Letters of Many Lands.

Item Details

New York, William Edwin Rudge, [ 1921], Wrappers

First edition, Near fine

9 ½ x 11 ¼ in. [29] pp. Color linoleum block prints throughout. Index.

Brown paper wrappers, stitched. Title printed in black on front wrapper. Very mild creasing to top right corner of front wrapper and initial leaves. Some very light toning to outer edges of pages. A very good + copy.

No limitation given. OCLC lists eight copies, all in the United States.

An alphabet featuring large color (black, green, and orange) linoleum block prints depicting scenes, imagery, or design motifs from around the world, from “Aztec” to “Zululand.”

“From the Shop of William Edwin Rudge” refers to the self-named printing business run by three generations of William Edwin Rudges. Given the present work’s publication date, the Rudge shop would’ve then been run by William Edwin Rudge II (1876 –1931). In 1921, Rudge II moved the shop from Brooklyn to Mount Vernon, N.Y. He collaborated closely with the celebrated typographer and book designer, Bruce Rogers. In his lifetime, Rudge II achieved global recognition within the world of printing. In 1925 he was chosen by then Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, selected Rudge II to represent the American printing industry at the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Art in Paris. “Any account of American printing written during the last twenty years has placed the name of Mr. Rudge in a small group of not more than two or three artist-publishers who devoted themselves largely to limited editions wrought with the greatest care for appreciative purchasers.”

See “William E. Rudge, Art Printer, Dies” in The New York Times, June 13, 1931.