40-678: The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961. The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes on vellum. A feature of Golden Cockerel books was the original illustrations, usually wood engravings , contributed by artists including Eric Gill , Robert Gibbings , Peter Claude Vaudrey Barker-Mill , John Buckland Wright , Blair Hughes-Stanton , Agnes Miller Parker , David Jones , Mark Severin , Dorothea Braby , Lettice Sandford , Gwenda Morgan , Mary Elizabeth Groom and Eric Ravilious . The Golden Cockerel Press
80-757: A book on Poisonous Plants . From 1934 to 1940 he taught at the Royal College of Art in London, working on wood engravings and lithographs. In 1939 he visited the Gower Peninsula , near Swansea – the first of many visits to Gower and other parts of Wales. Nash was also an accomplished printmaker. He was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1920. He produced woodcuts and wood engravings first as illustrations to literary periodicals, and then increasingly as illustrations for books produced by
120-441: A bookseller. Sales were strong during most of this period. Gibbings had established links with a number of booksellers, notably Bumpus in London, and negotiated a very favourable deal with Random House . He bought out Pike with finance from another Irish friend, Mary Wiggin, and later bought her out, borrowing the money from Barclays Bank . In the early 1930s, however, the business climate changed, and, as American sales faltered,
160-471: A literary review, and Adam & Eve & Pinch Me , short stories by a new author, A. E. Coppard , which was a critical success and sold well. Unfortunately the mood of idealism of the first prospectus did not last long. Proof-reading, for example, had been poor, which upset the authors. By summer 1921 Blackburn and Pyper had left and the co-operative became a more conventional private press when Frank Young, Albert Cooper and Harry Gibbs were employed. In 1923
200-614: A major shareholder, had been sold. Sandford introduced colour illustrations, anathema to private press purists, and other means of reproducing illustrations instead of using original wood engravings – lithography and colour collotype . Some 120 works were published during the Sandford era. One favourite illustrator was John Buckland Wright , another Clifford Webb , from whom he commissioned wood engravings for eight books. Sandford also commissioned Lettice Sandford , his wife, and artist Dorothea Braby, to work on multiple books produced by
240-604: A partner in 1938. In spite of all the problems caused by the advent of the Second World War there was one huge benefit for the press. People wanted books to read and by 1943 most of the Golden Cockerel stock, a growing liability, had been sold. In 1944 Rutter died but Sandford decided to carry on on his own; he had no financial need to seek a new partner, since the Chiswick Press, in which he had been
280-467: A partner. He had a much more commercial approach than his brother Christopher and Rutter, and expected a return on his investment. The press started to produce unlimited editions aimed at the Christmas market, but these too failed in terms of commercial success. Rutter wrote to Christopher Sandford: "We are publishing edition after edition of which more than half remains as stock". Anthony Sandford left as
320-438: A wood engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works. He was the younger brother of the artist Paul Nash . Nash was born in London, the younger son of lawyer William Harry Nash who served as recorder of Abingdon and Caroline Maude Jackson. His mother came from a family with a naval tradition; she was mentally unstable and died in a mental asylum in 1910. In 1901 the family moved to Iver Heath , Buckinghamshire. Nash
360-530: Is Over the Top (oil on canvas, 79.4 x 107.3 cm), now hanging in the Imperial War Museum . It is an image of the counter-attack at Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917, during which the 1st Battalion Artists' Rifles left their trenches and pushed towards Marcoing near Cambrai . Of the eighty men, sixty-eight were killed or wounded during the first few minutes. Nash was one of the twelve spared by
400-657: The Artists Rifles , the unit that his brother had joined in 1914 before taking a commission in the Hampshire Regiment . He served as a sergeant at the Battle of Passchendaele and at the battle of Cambrai . On the recommendation of his brother, Paul worked as an official war artist from 1918. In 1914 Nash began painting in oils with the encouragement of Harold Gilman , whose meticulous craftsmanship influenced his finest landscapes. Nash's most famous painting
440-736: 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
SECTION 10
#1732765564374480-726: The Chiltern Hills and Gloucestershire. In 1919 he became a member of the New English Art Club , and in 1921 he became the first art critic for The London Mercury . He moved to Meadle, near Princes Risborough , also in Buckinghamshire, in 1921, which remained his permanent home until 1944. He frequently visited the valley of the River Stour in Essex and Suffolk, where he bought a summer cottage. After
520-676: The Four Gospels . Printing the Canterbury Tales dominated work at the press for two and a half years, and relatively few other books were printed during that period. However, the book was a considerable critical and financial success and grossed £14,000. 1931 saw the first appearance of the Golden Cockerel typeface, designed especially for the press by Gill. Its first use was in A. E. Coppard ' s The Hundredth Story . The illustrations in some Golden Cockerel titles, although tame by modern standards, were considered risqué for
560-852: The Second World War Nash served in the Observer Corps , moving to the Admiralty in 1940 as an official war artist with the rank of Captain in the Royal Marines . He was promoted acting major in 1943, and relinquished his commission in November 1944. After the war, Nash lived at Wormingford , in the Stour Valley in Essex, where he had bought the Elizabethan yeoman's house, Bottengoms in 1944. Nash joined
