Overview
Original sketches, finished ink drawings, ephemera, and correspondence related to the work of book designer and Harvard University Press advisor Bruce Rogers.
Dates
- Creation: 1899-1952
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
3 linear feet (6 boxes)The collection consists mainly of original sketches and finished ink drawings made by Bruce Rogers for use in designing books produced during the years 1900-1951, and printed illustrations relating to his work, including prospectuses, pattern books, page proofs, programs, invitations and bookplates. Also included are seven small finished artworks by Bruce Rogers, a scrapbook relating to books designed during his tenure at the Riverside Press in Cambridge, and correspondence with Charles Eliot Norton, Daniel Berkely Updike, and Philip Hofer.
Biographical / Historical
Bruce Rogers began his career as a book designer for the Riverside Press in Cambridge, and various other presses in the United States, such as the Munder Press in Baltimore, the Bartlett Orr Press in New York, the Montague Press in Massachusetts, and the Press of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Between 1916 and 1919 he did freelance work in England, and worked at the Cambridge University Press as a typographic consultant. In 1920 he began his work as an advisor at the Harvard University Press, and as a designer for William Rudge, and did freelance work for various other firms. In 1928 he returned to England, where he worked for the next decade. In 1938 he returned to the United States, where he worked until his death in 1957.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- I. Designs for publications
- ___A. Identified and dated publications
- ___B. Undated publications
- II. Designs for miscellaneous projects
- ___A. Unidentified page layouts
- ___B. Miscellaneous designs
- ___C. Insignia
- ___D. Printer's marks
- ___E. Unidentified insignia
- ___F. Vignettes, borders, cul-de-lampes and cartouches
- ___G. Initial letters
- ___H. Decorated paper
- ___I. Page proofs
- III. Designs for bookplates
- ___A. Harvard College Library bookplates
- ___B. Other bookplates
- IV. Artwork
- V. Design for printed illustrations
- ___A. Designed by Bruce Rogers
- ___B. Brochures about Bruce Rogers
- ___C. Prospectuses and order forms designed by Bruce Rogers
- ___D. Centaur and Arrighi poster
- VI. Correspondence
- VI. Pattern book
- VII. Scrapbooks
Physical Location
b, pf
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Gift of J. W. McFarlane (Items 217-224); received: 1950 September.
Bequest of Philip Hofer; received: 1984.
No accession number. Gift of Charles A. Rheault, Jr., (A.B. 1945); received: 1997.
Bibliography
- B.R. Marks & Remarks. The Marks by Bruce Rogers, et al., the Remarks by His Friends: H. W. Kent, J. M. Bowles, Carl Purington Rollins [and others]. New York: The Typophiles, 1946.
- Barnacles from Many Bottoms, Scraped and Gathered for B. R. New York: The Typophiles, 1935.
- American Institute of Graphic Arts. The Work of Bruce Rogers, Jack of All Trades: Master of One. A Catalogue of an Exhibition Arranged by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Grolier Club of New York, with an Introduction by D. B. Updike, a Letter from John T. McCutcheon, and an adress by Mr. Rogers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1939.
- "B.R.: Adventurer with Type Ornament." In Books and Printing, edited by Paul A. Bennett. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1951.
- Bruce Rogers of Indiana. An Interview by Paul A. Bennett. Providence: The Domesday Press, 1936.
- Bruce Rogers: A Life in Letters 1870-1857. Austin: W. Thomas Taylor, 1989.
- The Printed Book in America. Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher in association with Dartmouth College Library, 1977.
- Dreyfus, John, ed. Typographical Partnership: Ten Letters Between Bruce Rogers and Emery Walker, 1907-31. Together with an Unpublished Fragment of Bruce Rogers' Bye-ways of Bookmaking. Cambridge, England: Printed for the Carl H. Pforzheimer Library at the University Printing House, 1971.
- William Edwin Rudge. New York: The Typophiles, 1984.
- Bruce Rogers: A Bibliography. Hitherto Unrecorded Work 1889-1925, Complete Works 1925-1936/ With a Letter of Introduction by Beatrice Warde. Mt. Vernon, N.Y.: Peper Pauper Press, 1936.
- New York Public Library. Books Designed by Bruce Rogers, Exhibited in Honor of His Eighty-fifth Birthday, 1955.
- Books, What They Represent to Some of Those Who Have Written, Read and Loved Them: Privately printed for Bruce Rogers and his Friends, 1945.
- Paragraphs on Printing, Elicited from Bruce Rogers in Talks with James Hendrickson on the Functions of the Book Designer, with Occational Notes and Illustrations. New York: William E. Rudge's Sons, 1943.
- PI. A Hodge-Podge of Letters, Papers, Addresses, Written During a Period of 60 Years by Bruce Rogers. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1953.
- B.R., America's Typographic Playboy. New York: Printed by R. W. Ellis, 1927.
- A Complete List of Books Printed and Published by William Edwin Rudge. New York, 1926.
- Walsdorf, John J., ed. Men of Printing: Anglo American Profiles. Easthampton, Mass.: Pennyroyal, 1976.
- Bruce Rogers, Designer of Books ... with a List of the Books Printed under Mr. Rogers' Supervision. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1925.
- Title
- Rogers, Bruce, 1870-1957. Bruce Rogers papers and designs, 1899-1952: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01618
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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