The term 'private press' is often used to refer to a movement in book production which flourished at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries under the influence of the scholar-artisans William Morris, Sir Emery Walker and their followers. The movement is often considered to have begun with the founding of Morris' Kelmscott Press in 1890, following a lecture on printing given by Walker at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in November 1888. Those involved in the movement created books by traditional printing and binding methods, with an emphasis on the book as a work of art and manual skill, as well as a medium for the transmission of information. Morris was greatly influenced by medieval printed books and the 'Kelmscott style' had a great, and not always positive, influence on later private presses and commercial book-design. The movement was an offshoot of the Arts and Crafts movement, and represented a rejection of the cheap mechanised book-production methods which developed in the Victorian era. The books were made with high-quality materials (handmade paper, traditional inks and, in some cases, specially designed typefaces), and were often bound by hand. Careful consideration was given to format, page design, type, illustration and binding, in order to produce a unified whole. The movement dwindled during the worldwide depression of the 1930s, as the market for luxury goods evaporated. Since the 1950s, there has been a resurgence of interest, especially among artists, in the experimental use of letterpress printing, paper-making and hand-bookbinding in producing small editions of 'artists' books', and among amateur (and a few professional) enthusiasts for traditional printing methods and for the production 'values' of the private press movement.

The private presses

History

Franklin, Colin

Europe

Studio Vista

"An autobiographical narrative of the career of British author, bookseller, and book collector Colin Franklin, discussing his life and experiences in the book world. Includes essays on figures in the book trade who have influenced and fascinated Franklin. Illustrated in color and black and white"--

Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life

Oak Knoll Press

Hardback book with dust jacket titled EXPLORING JAPANESE BOOKS AND SCROLLS by Colin Franklin. (2005) - (UL2)

Exploring Japanese Books And Scrolls

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

British Library Board

This book is a general survey of Shakespeare's 18th-century editions and editors, including prefaces and footnote debates, editorial concern about Shakespeare's "learning", his meaning, his coarseness and his puns. There are also chapters on the illustrations, and growth of critical apparatus. It covers the period from Nicholas Rowe (1709) to the 21-volume Boswell-Malone variorum (1821), generally accepted as the foundation of modern Shakespeare scholarship. Rowe was the pioneer in attempting to retrieve a true text, and his six octavo volumes with their pleasant engravings offered the first "library edition" of Shakespeare. Colin Franklin follows the editorial and publishing history of these works through passionate disputes which divided Pope from Theobald, Warburton from Hanmer, Steevens from Malone, analyzing Johnson's calmer position among them.

Shakespeare Domesticated: The Eighteenth-Century Editions

Scolar Pr

The renaissance of printing is generally accepted as starting in 1891, the date of the first publication from William Morris's Kelmscott Press. Morris's printing of his own Story of the Glittering Plain, began a movement that was to continue until 1939, and produce some of the finest examples of English printed books ever known.This book contains an up-to-date bibliography, compiled by John Turner, which includes all the books discussed in Colin Franklin's text. Each entry lists author, title, date of publication, a short description of the make-up of the book, a reference to a published bibliography and auction prices. Wherever possible, details of type face, paper, binding, names of illustrators and original selling price are also included. After the bibliography there is an index of both authors and titles.First published in 1969, this revised second edition remains the standard survey of the private presses in Britian. It is an invaluable source of reference for libraries, bibliographies, collectors, antiquarian booksellers and anyone with an interest in the history of printing.'The essays are full of an enthusiasm that leads one back to the shelves to look again at what one might have there, and to reflect on the spirit of the printers concerned' The Private Library'..it will be an essential guide to the subject for many years to come' ABMR

The Private Presses

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

This enjoyable narrative weaves together a new examination of one of the eighteenth century's leading figures with some of Chesterfield's finest and most entertaining prose which has been either out of print or never before published.  It includes a scandalous essay of which only a fragment has appeared before on the mistresses and sexual tastes of George II.  Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, is generally remembered (or forgotten) for letters to his illegitimate son, indiscreetly published in the year after his death.  In much of this book, Colin Franklin is more concerned with a series of Characters  - the modern word is Profiles  - which Chesterfield wrote privately about those eminent contemporaries he had known intimately, from the King and Queen to such figures as Walpole, Newcastle, Pitt, Bolingbroke, Arbuthnot and Pope.  The publishing history of Chesterfield's letters and dramatic survival of the Characters (which were intended for oblivion) is traced and told.  The author also takes a new look at the character of Lord Chesterfield, finding him more vulnerable and deserving of sympathy than the conventionally accepted verdict.

Lord Chesterfield: His Character and Characters

Routledge

Bernard Quaritch Ltd.

Frederic W. Goudy. Decorations throughout the book are taken from traditional Japanese patterns.

Arts & Photography

"An autobiographical narrative of the career of British author, bookseller, and book collector Colin Franklin, discussing his life and experiences in the book world. Includes essays on figures in the book trade who have influenced and fascinated Franklin. Illustrated in color and black and white"--

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Oak Knoll Pr

The essays in this book represent personal viewpoints and insights on a wide range of book-related subjects. Some of the revelations are intriguing, and some are bizarre, but they should appeal particularly to those interested in the history of books and the lives of the Victorian literati. The revelations include the ceremonial disposal of private press typefaces in the murky waters of the Thames, or the bizarre court case preventing publication of Lord Chesterfield's letters, for being defamatory to the Royal family. The title adapts that of Lord David Cecil's lecture on "Reading as One of the Fine Arts", where he confessed pleasure in what is "ornamental, expensive and useless" which Colin Franklin controversially claims as a definition of many antiquarian books.

Book Collecting As One of the Fine Arts: And Other Essays

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Franklin, Colin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Franklin, Colin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Franklin, Colin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The private presses

Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life

Exploring Japanese Books And Scrolls

Shakespeare Domesticated: The Eighteenth-Century Editions

The Private Presses

Lord Chesterfield: His Character and Characters

Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life

Exploring Japanese Books And Scrolls

Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life

Book Collecting As One of the Fine Arts: And Other Essays