Dard Hunter & The Art of the Handmade Book

In the second decade of the twentieth century, the machine was considered the critical element to progress. In 1915 in defiance of the mechanical age, Dard Hunter (1883-1966) created the world's first "one-man" book by hand. In his own words,

The consistent book will be a personality because it will be made by few men; that is, few hands and minds will construct the volume, all working together with but one aim. But, better still, the book should be the work of one man alone. In this way, and only this, will the volume be truly his. There must be a better understanding between the three arts [papermaking, type founding, printing] and when this better understanding exists we will produce the much talked of, but seldom seen, book harmonious. *

Hunter's first "book harmonious" was The Etching of Figures by William A. Bradley, published by the Chicago Society of Etchers as their 1915 end-of-the-year gift to associate members. This one-man book for which Hunter made the paper and the metal type by hand and then printed the book with a hand-operated press was both the culmination of years of research and experimentation, and the harbinger of Hunter's future as author and private press printer.

* Dard Hunter, "The Lost Art of Making Books," The Miscellany 2, no. 1 (March 1915): 6.

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