Preliminary Guide to the James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection
Processed by Preliminary arrangement and description by D. Tambo
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
© 2003
Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Preliminary Guide to the James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection, ca. 1901-1952, 1971
Collection number: Printers Mss 11
Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara
Contact Information:
- Department of Special Collections
- Davidson Library
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Santa Barbara, CA 93106
- Phone: (805) 893-3062
- Fax: (805) 893-5749
- Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
- URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
- Processed by:
- Preliminary arrangement and description by D. Tambo
- Date Completed:
-
15 October 2003
- Encoded by:
- David C. Gartrell
© 2003 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1901-1952, 1971
Collection Number: Printers Mss 11
Extent:
.8 linear feet
(2 document boxes)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Del Sur
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
None.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Preferred Citation
James J. Guthrie - Pear Tree Press Collection. Printers Mss 11. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Bulk of collection purchased in 1968, with subsequent purchases to ca. 1988.
Biography
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Series 1.
General
Scope and Content Note
Material about Guthrie and Pear Tree Press, such as an unfinished bibliography by Michael Travers, and writing by Guthrie,
namely a typescript copy of his "Transition in Printing." Also, drawings and other material relating to Guthrie family members.
Box 1: 1
Guthrie, John F. - Drawing, proofs, and prints, ca. 1920s
Box 1: 2
Guthrie, Robert - Drawings, ca. 1916
Box 1: 3
Guthrie, Robin - Catalog of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and drawing, n.d.
Box 1: 4
Guthrie, Stuart, ca. 1910s-1930s
Abstract: [Includes "Blue Bottle," manuscript, with illustrations, done as a child, ca. WWI era; prospectus for
An Anthology: Extracts from Letters written by Miss May Chesshire; and
The Piper's Fancy]
Box 1: 5
Obits, 1971
Abstract: [Robin and Alexander Guthrie]
Box 1: 6
Travers, Michael - Bibliography of James J. Guthrie and the Pear Tree Pres, ca. 1946
Abstract: [Unfinished manuscript]
Box 1: 7
University of Kentucky Libraries - offprints of articles and correspondence by Guthrie, 1952
Box 1: 8
Writings about Guthrie and Pear Tree Press
Box 1: 9
"Modern Hand Printing,"
Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 5, [193?]
Box 1: 10
"Transition in Printing", n.d.
Abstract: [Typescript, with holographic corrections]
Box 1: 11
"The Woodcut in the Book Arts,"
Woodcut Annual for 1925, ed. By Alfred Fowler, 1925
Series 2.
Correspondence
Scope and Content Note
Mainly press-related items to and from Guthrie. Correspondents include John Freeman, Reginald Hallward, Reginald H. Leon,
and Michael Travers.
Box 1: 12
To John Freeman - 24 ALS, ca. 1917
Box 1: 13
To Reginald Hallward - 14 ALS, ca. 1905 - 1912
Box 1: 14
From Reginald H. Leon - 2 TL, 1922
Box 1: 15
To Reginald H. Leon - 28 ALS, 1922 - 1924
Box 1: 16
To [?] Richards - 1 TLS, 1945
Box 1: 17
To Michael Travers - 61 ALS and TLS, ca. 1945 - 1949
Abstract: [Includes observations on William Blake, William Morris, Kelmscott Press, Golden Cockerel Press, and others]
Box 1: 18
From [?] v. Rossem - 1 ALS, 1948
Box 1: 20
To Mrs. Michael Travers - 4 ALS, n.d.
Box 1: 21
Siberell, Lloyd, 1946 - 1949
Abstract: [1 TLS to Guthrie, 1946, otherwise mainly correspondence from Lawrence de Coteau, along with article by Coteau on Guthrie,
and samples of stationery printed by Guthrie]
Series 3.
Publications of the Pear Tree Press and James J. Guthrie
Scope and Content Note
Mainly proofs, prospectuses, and announcements, including a number of items relating to the Pear Tree Press edition of William
Blake's
Songs of Innocence.
Box 1: 22
"Amid that small sweet avalanche", n.d.
Box 1: 23
"Announcement of the Hand Press Newly Set Up at the Pear Tree Press", ca. 1923 - 1924
Abstract: [Notes the acquisition of the hand press upon which William Morris printed the Kelmscott Chaucer]
Box 1: 24
"An Announcement Regarding Certain Hand-Printed Books", [1930]
Abstract: [Refers
to Frescoes,
from Buried Temples and
Last Designs for Bookplates; notes Morris press now in America]
Box 1: 26 - 29
Blake, William -
Songs of Innocence
Box 1: 26
Prospectus "Announcing the Felpham Edition of
Songs of Innocence by William Blake" and 3 variant proofs of the colophon page,
1937
Box 1: 27
Proofs, 1939
Abstract: [2 pulls, including colophon]
Box 1: 29
Making of
Songs , n.d.
