Private Press File: L - O

Some of the links included in this list (particularly those that link to holdings in the MERLIN Catalog) are still under construction.

Labyrinth Editions

Labyrinth Editions has been located in various places, including Athens, Ohio, and Lincoln, Nebraska. The proprietor is Richard Bigus, and the press specializes in fine limited editions and artists' books.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Lakeside Press

Lakeside Press is located in Chicago, Illinois, and was founded in 1864. It is a fine printing division of the R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, a large publishing firm. The press specializes in limited edition books and ephemera. Click here for a list of materials owned at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Landlocked Press

Madison, Wisconsin.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Lane Press

Burlington, Vermont. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Larkspur Press

Larkspur Press is owned and operated by Gray Zeitz in Monterey, Kentucky. The press's first book was published in 1975. Zeitz focuses on fine letterpress editions of fiction and poetry, and the press specializes in Kentucky authors. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Lasky Company

Newark, New Jersey.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Leadenhall Press

Leadenhall Press was founded in 1883 in London, England and published many children's titles in addition to briefly reviving the chapbook form in the 1890s. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Lee Priory, The Private Press of

Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges established the Private Press of Lee Priory in 1813. The press was named after the town where it was located near Canterbury in Kent, England. Brydges was a poet, author and genealogist in addition to his work as the proprietor of the press, which he used to publish fine limited editions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British authors. Books published by the Lee Priory Press are very rare today. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Libanus Press

Michael Mitchell is the director of the Libanus Press, which is located in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. In 1983 Mitchell was joined by Tom Griffith.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Lilly, Josiah Kirby

Josiah Kirby Lilly, Jr., was an executive in the Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company. A bibliophile, Lilly's large collection of books and manuscripts, along with papers and correspondence, were donated to the Lilly Library at Indiana University. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also Hollenbeck Press and the listing for the Lilly Library in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Lime Rock Press

Lime Rock Press was established in 1975 in Salisbury, Connecticut by W.N. Seymour, Jr. The press specializes in two types of books: literary environment books and livres d'artiste. Lime Rock Press developed literary environment books to include black-and-white photographs of the settings that shaped and inspired various authors. The livres d'artiste developed by Lime Rock Press take the form of mounted original black-and-white photographs or unbound sheets of paper with original fine art prints. The press prints with letterpress by hand as well as using up-to-date modern technology.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Limited Editions Club

George Macy founded the Limited Editions Club in 1929. The Club contracted with private presses to produce limited editions of classics and other literary works, often illustrated by prominent artists. Books were sold to the club's subscribers. Helen Macy was the director of the club from her husband's death in 1956 to 1968, when their son Jonathan took over. The club was sold to the Boise-Cascade Company in 1970 and was was purchased by Sidney Schiff in 1979. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Linweave Association

The Linweave Association was established in the late 1920s in Springfield, Massachusetts, as a limited editions society. Its manager was Frederick Allen Williams. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Little, Brown & Co.

In 1837, Little, Brown and Company was formed by two former clerks of the Battelle bookstore in Boston, Charles C. Little and James Brown. A year later they were joined by Augustus Flagg, who eventually became the managing partner of the company in 1869 when Mr. Little died. In 1968, Little, Brown was purchased by Time Inc. and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary until the merger of Time Warner in 1990 (information from the Time Warner Books website). Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Liveright, Horace

Horace Liveright is often credited with modernizing American book publishing. His Modern Library series became a staple of bookstores throughout the country, and the authors he discovered or promoted were frequently on bestseller lists. Liveright created his publishing company in 1916 in partnership with Albert Boni, and he fought censorship to publish works that were deemed radical at the time. Due to financial problems, drinking problems, and failing health, Liveright sold the Modern Library series to Bennett Cerf in 1925. Boni & Liveright was dissolved by 1930, and Liveright worked for Paramount Studios in California for several years before his death in 1933. Click here for a list of materials about Horace Liveright in MU Libraries.

Logan Elm Press and Papermill

The Logan Elm Press and Papermill is a book arts teaching facility at Ohio State University in Columbus. The director is Bob Tauber.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Longmans, Green & Co.

