Alcuin Press
An audio recording by J Tam
By WGCHT
This is an audio recording by J Tam who worked at Alciun Press in Welwyn Garden City.
The Alcuin Press was founded in 1928 by Herbert Patrick Reginald Finberg (1900-1974), a former employee at the Shakespeare Head Press. The press was housed in a malt house behind Elm Tree House, High Street, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Using modern machinery, Finberg produced fine books in small editions using hand-set types on hand-made paper.
The press moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1935.
The first book produced by the press was a book of poetry by Christopher Whitfield, titled “The Village and Other Poems” in a signed and numbered edition of one hundred copies. Other titles include: “Last Poems” by A. E. Housman; “The Unfortunate Traveller” by Thomas Nash; and “The Book of The Knight of La Tour Landry” for the Verona Society.
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I’ve just listened to the audio recording. My father John Tyler was an apprentice compositor at this firm at the same time as Mr Tam. His apprenticeship deed was dated 16/10/1949 and I have the papers. Mr Tam could have worked with my father. I found the recording very comforting and inciteful.
Dear Julie,
We are so pleased that the recording brought solace.
Kind regards
Ed.