THE VALE PRESS.: A HISTORY OF IT AND LIST OF ITS FAMOUS PUBLICATIONS*.
SINCE, In 1891, William Morris
founded the Kelmscott Press,
Increased attention has been
paid to the production of
beautiful books. The earliest
rival of the notable press established at Hammersmith
was the Vale Press, conducted on a similar
system or limited editions, printed with
specially designed type. Then came the
Essex House Press, while the Doves Press
Is the latest comer In England, the American
followers of the late poet-Socialist-
printer being several in number. Of these
the most important is the press now under
consideration.
The Vale Press, like the Kelmscott, ends
its career with a volume giving a historical
and bibliographical account of Its undertakings.
The last of the Kelmscott books
contained a "note" by Morris on his
"aims" in founding his press, together
with a short description of the press, and
an annotated list of books printed thereat,
both by S. C. Cockerell. The last of the
Vale books is somewhat similar in nature,
but it does not, unfortunately, equal the
other work in interest and bibliographical
value. The introduction, by [Charles Ricketts](#CRI),
giving the history of the press, is of
the highest possible importance—no other
hand could have prepared it so well—but
the “bibliography" of the issues of the
press which follows is simply a crudely
compiled bibliographical list at the most
and is of no real value to the collector of
the Vale books, for whose use it was apparently
complied. Dates are not given, save
in two instances, and there is a total lack
of reference to the number of pages in each
publication, style of binding, &c. The real
"bibliography" of the Vale Press is yet
to come. In the meantime the collector's
best aid is the catalogue of the second part
of the Harold Peirce library, sold in Philadelphia
by S. V. Henkels March 27 and 28,
1003, which contains descriptions of the
fullest set of Vale books which has come
into the open market.
The Vale Press practically began with the
publication of "The Dial: An Occasional
Publication," edited by Charles Ricketts
and [C. H. Shannon](#CSH), of which five parts
were issued between 1889 and 1897. This
was followed by "Daphnis and Chloe,"
translated by George Thornley, 1893: by
Marlowe and Chapman's "Hero and Lean
der," 1894, and by Margaret Rust's "Queen
of the Fishes," 1894, an adaptation of a
fairy tale of Valois. Mr. Ricketts’s list,
however, disregards these works, taking
into account only the books issued by W.
L. Hacon and himself, which he personally
supervised, and beginning with "The Early
Poems John Milton," 1895, a reprint
edited by Charles Sturt from the edition of
1634. Of the first Vale book three hundred
and ten copies were printed in Vale type,
with frontispiece, border, and initial letters
designed and cut on wood by
Charles Ricketts. Landor's "Epicurus,
Leontin, and Ternissa,” followed this notable
reprint, and then came a reissue of
Suckling's "Poems,” edited by [John Gray](#JGR),
in which were brought together all the authentic
poetical pieces of the adventures
royalist poet, not excepting the songs which
form part of his plays. The Suckling volume
issued as part or a plan to reprint
in their original spelling all the English
poets from Wyatt to Crashaw, and
From Vaughan to Shelley, an original
scheme which was not fully carried out.
Mr. Ricketts regrets the final abandonment
of this plan, but, as he remarks, it tended
to introduce too many unfamiliar names to
a public which, seven years ago, “seemed
a little restive in the matter of innovation,
a little restive in all matters of art.”
The other issues in series of English
poets included, Shakespeare’s “Sonnets,”
the plays, “The Passionate Pilgrim,” containing
the furor appearance of two of the
sonnets, and the songs in the plays; Drayton’s
“Nymphidia and the Muses Elizium,”
"Fifty Songs by Thomas Campion,” Henry
Vaughan's “Sacred Poems,” Marlowe’s
"Tragedy of Doctor Faustus," Henry Constable's
"Poems and Sonnets," William
Adlington’s translation of the “The Marriage
of Cupid and Psyche," the "Sonnets” of
Sir Philip Sidney, "The King's Quair” of
James I. of Scotland, and Chatterton's
"Rowley Poems." The reproductions of
modern English poetry included Matthew
Arnold's "Empedocles on Etna.” Mrs.