Abstract: [Photocopies of two leaves, author unknown]
Box 1: 30
Books and the Art of Making Them, ca. 1932
Abstract: [Monthly bulletin of the Pear Tree Press and the Cock Robin Press, 5 issues]
Box 1: 31
Bottomley, Gordon - Riding to Lithend, [1909]
Box 1: 32
Christmas cards, ca. 1930s-1940s
Box 2: 1
Collins, William -
Ode to Evening, 1937
Abstract: [Prospectus, plates, and proofs]
Box 2: 3
Green Pastures Series - John Freeman, General Editor, n.d.
Box 2: 4
"Art of the Hand Press", n.d.
Box 2: 5
Book Plates, Volume 2 of the Series, n.d.
Abstract: [Proof of t.p. only; published?]
Box 2: 6
Book-Plates, [ca. 1907-1918]
Abstract: [By James Guthrie and Daniel Phaer, Phaer being a pseudonym of Guthrie; trial proof of t.p.]
Box 2: 7
"Bookplates", n.d.
Abstract: [pp. 77-79 only]
Box 2: 8
Bookplates, n.d.
Abstract: [Designs for Walter de la Mare and others]
Box 2: 9
A Child's Good Day, [1908]
Box 2: 10
Frescoes from Buried Temples: A Portfolio of Drawings, with Poems by Gordon Bottomley,
[1930]
Abstract: [Prospectus, manuscripts of 6 poems by Bottomley, and 6 proofs of prints]
Box 2: 11
Intaglio Bookplates, 1922
Box 2: 13
My House in the World: Essays in Quiet, [1918]
Box 2: 14
New Intaglio Bookplates, [1934]
Abstract: [Proofs of t.p.]
Box 2: 15
New Plate-Book, [1929]
Abstract: [Proof of t.p.]
Box 2: 16
Proofs of Prints - 14 items, n.d.
Abstract: [("The Haunted Palace" [2 copies], "The Mourners," "To the Lake" [2 copies], "The Genius of Poe," "The City in the Sea" [2
copies], "The Bill Sings to Rannveig" [2 copies], "Dreamland," "The Little Bird" [2 copies], and "Night's Plutonium Shore"]
Box 2: 17
Proofs of Prints - 5 items, n.d.
Abstract: ["Echo," "Castle Wonderful," "Illustrations to Poems by Edgar Allen Poe: No. 1: "To Helen","
"A Landscape," "Rain Clouds"]
Box 2: 18
Proofs of Prints - 11 items, n.d.
Box 2: 19
The Proportional System of Composition , [1924]
Abstract: [Proofs and duplicate copy]
Box 2: 20
"Those Pinafore Girls", n.d.
Abstract: [Broadside poem]
Box 2: 22
The Wild Garden: Verses for Children, [1924]
Box 2: 23
The Book-Cratsman: A Review of Fine Printing, Bookplates, Poetry, etc, edited by Stuart Guthrie.,
1919
Box 2: 24
A Chapbook for Little Chaps, [1920]
Box 2: 26
"The Little Green Tree", n.d.
Box 2: 27
Modern Printing in Ancient Chichester (announcement), Cock Robin Printers, n.d.
Box 2: 28
"Mr. Michael Travers, Consulting Ophthalmic Optician", n.d.
Box 2: 29
"Not the full-throated choir of May", n.d.
Box 2: 31
Pear Tree Press Publications, ca. 1935 - 1938
Abstract: [Lists and announcements]
Box 2: 32
Root and Branch , [1912-1926]
Abstract: [Proofs and linoleum block]
Box 2: 33
Some Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, [1901], 1908
Abstract: [Announcement and proof of t.p.), [1901], 1908]
Box 2: 34
Strode, William -
Four Poems, 1934
Box 2: 35
The Friend of the Blackbird, ca. 1938
Abstract: [Original calligraphic manuscript by Helen Hinckley, proofs, and prospectii]
Box 2: 35 - 36
Thomas, Edward [Eastaway, Edward]
Box 2: 36
Six Poems, [1916]
Abstract: [Proof of title only]
Box 2: 38
"To See a World in a Grain of Sand", n.d.
Box 2: 39
Waller, Pickford - [
Pickford Waller Designs], 1916
Series 4.
Miscellany
Scope and Content Note
Includes a photograph, presumably of Guthrie, at his press around 1903-1904. Also, material on Cock Robin Press and Silver
Unicorn Press, as well as a number of unidentified original drawings and proofs.
Box 2: 40
Cock Robin Press, n.d.
Abstract: [Prospectus and order form]
Box 2: 44
Pear Tree Press, n.d.
Abstract: [Miscellaneous printed sheets]
Box 2: 45
Photograph (print) of [Guthrie?] at his press, [1903-1904]
Box 2: 46
Proofs (unidentified), n.d.
Box 2: 47
"Rough Idea for Folio", ca. 1929
Box 2: 48
Rough Inventory of Materials, Pear Tree Press, n.d.
Box 2: 49
Silver Unicorn Press, ca. 1930s
Abstract: [Prospectuses and specimen page]
Box 2: 50
United Arts Circle of Bognor Regis, 1906
