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Curwen Press

 Organization

Biography

John Curwen started his printing business in Plaistow in east London in 1863 to print music. It was incorporated as J. Curwen & Sons in 1897. Harold Curwen (1885-1949) took over the business in 1914 and began a specialism in well-designed jobbing work. After 1920, Oliver Simon (1895-1956) extended Curwen's reputation for good typography and design to book-work. The Press employed many important artists and designers, notable among whom were Claud Lovat Fraser, Barnett Freedman, Edward Bawden, Albert Rutherston, and Edward Ardizzone. In 1933 the Curwen Press Ltd separated from J. Curwen & Sons (which continued as a music publisher until 1969). The original directors were Harold Curwen, and Oliver and his brother Herbert Simon (1898-1974). The business suffered extensive war damage. Owing partly to its costs in London, the business was never highly profitable. In 1964 it merged with M. R. Harley & Co. and in 1965 Basil Harley became managing director. Under him, Curwen developed its business in high-quality colour lithography, notably for natural-history illustration. Letterpress work gradually declined in importance. Curwen Prints Ltd, a workshop for the production of artists' prints, became a separate business in 1968. In the 1970s various plans were considered, but never carried out, for the Curwen Press to be taken over by other printers. A merger of the letterpress department with the John Roberts Press was likewise planned then abandoned in 1981. The printers' strike of 1980 inflicted a final blow to the firm's financial position. It had a brief respite under a new owner Harry Myers in 1982, but finally went into receivership in 1984.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

 Fonds

Curwen Press Papers

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9853
Scope and Contents

The collection contains papers of the company and personal papers of Oliver Simon, Herbert Simon, and Basil Harley. These include correspondence; papers relating to specific printing jobs and to types, paper, printing processes, etc.; business papers; and specimens of printing.

Dates: 1853-1998
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Series

Files arising from publications, lectures and conferences

 Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9815/B
Scope and Contents Arranged chronologically. Some presently undated items are at the end of the sequence in box 42. Some folders are identified by the number of the publication in the 'Handlist of the writings of John Dreyfus'. Some files for publications include research notes: the more significant of these are mentioned in the list below. The contents of this series are sorted as follows: Box 27 = 1949-1972; includes research material for 'Beatrice Warde: first lady of typography' (1970) and for an...
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

The Sobieski hours: a manuscript in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle; examined by Eleanor P. Spencer (Academic Press for the Roxburghe Club, 1977), 1974-1979

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9816/A/84
Scope and Contents

Various proofs, marked; paste-up; artwork; memoranda; proofs of title page; layouts; correspondence with Will Carter; and certificate of an award from the National Book League. Correspondents include Curwen Press (Basil Harley); Johnson Reprint Company (later, Academic Press) (Charles M. Hutt); Robin Mackworth-Young, Eleanor P. Spencer.

Dates: 1974-1979
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

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Collection 1