Cobden-Sanderson Binding 1886 The Princess for Mitford

Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (; 2 December 1840 – 7 September 1922) was an English artist and bookbinder associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.

Life

Sanderson was born in Alnwick, Northumberland. His father, James, was a District Surveyor of taxes, thirteen years younger than his wife, Mary Ann (née Rutherford How). Sanderson attended a number of schools including the

Royal Grammar School Worcester The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester or RGSW) is an eleven-eighteen mixed, independent day school and sixth form in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Founded before 1291, it is one of the oldest British independent d ...

before entering Owen's College (

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

) and then Trinity College, Cambridge to study law. He left without taking a degree, and entered Lincoln's Inn as a barrister. In 1882 he married (Julia Sarah) Anne Cobden, a socialist, and daughter of

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...

, and they both took the surname Cobden-Sanderson. As a friend of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, Cobden-Sanderson was involved with the Arts and Crafts ideology, and during a dinner party with the Morrises he was persuaded by Morris's wife

Jane Burden Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband William ...

to take up book-binding. In about 1884 he opened a workshop, abandoning his law practice. In 1887 Cobden-Sanderson suggested a new group be named the "Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society," and in so doing gave the movement its name. His wife was concerned that his interests were too abstract and she encouraged him to become a bookbinder. In 1893 he set up the Doves

Bindery Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of (usually) paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made ...

in Hammersmith, London, naming it after a nearby pub, The Dove. It was his wife who took credit for keeping the business running. By 1900 he had established the Doves Press.

Emery Walker Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers G ...

became a partner in 1900 and oversaw the creation of the Doves Type used for all of their books. They produced a number of

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker com ...

books, including a five-volume Doves Bible. By 1909 Cobden-Sanderson and his partner Emery Walker were at the height of a protracted and bitter dispute involving the rights to the Doves Type in the dissolution of their partnership. As part of the partnership dissolution agreement, all rights to the Doves Type were to pass to Emery Walker upon the death of Cobden-Sanderson. Yet, when the press closed in 1916 Cobden-Sanderson threw the type along with its punches and

matrices Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

into the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. In this time, as there was no digitization, destroying the punches and matrices constituted destroying the typeface itself. Until recently the Doves Typeface was thought to have been lost forever. However, a digital version of the typeface was painstakingly recreated by Robert Green from 2010 to 2013. In 2015, after searching the riverbed of the

near

Hammersmith Bridge Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the north side of the river, and Barnes in the London Borough ...

with help from the Port of London Authority, Green managed to recover 150 pieces of the original type. Cobden-Sanderson was a friend of John Russell, Viscount Amberley and his wife

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

, and made godfather of their son, the Nobel Prize in Literature-winning philosopher and activist

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

; it 'had been long arranged that, boy or girl, (he) was to be godfather'.The Life of Bertrand Russell, Ronald W. Clark, Penguin Books, 1978, pg 424 Amberley had hoped that, in the event of his death, Cobden-Sanderson and the other godfather, biologist D. A. Spalding (who had tutored the Amberleys' children and lived in the household), as staunch atheists, would shield his son from a religious upbringing; after his parents' deaths Bertrand was however taken in by his grandparents,

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...

(Prime Minister from 1846–52, and again from 1865-6) and his second wife, Frances, daughter of Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto, under threat of legal action.The Life of Bertrand Russell, Ronald W. Clark, Penguin Books, 1978, pg 27-8 When Russell was convicted in 1918 for a public lecture against inviting the United States to participate in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

on the side of the United Kingdom, Cobden-Sanderson sent an encouraging letter of support ('with old and constant affection') expressing that he wished Russell's mother was alive to see her son's actions, part of what he considered 'a life fitted to the wonderful scene about (Russell)'.

References

External links

* *
T.J. Cobden-Sanderson Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

* *
The Doves Type
at typespec.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobden Sanderson, T.J. Sanderson, T. J. Cobden Sanderson, T. J. Cobden Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Sanderson, T. J. Cobden Bookbinders Sanderson, T J Cobden Sanderson, T. J. Cobden Private press movement people

Life

References

Further reading

External links