Folks who are new to book collecting often do not realize that what appears to be a recent innovation by a publisher like White's Books or The Folio Society might well be an idea with some history behind it. Fine books for the masses, for example, is a concept first implemented almost nine decades ago by the famed Nonesuch Press:
Founded in London in 1922, The Nonesuch Press was launched--in the words of Francis Meynell (who co-founded the press with his wife, Vera, and David Garnett)--to demonstrate that mechanical means could be made to serve fine ends. The problem with fine press books is that the materials and labor required to produce such exquisite works (handmade papers, hand-cast and/or hand-set type, hand bookbinding, etc.) are so expensive that the finished product usually has to be priced well beyond the reach of the average book buyer for a fine press just to break even (and such books have to be priced higher still if the press intends to realize a profit).
The Nonesuch Press sought a "middle path"--it used a small hand press to design its books, but it left the actual printing and binding of its books to commercial printers. This allowed the press to sell its books for prices that were a bit higher than the average commercial publication but a good bit less than the typical fine press production:
The idea caught on with the book buying public, and several of the press's productions (such as The Nonesuch Dickens, depicted below and since reprinted by the successor to the original press) are considered among the finest of its kind:
(The Nonesuch Dickens actually was not representative of the usual pricing structure of the press. A complete set comprised 24 volumes, so the total outlay [48 guineas] was considerable. In exchange for that outlay, though, purchasers received a set that followed the 'Charles Dickens Edition' of 1867, the last edition that Dickens personally proof read and edited. The Nonesuch Dickens included all of the original illustrations printed from the original steel plates and wood blocks. As an added bonus, each set of The Nonesuch Dickens included one of the original steel plates used to print the illustrations. There were only 877 of the printing plates in existence so the print run for the edition was limited to 877.)
The heyday of the press was the 1920s-1930s, and some 140 titles eventually were published by the press:
Sadly, the press fared less well as the years passed, and it changed ownership a number of times. In the late 1930s-1940s Meynell ceded control of the press to George Macy (founder of The Limited Editions Club), though Meynell regained control of the press in the early 1950s (in partnership with Bodley Head savior Max Reinhardt) and continued publishing through the mid-1960s. The imprint eventually passed to Reinhardt's second wife, Joan, who sold the imprint in 2005 to Peter Mayer, former CEO of Penguin Books. Mayer has re-issued parts of The Nonesuch Dickens through his Duckworth and Overlook Press imprints, but it is unclear at this point what other plans he might have for the once distinguished Nonesuch Press imprint....
Recent Comments