WUSTL Digital Gateway Image Collections & Exhibitions

Ashendene Press

Printing blocks made for Tutte le opere di Dante Alighieri fiorentino

Printing block, [1909]

 

 

Printing blocks made for Tutte le opere di Dante Alighieri fiorentino. Made from wood and metal, this large initial “N” block, known as “Nel Mezzo,” to reference the opening line of the poem, was designed by Graily Hewitt and used for the folio sized version of the first canto of Dante’s Inferno

Leaf from Tutte le opere di Dante Alighieri fiorentino

Leaf from Dante’s Inferno, [1919]

 

 

The first page of Tutte le opere di Dante Alighieri fiorentino shows the finished result from the “Nel Mezzo” woodblock. There is a noticeable difference in the design of the woodblock illustrations here in the folio edition of Dante’s work compared to the press’s earlier quarto edition (1902-1907). The folio woodcuts are reminiscent of Victorian interpretations of medieval woodcuts, and similar to the wood engraved illustrations of the Kelmscott Press.

Don Quixote Initials

Initial Wood Engraved Letters, [1927]

 

 

Designed by Louis Powell for the 1927 edition of Don Quixote. These woodcut illustrations exhibit the continuing interest in ornate woodcut designs reflective of the early presses medieval presses. The Y at the bottom of the page appears to be surrounded by small Tudor Roses, a heraldic marker created by Henry VII of England in 1486 to mark the unification of the rival York and Lancastrian lines.

Examples of Woodcut Illustrations from  Lo inferno di Dante Alighieri Fiorentino

Woodcut Drawings, [1902]

 

 

These woodblock illustrations were cut by Charles Keates and William Hooper from drawings by Robert Catterson Smith, which were based on a 1497 edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy. These printed drawings and explanatory summary are from the 1935 Ashendene Press bibliography.

Example of Page from Publii Vergilii Maronis opera : Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis.

Page from Publii Vergilii Maronis opera, [1910]

 

 

This example of Ashendene Press’s edition of Publii Vergilii Maronis opera is from the 1935 Ashendene Press bibliography. Here the initial page of the third Eclogue depicts the use of color and initial design similar to that from medieval books, such as the leaf included in this exhibition from the 1475 Book of Hours.

Ashendene Press