private press

private press. A printing establishment operated on a small scale by a private individual or group, producing limited numbers of books with the emphasis on high quality of typography, illustration, binding, and other physical characteristics. In a general sense private presses are almost as old as printing itself, but the ‘private press movement’ was initiated by William Morris, whose Kelmscott Press (1890–8) provided both the impetus and the model for a revival of interest in typography and book production around 1900 (the movement was mainly associated with Britain, but there were similar establishments in other countries, such as the Cranach Press in Weimar, Germany, founded in 1913). Although aims and accomplishment varied considerably among the private presses Morris inspired, some emphasizing typography and layout to the exclusion of illustration, the movement as a whole was characterized by (1) an interest in type design, often shown in the use by individual presses of types produced specially for them; (2) an interest in illustration; (3) the appeal to bibliophiles implicit in the production of limited editions of carefully designed and produced books. Among the private presses that followed Morris's lead were the Eragny Press (1894–1914, run by Lucien Pissarro), the Vale Press (1896–1904; see Ricketts), the Doves Press (1900–16), whose books were noted for the austere beauty of their typography and had no illustrations, and the Golden Cockerel Press (founded 1920; see Gibbings). Such presses played an important part in stimulating a revival of wood engraving for illustration; Eric Gill and Eric Ravilious were among the artists employed by the Golden Cockerel Press, for example. The movement was in decline by the 1930s and was virtually ended by the Second World War, but there have subsequently been revivals of its ideals.