600-604: The 16th century Welsh poet William Cynwal, illustrated by John Petts , and Poems and Sonnets of Shakespeare , edited by Gwyn Jones and illustrated by Buckland Wright. The following year, two more titles were issued under Yoseloff's direction, Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India by Sudhin Ghose, and Moncrif's Cats , a translation by Reginald Bretnor of the 18th century French writer François-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif ' s 1727 work, Histoire des chats . These were to be
640-612: The First World War, Nash's efforts went mainly into painting landscapes. Eric Newton , the art historian said of him 'If I wanted a foreigner to understand the mood of a typical English landscape, I would show him Nash's best watercolours." Emotions concerning the war, however, continued to linger for many years; and this was depicted in his landscape painting. This is particularly evident in The Moat, Grange Farm, Kimble , oil on canvas, exhibited in 1922. In this brooding landscape
680-752: The human condition. He was close friends with the writer Ronald Blythe , who dedicated his best-selling book Akenfield to the artist, and who shared his love of the unmanaged forest where fallen trees were left to create their own chaos. In 1923 Nash became a member of the Modern English Water-colour Society. In 1923 he worked in Dorset and in 1924 in Bath and Bristol. From 1924 to 1929 he taught at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art ( Oxford ). In 1927, he wrote and illustrated
720-594: The hut in Waltham St Lawrence. It was Taylor who persuaded his family trust to provide most of the capital (approximately £2,800) for printing presses et al. Their first prospectus proclaimed: "This press is a co-operative society for the printing and publishing of books. It is co-operative in the strictest sense. Its members are their own craftsmen, and will produce their books themselves in their own communal workshops without recourse to paid and irresponsible labour". Their first publications were The Voices ,
760-603: The last two Golden Cockerel Press titles to be published, however, as the continuation of the business soon proved impractical. By the end of 1961 Yoseloff wound up operations, as the resources and fine bookcraft skills necessary for production of Golden Cockerel titles had become too difficult and costly to obtain. 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 . As part of
800-473: The new regime was The House with the Apricot (1933) by H. E. Bates . It featured wood engravings by Agnes Miller Parker and had been planned by Gibbings. The first major book of the new regime was The Glory of Life (1934) by Llewelyn Powys , a large quarto with wood engravings by Gibbings. The partners lost money on most of the books that they published, a fact that they had recognised when they bought
840-402: The press and printed a number of books for others. The size of a run was normally between 250 and 750, and the books were mostly bound in leather by bookbinders Sangorski & Sutcliffe . The major titles were the four volume Canterbury Tales (1929 to 1931) and the Four Gospels (1931), both illustrated by Gill. Gibbings printed 15 copies of the Canterbury Tales on vellum, and 12 copies of
SECTION 20
#1732765564374880-464: The press published The Wedding Songs of Spenser with colour wood engravings by Ethelbert White , the first illustrated book from the press and a foretaste of editions to come. When Hal Taylor suffered a recurrent bout of tuberculosis, Coppard took charge as a temporary manager. But then with Taylor's continued decline the business was put up for sale, early in 1924. Robert Gibbings was working on wood engravings for The Lives of Gallant Ladies at
920-477: The press struggled on as the depression became more severe. The press became moribund and Gibbings eventually sold up in 1933. The last book that he produced was Lord Adrian by Lord Dunsany (1933), illustrated with his own wood engravings. The press was taken over by Christopher Sandford , Owen Rutter , and Francis J. Newbery. They paid £1,050 for the business. Gibbings had been in negotiations with Sandford for some time, and had introduced Rutter to him. Newbery
960-455: The press. In 1959 Sandford, for whom the financial pressures of keeping the press going had become too much, sold the publishing business to Thomas Yoseloff , an American publisher and at the time director of University of Pennsylvania Press . Yoseloff completed the publication of two titles in 1960 that had been previously commissioned by Sandford, a translation by David Gwyn Williams of the poem "In Defence of Woman" ( O Blaid Y Gwragedd ) by
1000-465: The press. They were looking to the long term, and tried a number of strategies to strengthen their position, including offering to buy the Gregynog Press so that they could close it down and reduce the competition. The partners had to advance money from their private accounts to keep the press solvent. There had been tension between the three for some time and Anthony Sandford replaced Newbery as
1040-468: The private presses; these include Jonathan Swift's Directions to Servants ( Golden Cockerel Press , 1925) and Edmund Spenser's The Shepheard's Calendar (Cresset Press, 1930). His interest in botanical subjects is shown by his illustrations to H. E. Bates Flowers and Faces (Golden Cockerel Press, 1935) and Bob Gathorne-Hardy's Wild Flowers in Britain (Batsford 1938). At the beginning of
1080-575: The shell-fire, and painted this picture three months later. The Cornfield , held by the Tate Gallery , was the first painting Nash completed that did not depict the theme of war. The picture with its ordered view of the landscape and geometric treatment of the corn stooks prefigures his brother Paul's Equivalents for the Megaliths . Nash said that he and Paul used to paint for their own pleasure only after six o'clock, when their work as war artists
