Jay Leonard Master Printer (1 results)
More imagesHowson Taylor : Master Potter: A memoir with an appreciation of Ruskin pottery
POWELL, L. B.; BIRKETT, Thomas (Foreword); JAY, Leonard (master printer); DAY, Kathleen (opening header); BOTHAM, T. E. (lettering on cover); [HILL, Ernest & Catherine]
Published by City of Birmingham School of Printing, Central School of Arts, [Birmingham], 1936
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Quair Books PBFA, Leeds, United KingdomQuair Books PBFA
Contact seller5-star sellerAssociation member: PBFA
Condition: Used - Fine
US$ 166.01
US$ 28.88 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketPaper wrappers. Condition: Fine. FIRST EDITION. Tall side-sewn booklet (25.3 x 16cm), pp. [2 blank], 27, [3, incl. 'Marks used on Ruskin Pottery, 1898-1935)'] + 2 plates, incl. 1 colour. Cream paper wrappers, front wrapper lettered in orange, cord-sewn. Gentle edgewear. Faint, fine spotting to verso of rear wrapper, else, clean,… bright and tight. Birmingham Post clipping (10.02.1978) 'The family fired with enthusiasm,' about the Ruskin Pottery, laid in. Fine. A gorgeous first edition copy of L. B. Powell's illustrated memoir (and memorial) of Ruskin Pottery's master potter, Howson Taylor, printed under the direction of master printer Leonard Jay at the City of Birmingham School of Printing, Central School of Arts and Crafts, with student and staff collaboration, including "Compositors' work by boys in the pre-apprentice classes"; from the library of Jay's friends, the Birmingham-based artists Ernest and Catherine Hill, with their supplied cream paper dust jacket (nicked). The Ruskin Pottery was founded in 1898 by William Howson Taylor's father, Edward R. Taylor, who was headmaster of Birmingham School of Art. Howson Taylor (1876-1935), and the pottery, were renowned for their "remarkable glazes". The pottery closed in July 1935, when Taylor retired (and died in the September); the formulae for the glazes and all the pottery documentation were destroyed to prevent reproductions. Master printer-craftsman and pioneer of printing education, Leonard Jay (1888-1963) came from a family "steeped in printing". An Artisan Art Scholarship allowed Jay to attend the London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts, Holborn from 1909, where "he enrolled on the newly established typography evening classes run by the printer-scholar John Henry Mason" and in 1912 was appointed Mason's first assistant instructor. Diverging from his mentor's focus on traditional hand-processes, Jay "understood if technical education was to succeed it had to work with existing trade practices," and introduced students to commercial printing, demonstrating "that quality bookwork could be produced using modern machinery" (ODNB). In 1925 Jay was appointed the first head of the Birmingham School of Printing, "the largest centre of printing outside London," where he would remain until his retirement in 1953. "Through an innovative publishing programme, Jay provided all students with the opportunity to produce at least one piece of work of great distinction of which they could be justly proud" and under his direction around 150 (the number varies) finely printed books and pamphlets, including this one, were produced by the Department's students and staff. A friend of Jay's, Ernest F. Hill, RBSA (1873-1960) was a British painter, arts educator and Vice President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RSBA). An early Newlyn group member, he worked primarily in watercolour, favouring British landscape and coastal scenes; he exhibited at the Royal Academy until 1946, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, but his paintings were most often hung in Birmingham (CAI, 2021). Hill was Headmaster of the prestigious Bournville School of Art and Crafts, and was well-connected in regional cultural networks, as well as with the Cadbury family. Less in known of Catherine Hill, who was a watercolour artist, print maker and book binder. Their library reflected these interests, featuring numerous arts and crafts, typographical and fine press books, often in excellent condition, thanks to the addition of hand-marbled, clear or paper wrappers (as here).
