Horace Walpole. He called it the ''Officina Arbuteana'', and many of the first editions of his own works were printed there. The first works pri ...

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

* Vale Press (1896–1905) * Vincent Press

Continental Europe

Ad insigne pinus Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

(1594–1619) In

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

* AIZ Dosije (1988-Present) In

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Australia

Finlay Press Finlay Press is the name of an independent private press founded by Ingeborg Hansen and Phil Day (artist). It began production in Goulburn, NSW, Australia in 1997. In 2001 the press moved to Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia, where it printed it ...

founded and operated by

Phil Day (artist) Phil Day (born in August, 1973) is an Australian artist. He is formally recognised as a Notable GraduateMichael Agostino, The Australian National University School of Art: A history of the first 65 Years (Canberra, ANU, 2009), p. 243. from the ...

and Ingeborg Hansen in Australia. 1997-2009.

References

External links

Fine Press Book Association (UK)

List of Fine Presses
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190156/http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_Fine_Presses , date=2016-03-04 at

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed by ...

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