Devils Devices by Douglas Pepler, First Edition (15 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Eric Gill (illustrator). 1st Edition. Attractive illustrative binding by Eric Gill, illustrated with woodcuts by Gill. Internally clean with uncut pages. End papers show browning and front of binding has slight wear. Overall very good copy.

Condition: Sehr gut. First Edition. Octavo. Frontispiece, 125 pages with woodcuts throughout the publication. Hardcover / Original publisher's illustrated Hardcover in protective Mylar. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Hilary Pepler, also known as Douglas Pepler, was born at Eastbourne to a Quaker family and educated at Bootham School. After school, he tried several occupations including land surveying, the tea trade and engineering. In the early 1900s, Pepler moved to Hammersmith, London with his wife Clare Whiteman, and obtained employment with London City Council in the department of child-care. He developed an interest in social theory and how to improve the lives of working people in the face of industrialisation, writing several tracts on the subject. On a practical level, he was instrumental in the introduction of free school meals; by any standards, a very considerable achievement. His experience of Social Work however, left him skeptical as to the ultimate value of such initiatives and most inclined to support self-help as a better means of eradicating poverty. Hammersmith at the time was something of an Arts and Crafts enclave and Pepler became deeply involved in the movement and the socialist politics of Fabianism. He soon became friends with Edward Johnston, later meeting Eric Gill. These three formed a close bond, spending many hours debating social and artistic issues. Pepler with Susan and Stephen (1916). Notwithstanding Gill's move to Ditchling in 1907, Pepler continued to develop his ideas and maintained contact. One major initiative that he was involved in was founding the Hampshire House Club in 1907, a working men's club in Hammersmith with a strong political and didactic agenda. When war broke out, the organisation was used as a basis to organise workshop facilities for refugee Belgian craftsmen in a structure not unlike what the Guild was to become. Indeed, lessons learnt from this experience were to inform the way the Guild was set up. Another major project for Pepler was writing The Devil's Devices which was published in 1915 by Hampshire House itself. It is a satire, not just opposing capitalism and industrialisation, but also Trade Unionism, Government and even general education which he sees as an unnecessary distraction in the lives of the working classes. He gives support to the Distributist ideas of small workshops, owned by the workers, as the preferable mode of economic entity but goes beyond most thinkers by declaring everything else being the work of the devil. What he seems to be proposing borders on a benign form of anarchy with no central provision, and his views have obviously moved a long way beyond what could be appropriate for an official with LCC. It is of little surprise that he was by now looking for different employment. (Source: The Guild of St.Joseph and St. Dominic).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. First Edition; First Printing. 2nd book illustrated by Gill. 11 woodcut illustrations by Gill; title page duplicated on the cover. Spinhe slightly darkened; faint scrape on rear. Some uncut pages. Beautiful copy. ; 5" x 7-1/2"; 123 pages.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Gill, Eric (illustrator). First and Limited Edition. First printing, one of 1500 copies, octavo size, 136 pp. Eric Gill (1882-1940) and Douglas Pepler (1878-1951) worked together for many years, founding the St Dominic's Press and creating numerous splendid works of art and writing. This collection of essays takes a look at the society of the time, examining the relationships among people, situations of work, and the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Eric Gill provides woodcuts to illustrate the text, several full-page images and several in-text; with a simplistic approach to detail, Gill creates scenes of both acute observation and satire. ___DESCRIPTION: Custom binding in half-green leather with marbled paper over boards, fore- and bottom edges uncut, title page silhouette woodcut by Eric Gill with other cuts throughout the text; octavo size (8" x 5 1/4"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-viii, 1-123 [124-128], one of 1500 copies. ___CONDITION: Very good overall, the leather is smooth and supple, the marbled boards are clean and unrubbed, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the text pages clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; we are grading as very good due to soiling and a small area of old dampstaining on the half title, and the the text block edges (particularly the fore- and bottom edges which are uncut), show uniform soiling. ___CITATION: Bibliography of Eric Gill 259. ___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Eric Gill (illustrator). First Edition. An early collaboration between Eric Gill and Pepler who would go on to work together in many ways including at the more famous St Dominic's Press in Ditchling. The Gill illustrations are slightly atypical in style making them all the more interesting. The printed paper boards are lightly rubbed and the cloth at the spine has a nick over the front hinge. The interior is bright and clean. Front free endpaper seems to have been removed. The half-title lacks (or perhaps never had) the bottom centimetre. Size: Octavo . Illustrator: Eric Gill. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Religion & Theology; Inventory No: 77308.

