David John Chambers
Encyclopedia
David John Chambers is an English bibliographer
, printing historian, printer and book-collector
. Throughout a career in insurance, latterly as a non-marine underwriter for AS Harrison Syndicate 56 at Lloyd's of London, and more recently in retirement, Chambers has studied books and ephemera
relating to printing, typography, book-illustration, private presses, the book-arts, English art and literature, and has published books and articles on a wide range of related subjects. Since 1979 he has edited, or co-edited, The Private Library, the quarterly journal of the Private Libraries Association, a bibliophile society of which he has been Chairman since the 1970s, and a Council member from the late 1950s.
Chambers has also compiled volumes of the Association's annual bibliography of Private press books, and has designed some of the publications of the Private Libraries Association and of the Bibliographical Society
of London. His major work of recent years is a history and bibliography of British private presses before Kelmscott
, being chiefly the privately-run and amateur printing offices of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This work is currently in progress.
As a printer, Chambers has operated the Cuckoo Hill Press since the late 1950s, having made his first press himself. He printed a number of significant illustrated books in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but since that period has mostly confined his printing to ephemera and Christmas greetings. He has collected printing equipment and archives since the 1950s, with a special interest in wood-engraved
blocks.
Bibliographer
"A bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. The result of this endeavor is a bibliography...
, printing historian, printer and book-collector
Book collecting
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given individual collector. The love of books is bibliophilia, and someone who loves to read, admire, and collect...
. Throughout a career in insurance, latterly as a non-marine underwriter for AS Harrison Syndicate 56 at Lloyd's of London, and more recently in retirement, Chambers has studied books and ephemera
Ephemera
Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...
relating to printing, typography, book-illustration, private presses, the book-arts, English art and literature, and has published books and articles on a wide range of related subjects. Since 1979 he has edited, or co-edited, The Private Library, the quarterly journal of the Private Libraries Association, a bibliophile society of which he has been Chairman since the 1970s, and a Council member from the late 1950s.
Chambers has also compiled volumes of the Association's annual bibliography of Private press books, and has designed some of the publications of the Private Libraries Association and of the Bibliographical Society
Bibliographical Society
Founded in 1892, the Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society dealing with the study of the book and its history, based in London, England....
of London. His major work of recent years is a history and bibliography of British private presses before Kelmscott
Kelmscott
Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire.-Parish church:...
, being chiefly the privately-run and amateur printing offices of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This work is currently in progress.
As a printer, Chambers has operated the Cuckoo Hill Press since the late 1950s, having made his first press himself. He printed a number of significant illustrated books in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but since that period has mostly confined his printing to ephemera and Christmas greetings. He has collected printing equipment and archives since the 1950s, with a special interest in wood-engraved
Wood engraving
Wood engraving is a technique in printmaking where the "matrix" worked by the artist is a block of wood. It is a variety of woodcut and so a relief printing technique, where ink is applied to the face of the block and printed by using relatively low pressure. A normal engraving, like an etching,...
blocks.
Select bibliography
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- Chambers, David (editor). Charles Holtzapfel's Printing apparatus for the use of amateurs. Edited with James Mosley. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1971.
- Chambers, David (editor). Caractères de l'imprimerie, nouvellement gravés par S. P. Fournier le jeune. London: Printing Historical Society, 1975.
- Chambers, David. Cock-a-hoop: a sequel to Chanticleer, Pertelote and Cockalorum, being a bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press, September 1949–December 1961. Written with Christopher SandfordChristopher SandfordChristopher Sandford of Eye Manor, Herefordshire, was a book designer, proprietor of the Golden Cockerel Press, a founding director of the Folio Society, and husband of the wood engraver and pioneer Corn dolly revivalist, Lettice Sandford, née Mackintosh Rate.-Biography:He was born in Cork,...
. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1976. - Chambers, David. Lucien Pissarro: notes on a selection of wood-blocks held at the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1980.
- Chambers, David. "The Boar's Head and Golden Hours Presses" in The Private Library. Third series, 8:1, Spring 1985, pp. 2–34.
- Chambers, David. Joan HassallJoan HassallJoan Hassall, was a wood engraver, book illustrator and typographer. Her subject matter ranged from natural history to illustrations for English literary classics...
: engravings and drawings. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1985. - Chambers, David. Gogmagog: Morris Cox & the Gogmagog Press. Written with Colin FranklinColin Franklin (writer and bibliographer)Colin Ellis Franklin, MA, FSA is an English writer, bibliographer, book-collector and antiquarian bookseller. Franklin was born in Notting Hill, London into an affluent and influential British Jewish family. His father was Ellis Arthur Franklin , a London merchant banker and his mother was Muriel...
and Alan Tucker. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1991. - Chambers, David (editor). A modest collection: Private Libraries Association 1956–2006. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 2006.
- Chambers, David. English country book shops. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 2009.
Select Cuckoo Hill Press bibliography
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- Chambers, David. The office press. 1961.
- Chambers, David. Elizabeth II numismata. 1964.
- BewickThomas BewickThomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...
, Thomas. Engravings on wood by Thomas Bewick and his pupils. 1971. - Potocki de MontalkCount Geoffrey Potocki de MontalkCount Geoffrey Wladislas Vaile Potocki de Montalk , poet, private printer, pamphleteer, pagan and pretender to the Polish throne, was born in New Zealand, the eldest son of Auckland architect Robert Wladislas de Montalk, grandson of Paris-born Professor Count Joseph Wladislas Edmond Potocki de...
, Count Geoffrey. Meillerie. 1972. - Chambers, David. On printing by hand. 1977.
- Shirley Smith, Richard. Wood engravings: a selection, 1960 to 1977 ... with a foreword by Laurence Whistler. 1983.
- Kalashnikov, Anatoli. Anglo-Russian relations: an essay in wood-engraving ... with a commentary by W. E. Butler. 1983.