Merrymount Press

active Boston, 1893-1949

BiographyBiography (Daniel Berkeley Updike, 1860-1941):

Updike, Daniel Berkeley
(b Providence, RI, 14 Feb 1860; d Boston, MA, 29 Dec 1941).
American typographer, printer, and graphic designer. He was advertising manager and layout artist at the publishing house of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. before transferring to the firm’s printing works at the Riverside Press, where he worked until 1892. Updike’s first freelance commission, the design of a Book of Common Prayer (1892), was well received, and in 1893 he set up his own studio, initially with the idea of designing types but then as a printing press, the Merrymount Press. He commissioned a new type called Merrymount from Bertram Goodhue for use on a new Episcopalian Altar Book (Boston, 1896). Between 1893 and 1896 Updike produced c. 18 books before turning to printing them himself, assisted by John Bianchi (fl 1893–1947), his first typesetter and later his partner. The Merrymount Press undertook a wide range of work for publishers, book clubs, libraries, churches, and institutions. In 1896 Updike purchased the Caslon face for use at the press and in 1904 Herbert Horne designed Montallegro for him; other types employed included Scotch Roman, Janson, Mountjoye, and Oxford; Updike was the first American to use Times New Roman. In 1899 the Merrymount was firmly established by a commission to print Edith Wharton’s novels for the publisher Charles Scribner & Sons; however, much of Updike’s work was for the private collectors’ market and limited-editions clubs. His finest work is thought to be the Book of Common Prayer (Boston, 1930), financed by J. Pierpont Morgan and begun in 1928, for which he employed Janson type. His Printing Types was first published by Harvard University Press in 1922 and was based on lectures that he had given at the University (1911–16). At his own estimate Updike produced c. 14,000 pieces of printing.
Laura Suffield. "Updike, Daniel Berkeley." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed November 9, 2015, oxfordartonline.com.

The Merrymount Press was a printing company, both scholarly and craftsmanlike, founded and run by Daniel Berkeley Updike in Boston, Massachusetts, and extant during the years 1893–1941. It was perhaps the finest representative of the Arts and Crafts movement in American book arts, influenced by William Morris and founded "to do common work uncommonly well."

Updike established his own studio in 1893, first with the idea of designing type fonts, but soon after as a printing company. He called it the Merrymount Press in honor of Mount Wollaston just south of Boston. In 1896, Updike commissioned font designer Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue to design the Merrymount font for an Altar Book for the Episcopal Church. In 1904 Herbert Horne designed Montallegro for him, and noted graphic artist and print designer Rudolph Ruzicka (1883–1978) also produced designs for the Press.

In 1896 Updike also purchased the Caslon face; other types employed included Scotch Roman, Janson, Mountjoye and Oxford. Merrymount Press was the first American firm to use the Times New Roman font.

In 1899 the Merrymount Press printed Edith Wharton’s novels for Charles Scribner's Sons, which firmly established the press as a going commercial concern. The Press's finest work is generally considered to be the Book of Common Prayer (1930) financed by J. Pierpont Morgan. Without decoration, except a typographic leaf, initial letters, and rubrication, it was an austere and handsome quarto.

Updike estimated that Merrymount Press produced some 14,000 pieces of printing during its existence. Much of it was for the private collectors’ market and limited-editions clubs, but it also printed Christmas cards, bookplates, and advertising ephemera, as well as work for publishers, libraries, churches, and other institutions.

Most of the Merrymount Press archives are conserved in the Boston Athenaeum.
G. P. Winship, Daniel Berkeley Updike and the Merrymount Press, 1947.
J. P. Smith et al., Notes on the Merrymount Press & Its Work, San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1975.
Martin Hutner, The Merrymount Press: An Exhibition on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Press, Harvard University Press, September 2005. (Wikipedia)

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Last Updated8/7/24

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