Fine press


Fine press printing and publishing comprises historical and contemporary printers and publishers publishing books and other printed matter of exceptional intrinsic quality and artistic taste, including both commercial and private presses. Their dedication to fine printing distinguishes them from other small presses. Fine press publications are often published in limited editions, that are swiftly bought up by book collectors and libraries.

History of fine press

As part of the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Englishman William Morris wanted to counter the industrialization of culture through a revival of craft in printing, printmaking, and publishing. One of the books they published was the Kelmscott Chaucer. Soon, fine presses began to spring up in the United States as well. The most prominent was the Roycroft Press. Los Angeles was a center of the fine press movement, particularly centered on the Ward Ritchie press. In the 1920s, San Francsico became known for the elegant publications of John Henry Nash, and likewise became a fine press center on the west coast.

List of fine presses

United States