James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection, ca. 1901-1952, 1971

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Summary

Extent:
.8 linear feet (2 document boxes)
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection was purchased in conjunction with the UCSB Libraries 500,000th volume celebration in 1968. It contains the collection of manuscripts, as well as a number of printed items that have been cataloged individually and may be searched in Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog. The cataloged items primarily are monographs, but also include a few issues of serials printed by Pear Tree, some prospectuses, announcements, publication lists, and proof sheets.

The manuscripts are arranged in the following series: General, Correspondence, Publications of the Pear Tree Press and James J. Guthrie, and Miscellany.

Biographical / historical:

James J. Guthrie (1874-1952), a Scotsman who moved to London as a child, was the founder of Pear Tree Press, which began in 1899, at a time when Guthrie was living at Pear Tree Cottage in Ingrave, Essex, England. Guthrie moved the press to Shorne in Kent, then Harting in Sussex, before settling at Flansham, near Bognor Regis, Sussex in 1907. An artist, typographer, and printer, Guthrie throughout his life was particularly interested in intaglio printing. Two of his favorite pursuits were wood engraving and book plate design. The first book issued by his Pear Tree Press was Some Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, with drawing by Guthrie, 1901 and the last, 50 years later, seems to have been his work From a Sussex Village, printed at the Mermaid Press in Flansham in 1951 as a contribution to the Festival of Britain.

Further information on Guthrie and the Pear Tree Press may be found in:

Dugan, Frances l. S. "The Press of an Artist," Sonderabdruck aus dem Gutenberg-Harbuch, 1953.Eckert, Robert P., Jr. "James Guthrie and the Pear Tree Press," The American Book Collector, 13 (1963): 13-33.Ransom, Will. Private Presses and Their Books (New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1929), pp.88-91.

Acquisition information:
Bulk of collection purchased in 1968, with subsequent purchases to ca. 1988.
Physical location:
Del Sur

Access and use

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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