Plays for puppets.

12mo.

Publ. half black cloth (somewhat frayed, somewhat browned), wood-engr. cow puppet on upper cover. Good, uncut copy.

Edition limited to 450 copies (n. 28) in Caslon Old Face (the most legible and decent according to the founder of the Press). Monogrammed on title by [Pepler] H.D.C.P. Ill. with 5 wood-engravings (of which one repeated on upper cover) by Mary Dudley Short. Pepler (1878-1951), best known by the name Hilary Peplet, was an English printer, writer, poet, puppeteer and mime. Early 20th c., he engages himself in social activities and directs Hampshire House (a club for workers) in Hammersmith where he discovers the world of the book and printing. He lives close to Kelmscott Press where he befriends two of his neighbours, the engraver Eric Gill and the calligraphist Edward Johnston, he encounters Emery Walker and Cobden-Sanderson. Thereafter he converts to Catholicism and settles in the village of Ditchling where he meets again the community of craftsmen within The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic. The plays were written for his own puppet theatre. "His press was not a private press at all in the "art" sense; its privacy consisted in the honest production by hand of books that the printer thought deserved to be printed, books he printed as well as he was able [...] Perhaps as a result of his close association with Johnston and with Gill (both of whom left their mark on the St Dominic's Press), Pepler's work from the start had a simple grace that was particulary attractive" (Cave). St Dominic's Press was a private press which printed and published at a leisurely but steady pace. Each item is a creditable example of personal craftmanship: "I seldom print more than 500 copies of anything, because I get tired when I have done so many".
Ref. Taylor & Sewell, Saint Dominic's Press, A174. - Ransom, p. 413. - Tomkinson, p. 224. - Cave, The private press, p. 189.
Joined: Cornford, Frances - Autumn midnight. London, The Poetry Bookshop, 1923. 8vo. Sewn. Uncut copy. Very fine reprint of several poems: Country Life, The New Leader, The London Mercury, etc. With wood-engravings by Eric Gill. Printed at St Dominic's Press. (2 vol.)