|
Background: |
|
The Golden
Cockerel Press
is famous for
its magnificent
edition of the
Four Gospels,
but in the
1940’s, some of
its other
publications
attracted even
more press
comment—the
books written or
edited by one of
Winston
Churchill’s
protégés, the
young Member of
Parliament
Somerset de
Chair. The
lecture will
consider De
Chair’s books
published by the
Golden Cockerel
Press: why they
were so
successful at
the time, why
artists and
printers liked
to work on them,
why they fell
into disfavor,
and why they are
worth seeking
out today. The
talk is based on
Cave’s use of
the records of
the Golden
Cockerel Press
and past
conversations
with Somerset de
Chair.
Roderick Cave is
a researcher,
writer, and
lecturer on the
history of
printing, and
co-author of the
just published
History of
the Golden
Cockerel Press,
1920-1960.
Formerly
Foundation
Professor of
Librarianship at
Victoria
University of
Wellington (New
Zealand) and
head of
Information
Studies at
Nanyang
University,
Singapore, Cave
also has
previous
experience
teaching in
Jamaica,
Trinidad, and
Nigeria as well
as in Britain
and the United
States. He is
probably best
known for his
history The
Private Press,
first published
in 1971, and
still a standard
in the field.
Cave was also
founding editor
of the annual
bibliography
Private Press
Books
(1959-) and has
written in a
wide range of
journals on
aspects of
private presses
and modern fine
printing,
particularly in
the Whittington
Press’s
distinguished
annual Matrix,
of which every
volume since
1984 has
included one or
more of his
articles.
|
