The Doves Press was a

private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on Book design ...

based in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London. During nearly seventeen years of operation, Doves Press produced notable examples of twentieth-century typography. A distinguishing feature of its books was a specially-devised

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

, known variously as Doves Roman, Doves Press Fount of Type, or simply Doves Type.

Doves Press publishing business

Financed by Anne Cobden-Sanderson, Doves Press was founded by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson sometime before 1900 (when he invited his friend and neighbour Emery Walker to join him). Their partnership was dissolved in 1908, but Cobden-Sanderson continued printing. Cobden-Sanderson had commissioned the press's own typeface Doves Type which was drawn under the supervision of Walker. The Doves Bindery, which Cobden-Sanderson had set up in 1893, bound the books he and Walker printed. The press produced all its books using a single 16-point size of this house typeface between 1900 and 1916. The press is considered to have been a significant contributor to the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

, whose founders were associated with

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

and the Kelmscott Press. The capital letters of Doves Type were based on

s used by

Nicolas Jenson Nicholas (or Nicolas) Jenson (c. 1420–1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours and is credited with being the cr ...

in the 1470s and the lowercase letters were based on typefaces used by Jacobus Rubeus. Atypical punctuation, extremely wide capitals, and an offset dot of the letter 'i' were distinctive features of the typeface. Doves Type was similar to William Morris's earlier Golden Type and, like it, was cut by punchcutter Edward Prince. The press was located at No. 1 Hammersmith Terrace. It was named after The Dove, Hammersmith, a nearby riverside pub. The Doves Press was responsible for the Doves Bible (5 vols, 1902–1904), which the ''

Columbia Encyclopedia The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University Columbi ...

'' considered one of the best examples of its kind.

The Doves Type dispute

By 1909, on the dissolution of their partnership, Cobden-Sanderson and Walker were in a protracted and bitter dispute involving the rights to Doves Type. As part of the partnership dissolution agreement, all rights to Doves Type were to pass to Walker upon the death of Cobden-Sanderson. Instead of letting this happen, on Good Friday, 21 March 1913, Cobden-Sanderson threw the

matrices Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the ...

and punches into the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

off Hammersmith Bridge in London, a short walk from the press. In the journals of Cobden-Sanderson, however, he recorded that he began the destruction of the typeface matrices and punches three years later, beginning on 31 August 1916 at midnight, when "it seemed a suitable night, and time". He is said to have completed the task in January 1917, after 170 trips to the river, although his Journals do not mention the culmination.

Re-creating Doves Type

The first digital revival of Doves Type was made in 1994 by Swedish designer Torbjörn Olsson, who added an italic font for the typeface. His fonts reproduce the soft corners and imperfections of the printed characters. In 2013, designer Robert Green began to create a more polished digital version of Doves Type. In 2015, after searching the riverbed of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge with help from the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

, Green managed to recover 150 pieces of the original type, which helped him to refine the re-created typeface. Two variants of Green's re-created Doves Type, Text and Headline fonts, are now distributed by Typespec. The Headline variant is used by the Thames Tideway Scheme for architectural lettering. Other digital revival projects include "Mebinac" by Alan Hayward as well as "Thames-Capsule" by Raphaël Verona and Gaël Faure.

References

Sources

External links

Doves Type at Typespec official website''An Obsessive Type''
a BBC Radio 4 documentary, first broadcast in 2016 {{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Small press publishing companies Private press movement