About
The Gutenberg style of press remained in use until the Industrial Revolution, where Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Stanhope (1753-1816) created a new press type, completed by 1800. Made from cast iron instead of wood, this press reduced the amount of force needed to operate the press. As a result, it was increasingly easier and cheaper to mass produce books.
In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, the Art Nouveau movement spread across Europe. Influenced by Japanese woodblock printing, members of the movement longed for a return to the golden age of printing, printmaking, and publishing. As a result, several Fine Presses, such as the Kelmscott Press, were established. These presses produced historical and contemporary books and other materials which contained intricate artwork, fine printing, and different colors of ink. Often produced with limited editions, these books were often bought by book collectors.
Image source: William Morris. 1896. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Kelmscott Chaucer). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Materials
- Love poems of John Donne. With some account of his life taken from the writings in 1639 of Izaak WaltonCall Number: PR2246 .N6Publication Date: 1923This edition is printed at the University Press, Oxford, in the 17th-century Fell types. It is limited to 1250 copies, on Vidalon hand-made paper, of which 1200 are for sale in England and America. This is number 697.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight byCall Number: PR2065.G3 G7 1956Publication Date: [1956]Issued in portfolio.
Limited to 200 copies, printed on Precision Offset Cartridge paper. 
The WunderCabinet : the curious worlds of Barbara Hodgson & Claudia Cohen by Call Number: AM221 .H623 2011Publication Date: 2011". . . The WunderCabinet is our attempt to replicate -- in spirit -- the 16th-to-18th century cabinet of curiosities. In such a cabinet, you would find shells, corals, minerals, fossils, skeletons, feathers, engravings, manuscripts, ancient coins and scientific instruments. In short, anything that appeared to contribute to the understanding of life . . ."--Introduction.- The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, now newly imprinted byCall Number: PR1850 1896Publication Date: 1896Printed by me William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex., finished on the 8th day of May, 1896. Copy is a Dove's white pigskin binding, elaborately tooled in blind after a design by William Morris. Known as the "Slater-Gribbel-Schimmel" copy. Accompanied by two proofsheets: one (two conjugate leaves) has a variant font size, the other (one leaf) has illustration and border, but no text.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Call Number: PR10.R4 W5 1890Publication Date: 1890At head on first page of text: Lippincott's monthly magazine. July, 1890.
First American edition: for complete description, cf. S. Mason [pseud.], Bibliography of Oscar Wilde, no. 82.
Venus and Adonis by Call Number: PR10.R7 B8 1905Publication Date: 1905Venus and Adonis is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare published in 1593. The poem tells the story of Venus, who is Goddess of Love, and her attempted seduction of Adonis, an extremely handsome young man, who would rather go hunting.
Archival Materials
- Barbarian Press fondEstablished in Steelhead, this press has printed continuously since 1978, producing both commercial work (stationery, cards and other job printing) and fine presswork: illustrated monographs, miniatures, pamphlets, broadsheets and keepsakes. The fonds consists of correspondence files, project files, pamphlets, broadsheets, etc.
- Greenboathouse Press fondsGreenboathouse Press is a small publishing concern producing short run, limited editions, printed letterpress and bound by hand. Previously called Greenboathouse Books, they publish content with a focus on Canadian poetry and the history of typography, with attention to typography, design and fine-printing. The fonds consists of published material, correspondence, proofs, manuscripts, reviews, broadsheets, polymer plates, photographs, artwork, orders, posters and promotional material.
- Lazara Press fondsLazara Press is a small, progressive publishing house located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They publish poetry, literature, broadsides, and chapbooks. They also publish the "Discussions" series which serves as a forum for provocative and challenging essays and speeches on current issues.
- Alcuin Society fondsThe Alcuin Society is a non-profit organization devoted to the art of the book and fine book publishing. The society's aims are to further the interests of book collecting and promote the interest of fine books and reading. To achieve this end, the society is involved in the production of limited edition books, memorabilia and a society periodical, the Amphora. The Alcuin Society Fonds reflects the activities of the society since its creation in 1965. The series consists predominantly of textual records, including administrative records, financial records, reports, correspondence, newsletters, and promotional material. Also included are photographs, published material, brochures, and memorabilia.
