Merrymount Press
Stanley Morison, the typographer responsible for creating the ubiquitous Times New Roman, had this to say of the Merrymount Press after Updike's passing: “The essential qualities of the work of the Merrymount Press...may be said without exaggeration…to have reached a higher degree of quality and consistency than that of any other printing-house of its size, and period of operation, in America or Europe.”[1] In 1892, after 12 years at Houghton Mifflin and its Riverside Press, Daniel Berkeley Updike was approached to design a new standard version of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer.
[2] As Updike described the Press's establishment: “In no exact sense was the Press ever founded—it only began.”[3] Updike derived the name Merrymount from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The May-Pole of Merrymount.” The story centers on Thomas Morton's seventeenth century settlement in present-day Quincy, Massachusetts.
[6] Bookplates, advertisements, concert programs, catalogs, greeting cards, periodicals, government tracts, diplomas, and more made up the bulk of the work done at Merrymount.
[18] Over its 56-year history, Merrymount Press produced a significant volume of ephemera, especially for local businesses and organizations.
What made Updike New England's most distinguished printer, however, were the beautiful, finely printed books produced by Merrymount Press.
Updike attributed the establishment of Merrymount Press to the commission of the Altar Book saying, “Had I not had this definite work to do I should not have had the courage to leave my current position [at Riverside Press].”[19] The Altar Book was set in the Press's proprietary Merrymount typeface, which was designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1895 and based on William Morris's Arts and Crafts style—or what Updike later called “Morris’s unduly black types.” After completing the Altar Book, Updike quickly abandoned this heavy style in favor of a cleaner, more practical look and reserved use of the Merrymount typeface for large pages as in the Altar Book.
The book was a selection of prayers and hymns for every day of the year compiled by Lucy Bradlee Stone.
[21] The Humanists’ Library, edited by Lewis Einstein, was issued in two series and was printed in the Press's proprietary Montallegro type designed by Herbert Horne.
The association was a fruitful one and vital to Merrymount's success in its early years according to Updike: “Nothing could have helped the Press more, just then, than the Scribner connection, for it showed we were not amateurs but could hold our own with larger printing houses…”[24] In 1915, after visiting the front of World War I, Wharton began collaborating with Updike to plan a collection of original stories, essays, poems, art works, and musical scores, the profits from which would benefit the war effort.
As Updike was exacting in his expectations, much of what Dwiggins submitted had to be redone or was rejected outright, but he soon become the preferred artist at Merrymount Press.
Most of what Dwiggins contributed was completed between 1907 and 1912, including lettering, ornaments, borders, title pages, binding designs, endpapers, and illustrations.
Among the titles designed and printed for The Limited Editions Club by Merrymount Press is The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, which include decorations engraved on copper by Rudolph Ruzicka.
[32] The Boston Athenæum maintains an extensive collection of material designed, printed, and generated by Merrymount Press, including job tickets, specimens of type, artwork, and correspondence.
The Huntington Library holds the business records of the Merrymount Press and the papers of Daniel Berkeley Updike, including correspondence with authors and publishers, and bills and estimates for clients.
