Whittington Press ~ England
(John & Rose Randle)

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Type & Typography collaboration with Mark Batty

British Private Press Prospectuses 1891-2001
By David Butcher
Herefordshire: Whittington Press, 2001. Edition of 350.

This is a special copy ("C") bound in Oasis leather with three facsimile prospectuses. 8 x 11", 147 pp. in the back board pocket. Marbled endpapers. 20 prospectuses in separate pocket folder bound in paper and buckram. Includes 16 colored plates. The two volumes are in buckram slipcase with Oasis spine. #XXIX of 40 copies of a total edition of 350.
$1,875

Comments from Whittington Press about this publication:
The catalogues and prospectuses issued by private presses are not only often beautiful examples of printing in themselves, but they can also offer fascinating clues to the development of the titles they are promoting. Many are printed on hand-made paper and from the original engravings, and can encapsulate the germ of the idea that later (sometimes much later, occasionally never), and after much labour, becomes the book itself.

Such prospectuses have become popular with collectors partly because of the insight they offer into the activities of the presses concerned, and partly because they can be satisfying substitutes when the book is rarely available, or only at a price that puts it out of reach of most. They will usually have been printed at the Press concerned, with all the thought and care that is lavished on an object which is designed to sell the book.
In this survey of private press prospectuses of the last hundred years, David Butcher summarizes the output of the main presses and reveals some of the fascinating stories behind the books. Prospectuses give a unique insight into the printers' attitudes and aspirations, and provide tantalizing glimpses of the books which might-have-been.

During the last fifteen years the Whittington Press has been collecting prospectuses and catalogues, from Doves and Golden Cockerel to those issued by contemporary presses, as they are still genuinely ephemeral. We have been fortunate in being able to acquire two large collections which will allow us to include original prospectuses and catalogues in portfolios accompanying the seventy-five special copies. In addition the book will contain illustrations of some of the most interesting prospectuses.

The increasing price of prospectuses and catalogues in booksellers' catalogues are evidence of the steady popularity of such items, and this will be the first time that they will have been described and evaluated as separate and important adjuncts of the private press movement.

Matrix: A Review for Printers & Bibliophiles
Edited by John Randle
Herefordshire, England: Whittington Press

An annual review for printers and bibliophiles. Always features informative articles plus any of variety of illustrations in many forms-etchings, pochoir, wood engravings, various papers, tipped-in photographs, and prints - the works!

Matrix 23. Winter 2003.
Edition of 800: 715 standard in stiff wrappers; 85 quarter-bound in Oasis leather and paper marbled by Christopher Rowlatt.

Set in Caslon, Cohin, Bell & Romulus types. Printed on Sommerville Laid, Hahnemühle Ingres and Creator papers. Colour plates printed by The Cloister Press and J. W. Northend.

Contains twenty-five articles plus book reviews, including: Anthony Dowd "Fine Press and the Bookbinder"; Miriam MacGregor "The Forgotten Pleasure of Hand-Printing"; Lucy Archer "Working with Olive Cook"; Michael Caine "My Concatenation of Types"; Dennis Gould "Latterday Letterpress Printer"; and Simon Lawrence "Aspects of Golden Cockerel". Illustrated and with tipped in specimens on special paper, engravings, photographs. color plates. Frontispiece is a 1937 Matisse "Woman's Head".

This is the deluxe version with a facsimile of the 1920 Klingspor Calendar.
$775

Other Matrix issues available:
Matrix 26 (2006) $265

 
Matrix 23 
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