"Men Are Wicked But Their Books Are Good"

By Cokie Anderson

The magnum opus of the Ashendene Press, Dante's Tutte le Opere

The three great English private presses are considered to be the Kelmscott Press of the bohemian and socialist William Morris, the Doves Press of the eccentric and volatile T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, and The Ashendene Press of the astonishingly normal Charles Harry St. John Hornby (1867-1946).

The press was founded by Hornby as a hobby and named after the location of his family home in Hertfordshire. It issued 40 books, plus additional ephemeral pieces, from 1895-1935, pausing production only during the years of the Great War. Originally the work was done by Hornby, his sisters and, upon his marriage, his wife, Cicely Barclay - truly a family affair.

The Ashendene printer's device motto reads "Les hommes sont meschants mais leurs livres sont bons"
(“Men are wicked but their books are good”).

Less elaborate in appearance and design than William Morris' Kelmscott volumes, but more ornamental than the products of Cobden-Sanderson's Doves Press, the Ashendene books have long been considered the most satisfying of English private press books. Hornby’s considerable achievement in design and printing is all the more impressive when one considers that he had a full-time, demanding, and successful career with the bookseller W. H. Smith, then as now one of the largest chains of booksellers in the U. K.

It was Hornby who changed the focus of the Smith’s retail operations from stalls within the railway stations to shops, conveniently located very close to the stations. The railroad companies had demanded an outrageous increase in rent, which Hornby refused to accept. According to the DNB, “Hornby, anticipating the possible loss of the contracts, had set men scouting for possible shop sites, but it was still a considerable challenge to transfer so many of the firm's outlets while keeping the daily business of newspaper distribution running smoothly. Hornby relished a challenge: in ten weeks, 144 new shops were opened on the territory of the two railway companies. This most dramatic episode in the firm's history pointed the way to the future structure of its business, centred on shops rather than stalls, and established Hornby's position as the strategist of the firm.”

The Divine Comedy, in Subiaco type. Woodcut of the Gates of Hell.

In his spare time, as a form of relaxation, Hornby was creating some of the loveliest books of the 20th century. He sought the assistance of his friends Sydney Cockerell and Emery Walker, who created two memorable typefaces for his: Subiaco, based on the first roman typeface, the famous font used by Sweynheym and Pannartz at the press they established in 1465 in Subiaco, about 30 miles north of Rome, and Ptolemy, derived from the font used for the 1482 Ptolemy printed in Ulm.

The Ninth Circle of Hell, from Inferno

The books Hornby chose to print included excerpts from the Bible, essays by Francis Bacon, works by classical authors, and Italian literature, much beloved by Hornby. Two of the highlights of the press were the three-volume edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the folio-sized complete works of the Italian poet (“Tutte le Opere), both in Italian. The former was illustrated with delicate woodcuts here were drawn by R. Catterson Smith and cut by Charles Keates (with some assistance from W. H. Hooper) after the Venetian Dante of Petrus de Quarengiis of 1497. Fellow printer Emily Daniel of the Daniel Press wrote to Hornby, "I think it is the most beautiful modern book I have ever seen."

From Tutte le Opere

"Tutte le Opere" is considered not only the most impressive and important of Ashendene publications, but also one of the outstanding works of 20th century printing. In fact, the Ashendene Dante, the Doves Press Bible, and the Kelmscott Press Chaucer have been called the "triple crown of fine press printing." Franklin writes that "this first major folio from the Ashendene Press has always occupied the summit," and Charles M. Gere's illustrations, inspired by works of the early Renaissance, suit the spirit of Dante perfectly.

Typical Ashendene bindings, vellum with silk ties

Most Ashendene books were bound very simply in flexible vellum, with gilt titling on the spine and silk ribbons (usually green) that could be used to keep them tied shut. Occasionally the vellum would be dyed green or orange. A few works, among the the Cervantes and the Thucydides, were issued in white pigskin.

Deluxe Ashendene bindings

St. John (pronounced "Sinjin", in marvelously British fashion) Hornby proved that it is possible to create great art while still working full time in the mundane world of commerce, that it is possible to create great art while having a normal family life, that it is not necessary to be a tortured soul languishing in an attic or one's parents' basement. The soul of the artist does not have to be crushed by the routine of 9 to 5; creativity can soar in spite of that. I like to think of him as the patron saint of every artist, writer, and artisan who does what is necessary to provide for themselves and their families while never losing sight of their vision and remaining true to their art. So if you're sitting at your desk thinking of the novel you'd rather be writing, the painting or scupture you'd like to be working on, or the hand-crafted book you want to print, take heart. You can do that, too. St. John has shown us the way.

