MAGNIFICENTLY PRINTED AND BOUND BY THE ROYCROFT PRESS: THE COMPLETE WRITINGS OF ELBERT HUBBARD, ALL 20 VOLUMES SIGNED BY HIM, WITH TWO PAGES OF ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT

HUBBARD, Elbert. The Complete Writings. East Aurora, New York: The Roycroft Shop, (1908-15). Twenty volumes. Tall quarto, original three-quarter green morocco, raised bands, gilt- and blind-tooled spines, top edges gilt, uncut. $5200.

Author’s edition of the collected Little Journeys, number 894 of 1000 sets, finely printed and bound by Hubbard’s prestigious Roycroft Press, each volume signed by Hubbard. With two pages of Hubbard’s original manuscript for one of the “journeys” bound into Volume I.

Appalled by the way commercialization cheapened the art of printing books, and inspired by William Morris’ Kelmscott Press, Hubbard founded his own press in 1893. The Roycroft Press became perhaps the most important touchstone of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, which sought to revive the standards of medieval craftsmanship by producing books that were themselves works of art. This set is one of the finest examples of the Arts and Crafts style in American printing and the epitome of Hubbard’s ambitions for the Roycroft Press. Under the Roycroft imprint Hubbard wrote 170 “conversational” essays (which he called “Little Journeys”) about the lives and works of historic personages from the arts, government, and private enterprise. Printed in exquisite typography, on Roycroft hand-made paper, with three-color initial letters designed by Dard Hunter, and decorative devices throughout. Each “journey” is accompanied by a delicately etched portrait of the subject either by Gaspard or Schneider. Two pages of Hubbard’s manuscript bound into Volume I, between pages 124-25.

Occasional scattered foxing. Light rubbing to extremities, some sunning to original boards. A handsome set in near-fine condition.