The Longmans publishing firm started in 1724 as a family printing business founded by Thomas Longman, and by the end of the eighteenth century was regarded as one of the most prominent British publishing houses. Longmans published the works of prominent English poets and writers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and it was also known as a publisher of textbooks and educational materials. The firm was called Longmans, Green and Company by the end of the nineteenth century, and it established an American office in New York in 1895. Longmans became a public company in 1948. The firm went through a series of mergers and is today a subsidiary of the Penguin Publishing Company known as the Pearson Longmans Group. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Loring, George D.; Press of

Located in Portland, Maine. He printed several works for publication by Thomas Bird Mosher.

Lotus Society

Located in New York. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Manas Press

Claude Fayette Bragdon established the Manas Press in Rochester, New York. Bragdon was trained as an architect and was regarded as an important contributor to architectural theory in the early twentieth century. He also traveled and lectured extensively on architecture, theater, and the occult. The Manas Press was founded in 1906 to publish his works on theosophy and the occult, and it continued until 1923, when its remaining titles were transferred to A.A. Knopf. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Many Names Press

Kate Hitt founded the Many Names Press in Capitola, California, in 1992. The press specializes in fine letterpress editions.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Marchbanks Press

The Marchbanks Press was located in New York City and published books for the Limited Editions Club as well as posters and other illustrated books. The proprietor was Hal Marchbanks. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also Limited Editions Club and the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Meadow Press

Leigh McLellan established the Meadow Press as a poetry student at the University of Iowa in 1974. She and the press moved to San Francisco, California, in 1977, where she worked for Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press. The Meadow Press prints fine limited edition books, broadsides and ephemera. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Medici Society

The Medici Society is located in London, England, and distributes Christmas cards, postcards, prints, and fine art. They generally contract with small presses for their printing. The Curwen Press did printing work for the Medici Society in the past.

Menhaden Press

Located in Pierre, South Dakota.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Meriden Gravure Company

Located in Meriden, Connecticut. Harold Hugo is credited with making this company one of the most famous printing houses in the United States. The Meriden Gravure Company specialized in illustrated books and ephemera, and printed everything from fine artists' books to illustrated postcards and catalogs. They completed the printing of fine art books for many small publishing houses, including those listed below.

Merrymount Press

Daniel Berkeley Updike established the Merrymount Press in 1893 in Boston, Massachusetts. His goal, as he put it, was "to do common work well," and the Merrymount Press published ephemera in addition to books. The press, influenced by the ideals of William Morris's Kelmscott Press, was known for the excellence of its printing. Updike was recognized as an authority on the history of typography and wrote several books on the subject; click here to see a list of those available at MU Libraries. He also taught the first college class on the history of type and printing at Harvard University. Updike died in 1941.

Several materials about Updike and the Merrymount Press are available at MU Libraries; click here for a list. For a list of materials published by the Merrymount Press available at MU Libraries, click here.

Metacom Press

Located in Worcester, Massachusetts.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Minerva Press

Located in London, England. The proprietor is Paul Dinnage.

Missourium Press

Alden Redfield and David Weaver established the Missourium Press in Columbia, Missouri.

Molly Moon Press

Molly Moon Press published poetry, and its proprietor was Brown Miller. Click here for a list of materials at MU Libraries.

Mosher, Thomas Bird; Press of

The son of a sea captain, Thomas Bird Mosher was an important printer during the small press revival at the beginning of the twentieth century. Mosher began in the business as a stationer and book collector. He printed his first book in 1891 and went on to publish more than 700 books and journals before his death in 1923. His books reflected the artistic styles of the Pre-Raphaelites, the Arts and Crafts movement, and the Art Nouveau. Mosher's interpretation of copyright law has led to his being called a pirate, but he was able to introduce the American public to new European authors. His disregard for copyright, however, led to his books being banned in England. Flora M. Lamb took over the press's production after Mosher's death. Mosher's press was located in Portland, Maine. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Mountain House Press

Dard Hunter founded the Moutain House Press in Chillicothe, Ohio, around 1923. Hunter was a commercial artist who became interested in papermaking. He studied papermaking techniques in Europe and became one of the foremost authorities on the subject, and the Mountain House Press focused almost exclusively on this subject as well. Hunter died in 1966. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Murdock, C.A.

