Books and Manuscripts

An Important Association Copy: A Leaf from the Gutenberg Bible from an Exhibition on the History of Printing Curated by Dard Hunter

(Mainz: Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust, 1450-55). Single folio leaf, 15 1/4 x 11 1/8 in. (387 x 282 mm). Printed on paper; Isaiah II from the Old Testament, featuring the terminating portion of verse L, verses LI and LII in full, and part of verse LIII. 42 lines, double column; gothic type. Rubricated initials on recto and verso in red and blue, headlines and verse numbers in alternating red and blue, capitals accented in red; right edge stained red; ox head watermark prominent at center. Leaf unevenly toned; bottom right corner creased; tape residue from old mount in verso corners. In mat and double-pane glass frame, 21 1/4 x 15 3/8 in. (540 x 390 mm). This lot includes a large variety of supplementary documentation related to this leaf's acquisition and display at the Chillicothe Newspapers Inc. headquarters, including a typed letter, signed by Dard Hunter to Beeler concerning the leaf's delivery, display, and price; a typed page from an internal asset list of Chillicothe Newspapers, Inc., listing this leaf; a printed exhibition wall label proof for this leaf, presumably used in preparation for its display; several typed, as well as annotated, descriptions of the exhibition's objects, including typed lists of each case's contents; two scrapbooks related to the history of the Chillicothe Gazette, including dozens of newspaper clippings referencing the construction and opening of the new headquarters, as well as the printing exhibition, and the Gutenberg leaf; a Chillicothe Gazette bifolium proof about the exhibition from September 28, 1972, that includes a printed image of this leaf.

A fantastic association between renowned paper and printing historian, Dard Hunter, and a rare leaf from the most famous book printed in the West, Johannes Gutenberg's Bible.

On April 4, 1941, Chillicothe Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Chillicothe Gazette and News-Advertiser, opened their new state-of-the-art three-story headquarters in Chillicothe, Ohio. The company's new building sought to reflect its storied 141-year heritage by replicating Ohio's first capitol building, and at the time was considered the finest and most modern small-city newspaper plant in the nation. To commemorate the opening, Merritt C. Speidel, president of the company, commissioned Dard Hunter (1883-1966) to curate an exhibition on the history of printing, for permanent public display, in the building's lobby. Hunter--renowned papermaking historian, publisher, and Chillicothe's own--worked for the company as a child with his father, and it is where he was first introduced to the world of printing. In the months leading up to the opening of the new building Hunter collected 31 objects, including this rare leaf from Johannes Gutenberg's 1455 Bible--the first book in the West printed with movable type--for display. The exhibition--including this leaf--was housed in two specially designed cases built into the lobby's walls, and told the story of printing's global history from 2,000 B.C. to the mid 19th-century. The exhibition brought together two central parts of Hunter's life and career, and represented a permanent and public record of his life's work.

Hunter acquired this leaf from Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York on December 11, 1940. In a typed essay accompanying our lot--likely written by Chillicothe Gazette managing editor, J.K. Hunter (Dard's cousin)--Hunter writes that "Mr. Dard Hunter, who arranged this exhibit, had some difficulty in getting the Gutenberg page, as the demand for such specimens increased tremendously in 1940 due to interest stimulated by the 500th anniversary...The Bible from which our page was extracted was itself imperfect, chiefly in that it lacked a number of pages." This leaf originates from a defective copy once housed in the Munich Royal Library and purchased by English traveler and diplomat Robert Curzon in 1832. The volume was sold at auction at Sotheby's in 1920 and then acquired by bookseller Gabriel Wells. Wells broke up the volume into individual leaves, bound them, and then sold them under the title "A Noble Fragment." Hunter likely disbound this copy before sending it to Chillicothe. A week after Hunter's purchase, the Gutenberg Leaf was delivered by Hunter's son, Dard Hunter, Jr., on December 17, 1940, and Hunter, Sr., was payed $309.75. Over the next three months, Hunter, Sr., played an integral part in organizing, with J.K. Hunter and W.E. Beeler--the newspaper's business manager--the exhibition's display, including writing the text of the accompanying wall labels, and later, a small booklet on the exhibition, The Story of Early Printing. News of the headquarter's opening--and of Hunter's exhibition--were reported in the Chillicothe Gazette and other regional papers at the time (see scrapbooks accompanying this lot), and it remained on display to the public until the 2000s when the building was sold.

Dard Hunter was intimately connected to Chillicothe, Ohio since his childhood. His family moved there from Steubenville, Ohio in 1900 when his father and uncle took over publication of the Chillicothe News-Advertiser. It was here that Dard was first introduced to printing when he began working as a typesetter for the newspaper, and briefly as a staff artist. Over the next 15 years Hunter spent time in Riverside, California; East Aurora, New York with the Roycrofters; Vienna at the K. K. Graphische Leht-und Versuchsansalt; and then in London working at the Norfolk Studio, learning printing and papermaking. In 1919, he finally returned to Chillicothe and purchased Mountain House, which until his death in 1966, served as his studio, home, and the base for his Mountain House Press. Under this imprint Hunter published his seminal works on papermaking, including Old Papermaking (1923), The Literature of Papermaking, 1390-1800 (1925), Primitive Papermaking (1927), Old Papermaking in China and Japan (1932), and his groundbreaking, Papermaking by Hand in America (1950).