Bromer Booksellers announce sale of extremely important collection of private press books to the Washington University in St Louis. The Washington University in St Louis has recently acquired an utterly unique and unsurpassable collection of books from the Kelmscott, Doves and Ashendene Presses.

The collection came to the library through the hands of Bromer Booksellers. It was built by Charles Gould of Pasadena, California, a friend and customer of the Bromer's for 25 years. The collection contained not only the complete works of each of the presses in all their published states, but an astounding collection of ephemera relating to the printing processes and history of the presses. 

Mr Gould began to collect in 1932, and bought his first Doves Press book from Dawsons book shop. He expanded his collection to include the Kelmscott Press as his friend Max Hunley had some for sale in his Beverly Hills bookshop. The Ashendene Press came last, when, after WWII, Mr Gould and his family visited England and found some admirable copies in Marks and Company's bookshop in London. Mr Gould then "doggedly went after every item" ever recorded as associated with the presses, and the collection now includes some items that have never before been seen (to the extent that Marion Tidcombe's recent exhaustive bibliography of the Doves Press was halted during the production process so she could consult the collection). 
 

Mr Gould generally acquired his books as single items, and his last piece was purchased only about a year ago. That the collection has gone to Washington University in St Louis is particularly appropriate as it holds correspondance between Cobden, Sanderson, of the Doves Press, and a resident book binder of St Louis, Cordelia Baker. Ms Baker had been apprenticed to Cobden Sanderson and he wrote to her explaining his decision to throw the typeface of the Doves Press into the Thames, so it could not be used again.

Mr Gould generally acquired his books as single items, and his last piece was purchased only about a year ago. That the collection has gone to Washington University in St Louis is particularly appropriate as it holds correspondance between Cobden, Sanderson, of the Doves Press, and a resident book binder of St Louis, Cordelia Baker. Ms Baker had been apprenticed to Cobden Sanderson and he wrote to her explaining his decision to throw the typeface of the Doves Press into the Thames, so it could not be used again. 

The importance and magnificence of the collection cannot be overstated, and it is very difficult to pick out highlights, but the works that follow are of particular note. From the Ashendene Press: the Journal of C. H. St. John Hornby, before the foundation of the press; the Prolusions Subsicivae (1894), of which only 20 copies were printed, and is extremely rare; a family copy of the Song of Songs (1902), given by Hornby to his brother and inscribed; and a copy of "about as rare a book as you can find" - Daphis and Chloe printed on japan vellum (as an experiment that, due to excessive offsetting, was a failure, and all except 10 copies were destroyed): from the Doves Press: Cobden Sanderson's first book - Tacitus, bound in a unique binding by him for his wife, embossed with a gold heart and the trial sheet designs for the famous Bible, in every variant design, including the 8vo. From the Kelmscott Press there is the 8 volume set of the Earthly Paradise, each volume with Morris' signature, and also including Morris' design for the title page in his own hand; also the first ever proof-sheet using the Chaucer type. As David Bromer said, it would be "very, very difficult to put together anything approaching it", due to the lack of material now available. There are some other extremely important collections in institutions around the world, but those works can safely be assumed not to be coming out. 

The Bromers picked up the collection just before the New York book fair, and learnt through a mutual friend of the Washington University's interest in the area, they then held the collection for them, and it was delivered in late July this year. The University had an endowment from Philip Arnold, a petroleum engineer and rare book collector, which enabled them to purchase it. 
 

As Shirley Baker, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Dean of University Libraries says, this is "no mincing step, but a leap into another dimension" for the library's collections. The library has always been interested in fine printing and has a very good collection of its own, and previously had acquired about a third of the books from the Kelmscott Press and additional holdings representing Doves and Ashendene. Their great strength is in the area of modern literary manuscripts, and they concentrate on collecting writers who will stand the test of time. There is a workshop for fine printing attched to the library, and this collection will be an invaluable resource for students of the history of printing.

Dean Baker and Erin Davis,  Curator of Rare Books

They are planning a major exhibition of the collection in the fall of 2001, and an international symposium in the near future. This was possibly the last, and certainly one of the most important Private Press collections that remained in private hands, and now, through the sale, it will be carefully preserved and made accessible to the public for many years to come. As Anne Bromer aptly said, the collection is "really sensational", a real "wow".