Charles Murdock established his press in 1868 in San Francisco, California. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Mustard Seed Press

Bruce and Barbara Walley are the proprietors. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Nadja

Nadja is the press of book artist Carol Sturm, and is located in New York.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Nash, J.H.

John Henry Nash arrived in San Francisco, California in 1895 and soon became a noted printer, especially renowned for his finely crafted editions of classic literature. The press printed several books for the Book Club of California and reached the peak of its prosperity in the 1920s. During the Great Depression Nash closed his San Francisco shop and retired to Oregon, where he became a professor of typography at the University of Oregon. The Grabhorn brothers acquired some of the type he used in his shop when he retired.

More information about John Henry Nash is available in John Henry Nash: The Biography of a Career, by Robert D. Harlan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Nees, Susan

Susan Nees is a graphic artist who lives and works in Athens, Georgia. She received her B.F.A. at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Never Mind the Press

Located Berkeley, California. Proprietor is Alisa Golden. Founded in 1983.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Nevertheless Press

Nevertheless Press is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Nightowl, Press of the

Dwight Agner established the Press of the Nightowl in 1965 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and moved to Athens, Georgia in 1979. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Ninja Press

Located Sherman Oaks, California. Carolee Campbell is the proprietor and founded the press in 1984.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Nomadic Press

Nomadic Press is located in the home of proprietor Dan Mayer, who lives in Tempe, Arizona. The press publishes artists' books.

See also Pyracantha Press and the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Nonesuch Press

Nonesuch Press was founded in 1922 by Sir Francis and Vera Meynell and David Garnett in London, England. Nonesuch Press designs its books on a small handpress, but then has the printing done by large commercial firms, making fine editions widely available at prices affordable to the average person. The press only publishes books that are out of print or do not exist in adequate editions or translations. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries, and here for a list of materials about the Nonesuch Press.

Norman Press

In 1955 Norman W. Forgue established the Norman Press in Chicago, Illinois, in order to print fine limited edition books. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Norwood Press

Located in Norwood, Massachusetts and founded in the 1890s. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Nottingham Court Press

Located in London, England.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Occasional Works

Located Menlo Park, California.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Officina Bodoni

Giovanni Mardersteig (also called Hans Mardersteig) established the Officina Bodoni in 1923 in Montagnola, Switzerland. Mardersteig obtained permission from the Italian government to reuse the type matrices of Giambattista Bodoni, a great eighteenth-century printer, and the press was celebrated for its fine work. Mardersteig also became known for his type designs, particularly Dante and Fontana, which were based on fifteenth-century Italian typefaces. The Officina Bodoni moved to Verona, Italy in 1927.

Several materials on Mardersteig and the Officina Bodoni are available at MU Libraries; click here for a list. Click here for a list of materials published by the Officina Bodoni available at MU Libraries.

See also Stamperia Valdonega and the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection .

Officina Brindabella

Officina Brindabella was the name used for the Brindabella Press from 1986 to 1992. It was located in Deakon, Canberra, Australia and run by Alexander Thorley Bolton. Click here for a list of additional titles available at MU Libraries.

See also Brindabella Press and the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Old Bourne Press

W. Herbert Broome established the Old Bourne Press in 1902. It was located in London, England. Click here for a list of materials available at MU Libraries.

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press has published books intermittently since 1478 and is devoted to publishing works by noted scholars in the humanities and sciences. By 1586, the University had a decree from the British government declaring its right to print books. Oxford University Press was among the presses authorized to print the King James Version of the Bible in the seventeenth century, and it has published the works of many notable authors since. The press still operates as a department of Oxford University.

There are many histories of Oxford University Press available to researchers at MU Libraries. A list of these works can be found here. Click here for a list of materials published by Oxford University Press and available at MU Libraries.

See also the listing in the Press Ephemera Collection.

Ox Head Press

Donald Olsen established the Ox Head Press in Browerville, Minnesota, in 1966. The press continued printing until 2000, when Olsen stopped his work due to Multiple Sclerosis. He passed away on November 16, 2003. Click here for a list of Ox Head Press materials available at MU Libraries.