Browning's "Sonnets from the Portuguese,"
Keats’s "Poems," [Rossetti's](#DRO)
“Blessed Damozel" and "Hand and Soul,"
Coleridge's “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,"
Robert Browning's “Dramtic Romances
and Lyrics," Tennyson’s " Poems," Fitzgerald's
version of the “Rubalyat,” Shelley's
“Poems,” and Wordsworth’s “Poems,”
(a selection.) The most ambitious of these
were Mrs. Browning's "Sonnets,” in one
volume; Keats and Tennyson, in two volumes
each and Shelley, in three volumes.
The other publications were or a varied nature,
ranging from a noble new edition of
[John Addington Symonds’s](#JSY) translation of
the “Life of Benvenuto Cellini” to Mr.
Ricketts "De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie
de la Page Imprimée” and "A Defense
of the Revival of Printing," and from
Meinhold’s “Amber Witch," issued in uniform
style with the Kelmscott edition of
*A bibliographical list of the
Vale books in the Vale and
King’s Founts, issues by a Hacon
And Ricketts. [prefaced by a short
History of the Vale press, by Charles Ricketts.]
Small quarto, Pages 2. xiii., boards,
Uncut. 250 copies on paper at 5s: 10 on
vellum. London: Issued privately by
Charles Ricketts. 1904. Sold by Charles
Ricketts, London, and by [John Lane](#JLA) New
York City.
“Sidonia the Sorceress,” to the plays of the
two ladies who write over the name of
“[Michael Field](#MFI),” “Fair Rosamond,” “The
World at Auction,” “The Race of Leaves,”
and “Julia Domna.”
The demise of the Vale Press was announced
two years ago, to coincide with the
completion of the Vale Shakespeare, the
most highly prized of its publications. Mr.
Ricketts’s reason in making this announcement
was due to the fact that the number
of books which were suitable for reproduction
had dwindled with time. Another fact
which influenced him in this decision was
that his original blocks and most or the
electrotypes of the borders, initials, and
other decorations used in the earlier books
had been burned at the printers', a considerable
mass of original wood engraving
being thus lost. The initials alone which
have been used in the Vale books represent
sent in engraving the labor of a year, exclusive
of their design. The engravings of
such borders as the “Briony" border, with
its elaborate tendrils, which decorates the
Chatterton volumes, or the border to the
"Sonnets" of Sidney, each represent the
labor of three weeks or a month—these Mr.
Ricketts was unprepared to replace; the
loss of his little stock seemed almost
irreparable. So came the end of the Vale
Press. The three separate founts designed
by Messrs. Hacon and Ricketts—the Vale,
Avon, and King's Founts—are no more,
their designers deeming it undesirable that
they should pass into other hands and become
stale by unthinking use. The punches
and matrices are for the most part in the
Thames, and, with the contemplation of the
last page of this bibliography, the type became
came type metal again. The Vale books,
like the beautiful volumes produced by
William Morris, are things of the past.
The present volume contains the three
founts brought together for the first and
last time. It is a well-printed, well-made
book, pleasant to the critical eye, and, like
the other Vale books, will remain with
greater permanency than most of the printed
pages of the productions of the often too
commercial followers of the Master of
Hammersmith. The frontispiece was engraved
by Mr. Ricketts after the signboard
painted by C. H. Shannon for the old Vale
premises; the printing was done at the
Ballantyne Press, under the supervision of
Mr. Ricketts. The preface by Mr. Ricketts
is the most valuable contribution to the
study of fine modern printing which has
recently appeared, and should be read with
"The Kelmscott Style" of Theodore L. De
Vinne, (in his volume on "Title Pages,”
privately printed for the Grolier Club in
1901.)
Of the 250 copies which have been printed
of the book only 75 are intended for sale in
this country, a fact which will doubtless
appeal to American bibliophiles, who were
the first to collect the Vale books. As we
noted above, the most extensive gathering
of these books which has yet been offered
at auction was made by Mr. Harold Peirce
of Philadelphia, who possessed a complete
set with two exceptions, Rossetti’s “Hand
and Soul” being absent, and the Shakespeare
set being necessarily incomplete at
the time of his public sale, including thirty-
three volumes instead of thirty-eight. Discarding
the volumes disregarded by Mr.
Ricketts in his bibliographical list, and adding
the “Hand and Soul” volume (which
may be estimated at about $3.50) and the
remaining five volumes of the Shakespeare
series, the value of a complete set of the
Vale books, estimated by the Peirce prices,
would be $1,054.50. R. F. R.