Biographical Note
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Conditions Governing Access
Provenance
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Allen Press and Dorothy and Lewis Allen Ephemera Collection
Identifier/Call Number: Press coll. Archives Allen
Physical Description:
2 boxes
2 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1943-1991
Abstract: The Allen Press was a private press founded in 1939 by Lewis and Dorothy Allen and based in the San Francisco Bay area. This
collection includes printed ephemera (predominantly prospectuses), photographs, and correspondence.
Biographical Note
The Allen Press, also referred to as L-D Allen Press, was a private press based in the San Francisco Bay area, founded in
1939 by husband and wife team Lewis and Dorothy Allen. Lewis Allen met Dorothy Caswell when they both studied at the University
of California, Berkeley. The Allens were particularly fascinated by books produced by Aldus Manutius, William Morris, John
Henry Nash, and the Grabhorns (to name a few). These noted presses served as an inspiration for Lewis and Dorothy's work as
full-time hand-press printers.
The Allen Press was founded shortly after their marriage and they produced their first book in 1939. This book, with on hundred
copies printed, was The Trail of Beauty by Lewis' father, Harris Sterns Allen. Lewis' father also served as a catalyst for
their printing ambitions. The Allen Press performed all facets of bookmaking: selection of text, typography, choice of materials
and colors, hand-set types hand-printed on handmade paper, illumination, occasionally illustrations, binding, and marketing.
In the selection of text, the Allens favored readability, depth of thought, and imaginative qualities.
The following editions are considered the most successful by Lewis and Dorothy Allen: Roughing It In California; The Noble
Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne; Murders in the Rue Morgue; Youth; The Splendid Idle Forties; Four Poems of the Occult; The
Mirrour of Genesis; Jealousy; Christopher Columbus; The Bacchae; All For Love; Persian Stories from the Arabian Nights.
Over the course of their careers, the Allens produced a large collection of ephemera consisting of prospectuses of their books,
labels, announcements, Christmas cards, and broadsides of various types.
Information sourced from the records themselves and from The Allen Press Bibliography that can be found at the William Andrews
Clark Library, UCLA.
Scope and Contents
The collection is comprised of ephemera created by the Allen Press, particularly prospectuses for their books. Most of the
prospectuses are small broadsides folded for mailing. All of the prospectuses served as samples of the Allens's work and provided
detailed information about each book. A reply card and return envelope were usually mailed with the prospectuses. Some orders
were directed to the Allens and other orders directed to the Argonaut Bookshop in San Francisco.
The collection also includes ephemera for the Book Club of California and Roxburghe Club of San Francisco as well as envelopes,
labels, announcements, exhibit postcards, and correspondence with Margot and H. Richard Archer, the latter of whom was a librarian
at the Clark Library in the 1940s and 1950s.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following series:
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Prospectuses
Series 3. Book Club of California
Series 4. Roxburghe Club of San Francisco
Series 5. Miscellaneous Ephemera
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Provenance
The provenance of this collection is unclear. It is possible that this collection was formed over time by Clark Library staff,
with donations from H. Richard Archer.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Small presses -- California -- 20th century
Private presses -- California -- 20th century