- Heavenly Monkey fondsHeavenly Monkey is the imprint of publisher Rollin Milroy and is dedicated to creating books for people interested in contemporary applications of traditional book crafts. The fonds consists of records which document books and ephemera published by Rollin Milroy’s three printing presses: A Lone Press, Heavenly Monkey, and Heavenly Monkey Editions, as well as other independent and collaborative projects published by other printing presses. The records include setting copies, detailed layout schematics, dummies of final books, printing schedule sequences, proof impressions, make-ready copies, and various impression proof and waste/reject sheets, as well as printing blocks and printing plates, and other documents related to the printing and publication process.
Colocating This Collection
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Subject Headings
General
Presses
Prominent Publishers
Cobden-Sanderson, T.J. (Thomas James), 1840-1922
Goudy, Frederic W. (Frederic William). 1865-1947
Updike, Daniel Berkely, 1860-1941
Call numbers
Use these call numbers to browse materials in the UBC Catalogue
NE 1-978: Printmaking and engraving
Digitized Collections
Some of the material relating to fine presses and modern publishing and printing has been digitized and can be found in the UBC Library Open Collections.
- Dorothy Burnett Bookbinding ToolsDonated by Donald Fleming, this collection consists of bookbinding tools that were used by Dorothy Burnett. Dorothy was one of the first independent craft binders to operate in Vancouver, opening her book binding shop in 1939. There are 224 tools in the collection, ranging from 60 to 100 years old.
- RBSC BookplatesThis collection consists of images of bookplates from items donated to UBC Library. The collection contains bookplates from 1710 to present day.
- R. Mathison Printing CollectionThis collection contains materials printed between 1886 and 1890 by Robert Mathison. He opened his printing press in Vancouver in July 1886, directly after the fire that effectively destroyed the city. The collection includes various materials that Mathison printed, such as promotional material, business stationary, and business cards.
Related Works
A century for the century : fine printed books from 1900 to 1999 by
Call Number: Z1033.F5 H87 1999ISBN: 0910672296Publication Date: 1999
Fine printing and private presses : selected papers by Call Number: Z231.5.P7 C36 2001ISBN: 0712347224Publication Date: 2001Beauty and the book : fine editions and cultural distinction in America by
Call Number: Z479 .B475 2000ISBN: 0300082134Publication Date: 2000
A history of the Eragny Press, 1894-1914 by Call Number: Z232.P65 G45 2004ISBN: 1584561076Publication Date: 2004
A bibliography of the Kelmscott Press by Call Number: Z232.M87 P44 1984ISBN: 019818199XPublication Date: 1984- Daniel Berkeley Updike and the Merrymount Press of Boston, Massachusetts, 1860, 1894, 1941 byCall Number: Z232.M57 W5Publication Date: 1947
- Pictures to print : the nineteenth-century engraving trade byCall Number: NE628 .D95 1984ISBN: 1850830010Publication Date: 1984
Beyond our Collections
- Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Canadian small and fine pressCanada has had a flourishing private press movement since the 1930s. The Fisher has attempted to collect as many of the books, pamphlets and broadsides issued by these presses as possible - as a result, the library has accumulated one of the most significant small and fine press collections in the country.
- Fine Press Printing Ephemera Collection at Princeton UniversityThe collection consists of printed ephemera from fine presses in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Latin America, and South Asia. The Grabhorn Press is represented by the largest number of items. Other United States' presses include: William Edwin Rudge, Marchbanks Press, Hawthorn House, Village Press, and Bird & Bull Press. Presses from Great Britain include: Essex House Press, and Doves Press, with a smaller number of items from presses in Germany, France, and other countries. The collection will be added to as new items are acquired.
- Fine Presses, Artists' Books, and Book Arts at the British LibraryThe British Library has a comprehensive collection of modern books produced by fine presses in Britain - from the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century to the presses of today. Many of these books are works of art in themselves. The Library also has significant holdings of British artists' books and other works within the book arts field. More selectively, we have artists' books from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Russia and a number of other countries.
- Rare Book and Special Collections in American Memory at Library CongressThe Library of Congress has a strong concentration of materials relating to the production of finely crafted and beautifully illustrated books. Even as they move farther into the electronic "library without walls," the Library remains strongly committed to collecting the printed word with an emphasis on the blending of design, type, and illustration.