Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2021 Issue

American Arts and Crafts Museum Opens in St. Petersburg

The American Arts and Crafts Museum (from the museum's website).

The American Arts and Crafts Museum (from the museum's website).

A museum dedicated to the American Arts and Crafts movement recently opened in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded by local philanthropist Rudy Ciccarello, it is an impressive structure, “a work of art itself” as noted on the museum's website. It is a five-story building containing 137,000 square feet of space. Along with 40,000 feet of galleries, there is a store, café, restaurant with private dining rooms, reference library, theater, studio, event space for weddings and other occasions, and outdoor green space. It is located in the city's downtown arts district.

 

The Arts and Crafts movement developed in Britain in the second half of the 19th century. It was a reaction to the rapid industrialization of that era. Factories were poring out goods made by machines, cheaper and more plentiful than those made by hand, but often of inferior quality and lesser beauty. People from various art forms rebelled against the development, seeking a return to more basic but beautiful creations, better combining form and appearance. The leader of this movement was William Morris, a British textile designer, later author, fervent socialist, and finally, book publisher. It is that final calling in life that ties Morris so closely with the fine press movement and makes it such a fundamental part of the arts and crafts movement.

 

It was also Morris' ardent socialism that connected the movement to egalitarian political beliefs. Guilds were formed with artists working together, while the focus on hand-crafting led naturally to favoring workers' rights vis-a-vis industrialists who replaced artisans with machines.

 

Morris founded the Kelmscott Press in 1891, and for the remaining five years of his life it was the primary focus of his attention. It was his answer to the poor quality frequently emerging from the new rotary presses. He returned to hand-printing, and designed his books himself, their resembling more the books of centuries earlier than the mass-produced ones of the late 19th century. His most notable creation was his edition of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, known simply as the Kelmscott Chaucer. In all, the Kelmscott Press published 53 books, 23 written by Morris, between 1891 and 1898, two years after Morris' death, when all of the projects he started were completed.

 

The Arts and Crafts movement soon spread to Europe and then America. Along with its impact in various types of art, Morris' presence made it very influential in the book world. The private press, featuring hand-printing, beautiful designs, and limited print runs, became a fixture in fine printing in America. This type of printing remains at the center of books as art today, though styles have changed at times. High quality workmanship and beauty are a major part of the collectible book world, even if automated presses printing reading copies in high volumes dominate the mass market.

 

Among the first two exhibitions is one from a name well-known to American private press collectors. It is that of Roycroft. Roycroft was a community of artists and craftsmen formed in upstate New York by Elbert Hubbard in 1895. The participants, known as “Roycrofters,” were followers of the Arts and Crafts movement. Eventually, there were almost 500 people working at Roycroft, with the guild operating from 14 buildings. The campus remains today as a historic site. It all started after Hubbard visited Europe, where he met Morris. Hubbard wrote a book, but found himself unable to find a publisher. Thus was born the Roycroft Press. At its height, Hubbard had assembled a team of printers, typesetters, designers and bookbinders. Eventually, this led to the establishment of furniture, leather, metalworking, pottery, jewelry, lighting and other shops. It all grew out of his book business (sort of like Amazon!).

 

Hubbard died in the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, a victim of World War I. Management went to his son, but the cooperative fell into a long period of decline, finally closing in 1938. Today, many people collect Roycroft books, that have the advantage of not being nearly as pricey as those from Kelmscott and some other private presses. Most were printed in sizable runs and consequently aren't that rare. Ones published after Hubbard's death, in particular, are less expensive and form a great starting point for new collectors.

 

The other initial exhibition is entitled Lenses Embracing the Beautiful: Pictorial Photographs from the Two Red Roses Foundation. It displays photographs and rare books from around the world, from the 1890s to 1940s. Both exhibitions run through January 9, 2022.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
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    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
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    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
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    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
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    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
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    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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