Ashendene Press Works from Sophie Schneideman Rare Books

Next we come to Ashendene's masterpiece. Item 22 is Tutte le Opere di Dante Alighieri, better known simply as the Ashendene Dante, published in 1909. It took three years to print the 111 copies of Hornby's finest work. It is generally considered one of the three greatest private press books ever printed, along with the Kelmscott Chaucer and the Doves Bible. Emery Walker and Sidney Cockerell both described the book as the finest private press work other than the Kelmscott Chaucer, while Bruce Rogers described it as even finer than the Kelmscott work. £45,000 (US $70,495).

The final book from Ashendene would come in 1935. Hornby picked a logical subject: A Descriptive Bibliography of the Books Printed at the Ashendene Press. This is more than just a dry bibliography, but one of Hornby's finest books. It includes not just the bibliography, but specimen leaves from most of the Ashendene books, either from the original printings or reset later ones. Item 37. £2,000 (US $3,133).

Sophie Schneideman Rare Books may be reached at 020 8354 7365 or sophie@ssrbooks.com. Their website is www.ssrbooks.com.