It’s Fine Press Friday!
This Friday we present the 1933 Nonesuch Press edition of English author and museum curator James Laver’s Ladies’ Mistakes with nine drawings by English artist Thomas Lowinsky reproduced from line blocks and printed in an edition of 300 copies at the Fanfare Press in Monotype Caslon with Falstaff titling on Batchelor and Sons hammer and anvil handmade paper.
The book consists of three narrative poems by Laver, two of which were previously published separately by Nonesuch (A Stitch in Time, or Pride Prevents a Fall, 1927, and Love’s Progress, or The Education of Araminta, 1929), along with a new poem, “Cupid’s Changeling, or The Lady’s Mistake.” Nonesuch Press was founded in 1922 by Francis Meynell, who applied the fine-press model to commercial publishing. This limited edition, plus an unlimited edition on cream laid paper, was distributed commercially in America by Random House.
Thomas Lowinsky was a favorite illustrator at Nonesuch, producing illustrations for four Nonesuch publications. Meynell explained that he favored Lowinsky because he “had what one might call a proud subordination. He was completely convinced that ‘the book’s the thing’; and he rejoiced in the discipline of making his line suit the ‘colour’ of the type with which it was to be associated, and of making his shapes suit the page.”
Our copy is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.
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