1120-621: The staff of the Royal College of Art in 1945 and continued to teach there and later at the Flatford Mill field studies centre. When in Essex, Nash taught at Colchester Art School and in 1946, along with Henry Collins , Cedric Morris , Lett Haines and Roderic Barrett , became one of the founders of Colchester Art Society and later the Society's president. Nash bequeathed his personal library and several of his paintings and engravings to The Minories, Colchester , who later sold most of
1160-513: The start of a golden period for the press. The printing staff – Frank Young, Albert Cooper and Harry Gibbs – were skilled and capable of very fine work. Moira Gibbings helped her husband in the business, and Gibbings kept close links with Coppard. Gibbings knew all the leading wood engravers of the day (he was a founder member and leading light of the Society of Wood Engravers ) and a number of authors, which enabled him to publish modern texts as well as classic ones. The first book for which Gibbings
1200-452: The time and necessitated the press taking precautionary measures against possible prosecutions for obscenity or provocation, such as disguising the names of translators and illustrators. Gallant Ladies was mild in comparison with the Song of Songs (1925) and Procreant Hymn (1926), both illustrated fairly explicitly by Gill. The main defence of the press was that it was a private press, not
1240-528: The time the press was put up for sale, and, to secure publication of this work, he sought a loan from a friend, Hubert Pike, a director of Bentley Motors, to buy the press. He took over in February 1924, paying £850 for the huts housing the business, the plant and goodwill. For the partially completed Gallant Ladies a further sum of £200 was paid. He also leased the house and land for £40 per annum. Gallant Ladies sold well with receipts of over £1,800, and saw
Golden Cockerel Press - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-482: The trees and their tendril-like branches envelope the entire picture plane.The dark subtle colours and evening light give the painting a claustrophobic atmosphere. This painting, completed a few years after the war, is characterised by a sense of bleak desolation that suggests the profound introspection that for many followed the devastation of the war. Although he had a great love of nature Nash often used natural subjects to convey powerful and sensitive thoughts concerning
1320-471: Was a center of the fine press movement, particularly centered on the Ward Ritchie press. In the 1920s, San Francisco became known for the elegant publications of John Henry Nash , and likewise became a fine press center on the west coast. John Nash (artist) John Northcote Nash CBE , RA (11 April 1893 – 23 September 1977) was a British painter of landscapes and still-lifes, and
1360-632: Was educated at Langley Place in Slough and afterwards at Wellington College, Berkshire . He particularly enjoyed botany, but was unsure which career path to take. At first he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Middlesex and Berkshire Gazette , in 1910. His brother became a student at the Slade School of Fine Art the same year, and through his brother Paul, met Claughton Pellew and Dora Carrington . John Nash had no formal art training, but
1400-556: Was encouraged by his brother to develop his abilities as a draughtsman. His early work was in watercolour and included Biblical scenes, comic drawings and landscapes. A joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery, London, in 1913 was successful, and John was invited to become a founder-member of the London Group in 1914. He was an important influence on the work of the artist Dora Carrington (with whom he
1440-431: Was entirely responsible was Moral Maxims by Rochefoucault (1924). Eric Gill was brought into the fold when he quarrelled with Hilary Pepler over the publication of Enid Clay's Sonnets and Verses (1925) and transferred the book to Gibbings. In 1925 he went on to commission engravings from John Nash , Noel Rooke , David Jones , John Farleigh and Mabel Annesley among others. Gibbings published some 71 titles at
1480-755: Was founded by Harold (Hal) Midgley Taylor (1893–1925) in 1920 and was first in Waltham St Lawrence in Berkshire where he had unsuccessfully tried fruit farming. Taylor bought an army surplus hut and assembled it in Waltham St Lawrence as a combined workshop and living quarters. The Press was set up as a cooperative with four partners, Hal Taylor, Barbara Blackburn, Pran Pyper, and Ethelwynne (Gay) Stewart McDowall . In April 1920 Hal Taylor and Gay McDowall had married. The four initially lived at Taylor's mother's house in Beaconsfield and cycled daily to
1520-577: Was in love), and some of her works have been mistaken for his in the past. In 1915 Nash joined Harold Gilman in Robert Bevan 's Cumberland Market Group and in May that year exhibited with Gilman, Charles Ginner and Robert Bevan at the Goupil Gallery . Nash's health initially prevented him enlisting at the outbreak of the First World War but from November 1916 to January 1918 he served in
1560-614: Was over for the day; hence the long shadows cast by the evening sun across the middle of the painting. Nash married Carrington's friend Dorothy Christine Kühlenthal in May 1918. She was the daughter of a German chemist who had settled in Gerrards Cross , Buckinghamshire, and had studied at the Slade. Their only child, William, was born in 1930; he died when he fell out of the back of a moving car in 1935, aged 4. From 1918 to 1921, Nash lived at Gerrard's Cross, with summer expeditions to
1600-473: Was the manager of the Chiswick Press , where production was to be moved. The Golden Cockerel Press ceased to be a private press at this point, and became a publishing house. Sandford worked long hours on management, editing and design. Rutter solicited new books and edited some of them. Newbery's role as the printer was to oversee the production work at the Chiswick Press. The first book published under
#373626