Private presses in the Netherlands, 1910-2010

In 1910 De Zilverdistel, the first private press in the Netherlands, was established. Twenty years earlier, the Kelmscott Press of William Morris, the first modern private press, had unleashed a revolution in typographical ideas and in book design, which had deteriorated to a worrying degree in the course of the nineteenth century. The example of Morris was widely imitated, first in England, then in other countries and, after some delay, in the Netherlands. Various artists, typographers and other interested parties acquired their own printing presses on which they printed beautifully designed books in small editions, often on special handmade paper. They also adopted other characteristics of Morris: exclusive typefaces were designed for their printing shops, they used a specific printer’s device and with their strict views on the layout they strove to produce The Ideal Book. Read on

• The ideal book: private presses in the Netherlands, 1910-2010