1st Edition [Gill/Corey/Mackenzie 259]. viii, 123, [5] pp. B/w woodcut illustrations by Eric Gill. 7-1/2" x 5" A solid copy of the second book Gill illustrated, with a total of 11 woodcuts including the five triangular devices. One of 1300 non-"proof" copies priced at 2s. 6d. A bit cocked. Extremity wear; spine darkened; spotting to boards; abrasion to paper overlay of rear board. Internally clean and sound overall, with only minor foxing to endpapers and occasional very minor soil to margins. About VG. Beige quarter cloth stamped in black, red paper over boards printed in black.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good+. First Edition. VG+ or better -- free of all markings, no bumps, trivial wear. Small 8vo. viii, 123p, 1 leaf ads. Illustrated with 12 full-page images and devices, all but one from wood-engravings by Eric Gill. Bound in quarter canvas with black titles over red printed boards repeating the title page engraving. Nice bright copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Red board covers with the pale cloth spine. Covers faded from the edges, front and back. Spine toned. Faces a little rubbed. Binding tight. Spotting to faces of page block and to pastedowns and endpapers. Half-title a little spotted but the bulk of the text with only minor spotting. No further markings or inscriptions. Woodcuts by Eric Gill. 125pp followed by one page of adverts. Loosely inserted to the front is a compliments card from Leonard Gray, Honorary Printer at the Friend's Press, Cambridge with a hand-written note initialled by him, to the rear. Further information available on request. (Ud5).

, viii, 123 pages, [3], with woodcuts throughout by Eric Gill First Edition , covers rubbed around the edges, internally clean, repair to half title page, book in good+ condition , quarter beige cloth, red paper boards with printed titles and design Octavo, 19 x 13 cm Hardback ISBN:

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of the second book illustrated by Gill. 8vo. 123pp + i publisher's advertisement. Lettered canvas-backed paper-covered boards featuring a wood engraving by Gill. With a title page wood cut ('Dumb Driven Cattle', reproduced on the upper board) and a further ten wood cut illustrations and devices. Tips of corners rubbed, boards lightly chafed, and the backstrip lightly tanned. Very good. 1,500 copies were printed. Evan Gill 259.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. The scarce paper wraps issue, in original paper covers, with red titles and woodcut to front. Moderate handling and edge-wear to covers, with mild crease to front cover and half-title leaf; toning to covers and edges, with some light red staining to upper fore-edge. Otherwise clean, tight and unmarked. A sound and tidy copy. viii,123+3[incl. colophon]+1[publisher's list]+1[blank]pp.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. With woodcuts by Eric Gill. Illustrated red boards, black cloth spine. Covers slightly rubbed. Nice copy. Bookplate of Evan Gill.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (7.5 x 5.2 inches). Illustrated with 12 wood engravings. One of 1500 copies. Inscribed by Gill on the front free endpaper "Eric Gill for H. Davis, 22.3.28". A very good copy in original grey canvas spine, lettered in black, with red paper covered boards with black lettering and illustration to the front board. Some loss to the paper on the boards, affecting 7 letters of the address at the bottom. Spine with just a little darkening. Overall a very good copy. Uncommon inscribed by Gill. --Evan Gill. Bibliography of Eric Gill. No. 259. Inscribed by Illustrator(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Number 49 of 200 "proof" copies, signed by the author and artist (with a colophon substituting the half-title). 12 illustrations from wood-engravings by Eric Gill. Canvas-backed pictorial red paper boards, lettered up the spine. A very good bright copy. Printed at the Westminster Press. Not counted by Taylor & Sewell as a Saint Dominic's Press production, though frequently associated with that Press. 1500 copies were printed in total. Pepler has actually numbered this copy twice, having thought that his first attempt looked a bit like '64'. He has added his initials to the correction. (Gill 259). Signed by Author(s).

6 wood cuts and 5 triangular devices by Eric Gill. Copy no.10 (x) of 200 numbered "proof" copies, inscribed and signed by Douglas Pepler. 12mo., original quarter smooth canvas with red paper covered pictorial boards, with Dumb Driven Cattle by Gill on the upper cover, a little rubbing to extremities and darkening to spine, otherwise a good and bright copy of this early Gill work and collaboration with Pepler. Seen as the precursor to the S. Dominic's Press with its early Gill engraving and close collaboration between Gill and Pepler. This copy is inscribed by Pepler for R.N. Green Armytage, a friend of the Guild members at Ditchling: "We gave up this game as too proud. Douglas Pepler". Pepler has also written a personal note to Green Armytage which is tipped in, dated from Ditchling, 26. VI. 19 and with the Guild mark in ink. He writes about The Game magazine and some beautiful verses received from Fr John which just missed going into the first edition of The Game. Also tipped in is a page monogrammed and dated 1955 by an owner of the book Stanley Scott who explains that The Game in the letter is the magazine produced at St Dominic's Press and 'the game' in the inscription is that of signing copies of the book. At the time this book was published, Pepler worked for the London County Council and was the organiser of the first school meals service in London. The Devil's Devices, a sociological satire, reflect his social concerns at the time and reflects on wealth and capitalism with some very interesting use of page design and printing. Printed at the Westminster Press, 441a Harrow Road, just down from our current shop.