Lewis Carroll anecdote

The hand-written sheet reproduced below is an enclosure in a letter of c.1976 from the musician Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994) to his friend the poet (and librettist) Anne Ridler (1912-2001). It recalls the early years of his time as Organist at Christ Church, Oxford, where he heard from the then Dean, Dr Thomas Banks Strong (1861-1944), a story about C.L.Dodgson.

'Dr Strong told me that when he was first made a member of the S[enior]. C[ommon]. R[oom]. at Ch[rist]: Ch[urch]: they used to dine on Sundays at 5.30 pm or 6 o'clock. A senior clerical student, the Revd T.J.Prout, (I hope the initials are correct) was vicar of Binsey. One dank foggy Sunday evening in late November C.L.Dodgson came in to dinner, and said, as he took his seat, "I have today walked out to Binsey for evensong with my friend Prout for the last time. As I sat, listening to his sermon, the wet green things grew up the legs of my trousers". If you remember what Binsey church was like in the winter even a generation ago you'll realize that this was no exaggeration.' Sold.

Johnson's Typographia, 1824

JOHNSON (John)  Typographia, or the Printers' Instructor; including an Account of the Origin of Printing. With biographical notices...a series of ancient and modern alphabets...an elucidation of every subject connected with the art. London: Longman, Hunt, Rees, Orme Brown & Green, 1824. 

   2 vols. 8vo. Port. of Caxton, pp. [xii], 610, [10] (index); port. of Johnson, pp.[iv], iv, 664, [16] (index). Numerous engr. illusts. Uncut in orig. cloth-backed boards, printed spine labels (partly worn away in vol.2). Covers worn. Sound. First few leaves of second vol. a little water-stained at the head, otherwise internally clean and bright. The smaller of the two large paper editions. Scarce in this uncut state. Bigmore & Wyman I, 371-3; PHS E12.  (Stock ref 1117) £225

 

Imprimatur

BAUERSCHE GIESSEREI Imprimatur. Frankfurt a.M.: n.d. [1955]. 4to printed card portfolio containing 32 loose specimens of the type in use. Designed by Walter Baum.   (Stock ref 2276) £25

Volta

BAUERSCHE GIESSEREI Volta. Frankfurt a.M.: n.d. [1955]. 4to printed card portfolio containing 30 loose specimens of the type in use. A Clarendon revival, somewhat modernised, designed by Konrad Friedrich Bauer and Walter Baum. (Stock ref 2277) £25

Futura

BAUERSCHE GIESSEREI Futura. Nach zeichnungen von Paul Renner in zwanzig Garnituren geschnitten. [Together with:] Futura. Anwendungen. Frankfurt a.M.: n.d. [c.1955]. 2 vols. 4to. Pp.[24], paperback, sewn, and a printed card portfolio containing 28 loose specimens of the type in use.  (Stock ref 2275)  Sold.

Samuel Jones & Co., Noncurling Gummed Papers, c.1935

JONES (Samuel) & Co.[Gummed & Coated Paper Makers]: [Cover title:] Noncurling Gummed Papers. [Inner title:] Samples and suggestions for users of gummed papers. London: Bridewell Place EC4, n.d. [c.1935]. Oblong 4to. 7 leaves of prelims & c.100 leaves of specimens, in a variety of weights, colours and finishes, printed rectos only. Gummed papers for every conceivable use in package labelling, advertising and decoration. A striking and unusual trade catalogue in fine condition. Orig. gold, silver and red embossed cloth boards. Slipcase. In orig. mailing box (worn).  (Stock ref 2269) SOLD

Paul Koch, Fritz Arnold and the Fursteneck Press

FURSTENECK (Werkstatt Haus zum) [Paul KOCH & Fritz ARNOLD]: A large collection of printed work, some from the handpress, consisting largely of music printing and diverse jobbing ephemera, together with a few examples of work designed or originated but not printed by the Werkstatt. Frankfurt am Main: 1933-40 (for the most part). 

   Various sizes, from broadsheet to small ex-libris, approx. 100 pieces (including a few duplicates), 61 mounted (including a few pamphlets) on 31 pieces of green card, 30 x 24.5cm, and 39 loose, together with 6 loose pamphlets (five sewn into wrappers), 5 books, cloth or boards (including J.S.Bach, Drei Menuette, printed (and signed) by Paul Koch, the Officina Vindobonensis, Vienna, 1932, for Georg Kallmeyer, Wollfenbuttel-Berlin), and copies of three contemporary periodicals featuring articles by or about Koch, one of which is inscribed by him. The Bach Menuette is lacking its backstrip, two of the other books are a little rubbed, otherwise the collection is in fine condition.

   The collection includes bookplates, handbills, concert programmes, two fine broadside calendars for the years 1936 and 1938, a striking coloured decorative map by Willi Harwerth, and several fine examples of Paul Koch’s music printing, in various formats. Some pieces include signs, decorations or vignettes, some hand-coloured, by Rudolf Koch, Fritz Kredel, Willi Harwerth, Karl Vollmer and others. Most employ types designed by Rudolph Koch or Victor Hammer.

   The core of this collection originated in a visit to Koch in Frankfurt in August 1936 by Vivian Ridler, David Bland and Thea Brown. Ridler and Bland were planning a book on Koch’s work to be published the following year by their (semi-private) Perpetua Press. Unfortunately this project was overtaken by events: first, both men’s need to commence settled careers, Ridler initially as assistant to John Johnson at the University Press, Oxford, Bland as production manager at Faber (both jobs began around April 1937), and then the catastrophe of world war which neither Fritz Arnold nor Paul Koch would survive.

   See Jerry Cinamon, ‘Paul Koch, Master Printer of Music’, and ‘Paul Koch and Fritz Arnold’, The Private Library, 6^th Series, 2:3, Autumn 2009, pp.132-48; 2:4, Winter 2009, pp.170-85. Also Will Carter (another visitor to Koch), ‘It all started in Frankfurt in 1938’, pp.113-15 in ABC-XYZapf, ed. by John Dreyfus & K.Erichson, London, 1989. Sold.