Oak Knoll

This book, limited to an edition of 300 copies, tells the story of Edward Seymour and his firm, The Fancy Paper Company. This British company manufactured marbled and other decorated (fancy) papers for the bookbinding and related industries from about 1919 to 1971. With eighteen illustrations showing their methods and copies of correspondence, and twenty tipped-in, original examples of their many fancy papers, this work is a well-researched text about one of the last English marbled paper manufacturing firms.

Dr. Berger shares with his readers the vicissitudes of the company's fortunes, the personal lives of its owners, and the often touching correspondence he found among its business records. The author also informs us of the salaries, costs of doing business, and the unique demands of bookbinders for the company's products. The work ends with Edward Seymour's valiant efforts to keep the company afloat in the early 1970s.

This edition is published in the best tradition of the fine press book. It was typeset in hot metal, hand printed on 120 gpm, archival paper, and bound in quarter leather with slipcase by the Manoutios Press of Athens, Greece.