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Images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts
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The "Other Man" Behind the Private Press Movement

Walker, photographed by George Bernard Shaw.
Photo courtesy of the Emery Walker Trust

Many people have heard of William Morris. Those with an interest in fine printing or fine binding will know the names of St. John Hornby and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. Few, however, remember the man who had more influence on the design of modern books than any of these great craftsmen: Sir Emery Walker (1851–1933). Walker was the son of a coachbuilder, and left school at 13 to support his family after his father went blind. He did not have the advantage of an Oxford education or of a comfortable middle-class upbringing. He was, however, smart and talented, with a keen sense of aesthetics. In the early 1870s, he found his calling when he went to work for Alfred Dawson, a printed who had perfected a new method of etching called glyptography. Walker worked for Dawson's Typographic Etching Company for 10 years, before leaving in 1883 to start his own firm of "process and general engravers, draughtsmen, map-constructors, and photographers of works of art."

Hammersmith Terrace. Photo courtesy of the Emery Walker Trust

Walker's new office and house were in Hammersmith Terrace, a riverside neighborhood in London that was also home to William Morris. The two men discovered shared interest in socialism and craftsmanship which led to a lifelong friendship. Both were active in the Hammersmith Socialist Society and were founders of the influential Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Walker was especially fond of the rare books known as incunabula, meaning they were printed before 1500.

A Leaf from a Bible printed by Nicolaus Jenson in 1476

According to the Emery Walker Trust, "A lecture given by Walker in 1888 at which he projected magic-lantern slides of photographs he had taken of 15th-century typefaces gave Morris the idea for the last great project of his life, the Kelmscott Press." Walker declined to be a partner in the press, citing "'some sense of proportion' and no capital to risk." (DNB) However, he acted as an unofficial advisor to the press throughout Morris' life.

The English Bible from the Doves Press

In 1900, Walker joined with bookbinder T. J. Cobden-Sanderson to found the Doves Press as a vehicle for the production of the "Book Beautiful." Unlike the productions of the Kelmscott or Ashendene presses, Doves books had no illustrations or decoration other than the occasional very simple hand-painted initial, as seen on the opening page of the Doves Bible, above. As Cave says, the Doves Press books, "completely without ornament or illustration, . . . depended for their beauty almost entirely on the clarity of the type, the excellence of the layout, and the perfection of the presswork."

A closer view of the Doves type

The Doves type, renowned for its beauty and readability, was designed by Walker, based on the typography of the 15th century Venetian printer Nicolas Jenson. The eccentric Cobden-Sanderson was not the easiest person to get along with, and in 1909 a bitter disagreement between the two founders caused Walker to leave the press. Cobden-Sanderson carried on alone until 1916 when, after shutting down the press, he committed one of the greatest crimes in the history of typography: he threw all of Walker's gorgeous Doves type into the Thames, so it could never be used by anyone else (particularly Walker).

The Ashendene Dante, printed in Walker's Subiaco type

Luckily, other examples of Walker's fine typograhics designs live on, notably in two fonts he designed for the Ashendene Press, the Subiaco (based on that of 15th century printers Sweynham and Pannartz, and the Ptolemy, based on 15th German type. However, as the DNB notes, "his great reputation among students of typography rests on a far wider basis, for he was keenly preoccupied with the appearance of the everyday book, and not only with its rich relations. It is scarcely too much to say that his influence, direct or indirect, can be discerned in nearly every well-designed traditional typographical page that now appears, and that to him more than to any other man the twentieth century's great improvement in book production in Britain was due. Walker's exacting taste demanded close, even typesetting, perfect harmony between text and illustration, and excellent materials."

Sir Emery Walker.
Photo courtesy of the Emery Walker Trust

The three ideal examples of modern typography are considered to be the Kelmscott Chaucer, the Doves Bible, and the Ashendene Dante. Walker inspired the first, printed the second, and designed the type for the third. He also went on to print an number of fine books at his own press, including a translation of Homer by Lawrence of Arabia. He was a modest man who did not trumpet his own achievements, and readers today who appreciate a well-designed page are unaware that they owe a debt to this genius of typography.