EMERSON (Ralph Waldo) &
BLUEMENTHAL (Joseph)
Nature.
Near fine, the only defect being some chipping to the spine label and light rubbing to slipcase, otherwise pristine.
A refined and restrained edition of Nature, very much in the style of the Doves Press. Blumenthal was an important figure in the American fine press landscape, founding the Spiral Press in 1926 in Manhattan and producing, among others, an extensive series of limited editions for the poet Robert Frost. He was awarded a medal by the American Institute for Graphic Arts in 1952, and an exhibition of printing from the Spiral Press was held at the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1966; Blumenthal later went on to write several histories of American printing and typography.
This book also marks the first appearance of Blumenthal’s Spiral typeface, cut by Louis Hoell of the Bauer type foundry and designed after Renaissance models, in the style of faces like those of the Doves Press and Bruce Rogers; the face was later adapted by Stanley Morrison for the Monotype Corporation and renamed Emerson, after the book in which it first appeared. Emerson was well-regarded at the time by other printers and continues to maintain a small following among typographers, but it was commercially unsuccessful for Blumenthal.
