Beschreibung:

COBDEN-SANDERSON, Thomas James (1840-1922). On founding a workshop, two paragraphs extracted from his article "Bookbinding" (first published in the May 1891 issue of the English Illustrated Magazine ), incipit: In bookbinding then, as in other crafts, I would recommend, for the work's sake and for man's sake, the union of the mind and of the hand... [Hammersmith: Doves Press, composed by John Henry Mason printed by H. Gage-Cole for Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker before June 1900]. Broadside, chancery half-sheet (331 x 245 mm). Doves Press paper made by Joseph Batchelor, watermark: facing doves and initials C-S and EW. Printed on felt-side only. Doves Press roman type 1, 39 lines, first line and final 10 in capitals, 28 lines of lower case. (Slightly browned at edges.) Preserved in blue-cloth folder, gilt maroon lettering piece. Provenance : Doves Bindery (see below) -- Antiquariaat De Zilverdistel (catalogue one, 1992). FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE FIRST PRODUCTION OF THE DOVES PRESS, signed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson and inscribed by him underneath: "A first impression (proof) of The Doves Press 1900." According to Marianne Tidcombe, the bibliographer of the Doves Press and historian of the Doves Bindery, it was printed at the Doves Bindery before the Press proper could move into No. 1 Hammersmith Terrace after 20 June 1900. "It was set partly in capitals so that it could be printed as a broadside to hang on the wall. Later twenty-five copies were printed and given to friends and pupils... Cobden-Sanderson and Walker probably never did sit together on high stools, printing, as he imagined they would. Annie [Cobden] put up the money and owned the press, and Cobden-Sanderson was paid for editing and proofreading, but Walker's duties, other than the part he and his firm played in designing the type and getting the Press established, were never defined and the partners began to disagree about how the work was to be shared" (Tidcombe, Doves Bindery pp. 27-28). Several of the c. 25 copies printed were inscribed by Cobden-Sanderson and dated 3 November 1900; the text may therefore have stood in type for a few months or have been reset. Steven A. Bakker of De Zilverdistel was able to locate seven copies of the main run (the two at the Bancroft Library, Berkeley, inscribed to Grace Walker, Sir Emery's wife, and Nora Jenkins, a pupil at the bindery, respectively); but THE PROOF IS UNIQUE. The Zilverdistel catalogue, inscribed by Steven Angelo Bakker to Bernard Breslauer, as well as their correspondence, are included with the lot.