BRUCE ROGERS TYPOGRAPHER AND BOOK DESIGNER – PROSPECTUS COLLECTION

BRUCE ROGERS TYPOGRAPHER AND BOOK DESIGNER – PROSPECTUSES FOR FIVE WORKS

FROM WIKIPEDIA – Bruce Rogers (May 14, 1870 – May 21, 1957) was an American typographer and type designer, acclaimed by some as among the greatest book designers of the twentieth century. Rogers was known for his “allusive” typography, rejecting modernism, seldom using asymmetrical arrangements, rarely using sans serif type faces, often favoring faces such as Bell (at the time known only as Brimmer), Caslon, his own Montaigne, a Jensonian precursor to his masterpiece of type design Centaur. His books can fetch high sums at auction.

OFFERED AS A LOT – I have a collection of pre-publication prospectus for five works he was involved with. Included are:
1 – AN ACCOUNT OF THE MAKING OF THE OXFORD LECTRN BIBLE – (with original mailing envelope with pencilled date July 16, 1936) – 15 page booklet measuring about 8 by 11 inches. Laid in is four page THE FOLIO BIBLE by Bruce Rogers, also a newspaper article which has caused some offset foxing to page 1.
2 – PRELUDE TO MAN – prospectus from The Peter Pauper Press. Large four pages (folded in half) with sample page. Separate list of subscribers as of February 1st, 1936., with order form. I see no mention of Rogers, but this in the same collection we purchased of early 20th century literature from a well-heeled family collection.
3 – A PAPERMAKING PILGRIMAGES TO JAPAN, KOREA, AND CHINA, by Dard Hunter – Pension Printers prospectus dated November, 1935. 10 pages, two illustrations as seen below. Laid in is order form and return envelope, the flap of which stuck decades ago to the form. Again — I see no mention of Rogers, but this in the same collection we purchased of an early 20th century literature collection.
4 – GUTENBERG AND THE STRASBOURG DOCUMENTS OF 1439 An Interpretation by Otto W. Fuhrmann – Press of the Woolly Whale, New York, 1940. Six page fold-out prospectus, laid in return envelope to order from The Argus Book Shop in Chicago, partial list of subscribers, and one page sheet “500th Anniversary Publication” mentioning “…144 pages, all hand set in the fourteen point Centaur type of Bruce Rogers.
5 – SOME NOTES UPON A PROJECT FOR AN ILLUSTRATED SHAKESPEARE – Note on Format by Bruce Rogers – Note upon text by Herbert Farjeon – Note on project by George Macy. this is the prospectus for the Limited Editions Club edition – 16 internal pages with title page, sample text and illustrations. Business reply envelope laid in. Prospectus measures about 8 1/2 by 12 3/4 inches with some light bumps and folds.