Horace Walpole and the Strawberry Hill Press, 1757-1789

Kirgate Press, Canton, first edition, 1901. Limited edition of 300 copies, printed on hand-made apaper. Parchment-backed boards, paper spine-label, marbled endpapers, small 8vo, 20 cm,. 86 pp, 2 plates, 8 facs. From the text: "In his 'Short Notes on My Life' Walpole records June 25, 1757 as the date of the establishment of the Strawberry Hill press. He had fitted up as a printing office an untenanted cottage on his estate and employed as his printer one William Robinson. The step from collecting rare books to making them, Walpole found a natural one, and his enthusiasm over his new amusement, expressed in his letters, seems genuine, and makes pleasant reading for the bookman of today." Sabor comments: "A useful study of the foundation and operation of Walpole's press.Contains several inaccuracies about the printing of individual items, corrected by Hazen". Havens provides a list of the publications of the press including the “ Loose Pieces,” and the illustrations include a portrait not previously published, from an original pencil drawing by T. Gosden, of Thomas Kirgate, Horace Walpole's printer at Strawberry Hill for over thirty years. Front hinge slightly pulled, spine and spine-label darkened, otherwise Good. Spare spine-label tipped-in at end.