Private press books are generally printed in small numbers with a limited circulation. Sometimes they can be offered for sale or sent to subscribers, but many books are circulated privately to friends and family. As a result, they can reflect and strengthen relationships and networks.
The examples displayed here represent different types of gifts. Some were personal gifts to friends and family, with a dedication or message from the printer to the recipient. Others were corporate gifts, given to build relationships with customers and perhaps to showcase the press’s work. A third type of gift was institutional: not commercial in the same way as a corporate gift (which ultimately aimed to generate more business), but still seeking to build support for an organisation, such as a library.
Many of these were eventually given as gifts to Magdalen, building relationships between donors and the College too!
A gift between friends
Frank Alstchul had founded the Overbrook Press in 1934, and in 1962 he printed this edition of Roses and Rue as a Christmas gift for family and friends. Wilde’s poem focuses on love and loss, and we can speculate that these themes were pertinent to the year the Altschuls had had. This slim volume demonstrates how the choice of subject matter and the purpose of private press books could be highly personal.
Ephemera: Box 2, Item 6. Wilde, O. (1962). Roses and Rue. Stanford, Connecticut: The Overbrook Press.
Purchased through the generosity of Justin Huscher (Rhodes Scholar 1978-1980) and Hilarie Huscher.
A gift between companies and clients
Cooper & Beatty was a typesetting firm based in Toronto, founded in 1921. In 1973, they printed this edition of The Selfish Giant as a Christmas gift “For the friends of Cooper & Beatty, Limited”. The book is simply constructed of hand-stapled card, with striking illuminated letters on every page. It was probably a way for the company to both build relationships with their customers and demonstrate their work.
Ephemera: Box 3, Item 5. Wilde, O. (1973). The Selfish Giant. Toronto: Cooper & Beatty.
Purchased through the generosity of Justin Huscher (Rhodes Scholar 1978-1980) and Hilarie Huscher.
An invitation
Alfred Edward Newton (1864-1940) was an American industrialist, but he was also a writer and avid book collector. He inscribed this copy of a biography of Wilde, which he both wrote and printed himself, to his friend Robert D. Coxe. Newton also included a letter reminding Coxe that he was invited to spend Christmas with the Newton family. It’s an example of how the circulation of private press books could both express and strengthen friendships.
Ephemera: Box 2, Item 15. Newton, A. E. (1912). Oscar Wilde. Daylesford, Pennsylvania: A. Edward Newton.
Purchased through the generosity of Justin Huscher (Rhodes Scholar 1978-1980) and Hilarie Huscher.
Fair exchange
The Clark Library printed this facsimile of Remorse as a gift for visitors. It is accompanied by a letter encouraging visitors to support the Library and its collections. The original manuscript was also a gift. Wilde dedicated it to ‘GE’, and the recipient added a note: “Written for me by Oscar Wilde in exchange for an autograph Sonnett [sic] of Paul Veraline.” Both the original manuscript and the facsimile were gifts intended to be exchanged: in Wilde’s case for a sonnet, and by the Library for support. It’s a valuable reminder that there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Ephemera: Box 4, Item 24. Wilde O. and Ewing, M. (ed.) (1961). Remorse: A Study in Saffron. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
Purchased through the generosity of Justin Huscher (Rhodes Scholar 1978-1980) and Hilarie Huscher.
Keeping it in the family
This book of four tales was actually gifted twice, both times expressing and strengthening family relationships. St John Hornby, who owned and operated the Ashendene Press, originally printed it in 1924 to mark his daughter Rosamund’s tenth birthday. The book includes a printed dedication to her. 49 years later, Rosamund re-dedicated and gifted the book to her niece, ‘Mariette’ (Marie Antoinette), with a handwritten inscription.
Magd.Wilde-O. (YOU) 1924. Wilde, O. (1924). The Young King and Other Tales. Chelsea: Ashendene Press.
Creating networks and communities
The Cornhill Booklet was a monthly ‘little magazine’ issued between 1900 and 1914. The Alfred Bartlett Press, which produced the Booklet, focused on craftsmanship and fine detail, such as the striking design and typography you can see in this issue. The Booklet was circulated to subscribers – perhaps not a gift in the traditional sense, but still a way of building networks of people committed to beautiful, high-quality printing.
Ephemera: Box 2, Item 12. Wilde, O. (1898). ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, in The Cornhill Booklet, October, 1900. Boston: Alfred Bartlett.
Purchased through the generosity of Justin Huscher (Rhodes Scholar 1978-1980) and Hilarie Huscher.
A script for The Picture of Dorian Gray, never produced (1968)
This spectacular book came to the College Library through our alumni network. Acquired in July 2024 with the assistance of former Modern Languages student Kevin Perryman, it is our newest Wilde acquisition and — at 45 cm high — the largest item in our Wilde collection. Artist Jim Dine both wrote the script and drew the vibrant costume and prop designs. Publisher Petersburg Press have gone to town on every aspect of the book, from the velvet cover to the textured paper.
Magd.Wilde-O. (PIC) 1968 (fol.). Dine, J. (1968). The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Working Script for the Stage From the Novel. London: Petersburg Press.
Purchased from Kevin A. Perryman (Commoner 1969-1973, MA 1977).