Oak Knoll

Printed letterpress in an edition limited 240 numbered copies, of which this is one of a series of 50 deluxe copies bound thus with an additional portfolio of specimens. Prospectus loosely inserted. A fine copy.

This historiographical work examines the writing and publication history of Stanley Morison's work, John Fell, The University Press, and The 'Fell' Types, published on the day after Morison's death in 1967. Morison's work deals with "the matrices and punches bequeathed to the [Oxford University] Press by one of its founders, Bishop John Fell, in his will in the late seventeenth century. Forgotten for many decades, the types were first recast from the matrices in the 1860s, and between then and the closure of the Printing House in 1989, over 280 books were printed using them". Eleven tipped in black and white photographic reproductions, and five tipped in leaves from original books printed in various Fell types illustrate this volume, with intricate vine scroll headpieces derived from the Granjon Arabesques (also part of the Fell collection) appearing throughout. The deluxe edition includes a portfolio with additional leaves, ranging from a reproduction of the drawing used on the standard edition's paper dust jacket, a prospectus for the present volume, Morison's own writings, and advertising material, with many of the text pages printed in diverse Fell types. A separate leaf giving the contents of the portfolio is also included. This special edition is out of print.