doves press bible (1 risultati)

The Doves Bible, the finest output of the press and among the finest achievements of typography, one of 500 sets on handmade paper. "All copies of the Bible were sold before printing was finished, and the fourth Doves Press List published in June 1905 states that the Bible, like all other Doves Press books, was now out of print" (Tidcombe). "The Doves Bible and the Kelmscott Chaucer stand side by side upon the highest peak of typographical accomplishment, utterly dissimilar yet with the same element of greatness incontestable. The great red initial 'I' that dominates and yet fits exactly the opening page of Genesis in the Doves Bible is a pattern for all time of complexity reduced to the minimum of simplicity. When it is said that they approach dangerously near to absolute perfection, everything has been said" (Ransom). Tidcombe notes that foxing appears on the sheets of early volumes of the Bible, "although fortunately not the opening page". Cobden-Sanderson was asked about this condition issue in 1920 and noted that it was "due to a misadventure in the drying of the sheets long ago, when the Bible was being printed" (cited in Tidcombe, p. 45). In this copy the foxing is very limited. On the head of each pastedown is the thin bookplate of Benjamin Fairfax Hall (1904-1982), founder of the Stourton Press in 1930. The press was known for its appealing productions, many of which used the Aries font designed specially for Fairfax Hall by Eric Gill. Ransom, p. 56; Tidcombe DP6. 5 vols, large quarto. Doves type printed in black with red initial letters by Edward Johnston, on handmade paper. Original limp vellum by the Doves Bindery with their stamp on rear pastedowns, spines lettered in gilt. Spines a little creased, natural colour variance, remarkably little foxing. A near-fine set.