Place    From 1893  To 1917

Doves Bindery

Categories: Commerce, Literature

The Doves Press in Hammersmith was founded in 1900 by Thomas Cobden-Sanderson in partnership with Emery Walker and was named after the nearby pub. Sanderson had already set up The Doves Bindery in 1893 and it bound all the books that Doves printed as well as many of the Kelmscott books. The enterprise was an examplar of the Arts and Crafts movement. They used their own type, The Doves Type, based on types from the middle ages. Emery and Sanderson fell out and the partnership was dissolved in 1908. Regarding the typeface they agreed that Sanderson could continue to use it and that eventual ownership would rest with whoever outlived the other. Sanderson (the older man) was not happy with this and by 1917 he had thrown all of the type into the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge (piece by piece, at night), all but one piece which is preserved in the Emery Walker Library, housed at the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum. Sanderson had already ceased printing during the war but the destruction of the type saw the end of the Press. He moved into the building and died there a few years later.

2015 - amazing, someone has retrieved the type from the river!

2024: That link has died (after only 9 years - no staying power) but we thank Mike Coleman for finding Creative Review.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Doves Bindery

Commemorated ati

Doves Bindery and Press

Initially (ha-ha) we were puzzled by the letters at the bottom of this plaque...

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Thomas Cobden-Sanderson

Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson, 1840-1922, founded the Doves Bindery and Doves...

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Other Subjects

James Purdey the younger

James Purdey the younger

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1 memorial
Royal Exchange

Royal Exchange

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Lord Overstone, Samuel Jones Loyd

Lord Overstone, Samuel Jones Loyd

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1 memorial
Crunchy the Credit Crunch Monster
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Previously viewed

Thomas Sainsbury

Thomas Sainsbury

Lord Mayor. Grocer of Ludgate Hill, Bowyer, Alderman of Billingsgate and Governor of the Fellowship Porters in 1786. Came from Wiltshire. Died at Newcourt House, Devon. His tomb is at St Mary's, Ma...

Person, Commerce, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Henry Woodhouse
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Monmouth House

Monmouth House

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A.D. MMIX This building stands on the site of the former coach-house of Monmouth House, constructed in 1681/2 for James, Duke of Monmouth...

3 subjects commemorated
3 - Johnson’s Court – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

3 - Johnson’s Court – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

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There are 8 Courts running off the north side of this section of Fleet Street and on the ground at the entrance to each Court is a plaque...

2 subjects commemorated
Somers Town Mural

Somers Town Mural

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This mural was commissioned by the GLC in 1980 and moved to this site by St Pancras Housing after its original site was redeveloped for h...

19 subjects commemorated, 1 creator