Triple Crown Collection

The Triple Crown Collection consists of over 1,000 items from the three finest presses of the English Arts and Crafts movement: the Kelmscott Press, the Doves Press, and the Ashendene Press. The collection, built over 68 years by collector Charles Gould, was acquired by the Libraries in 2000.

A two-page display of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer showing both the title and first pages. The first page includes an illustration of a man walking in a garden with a book in-hand. — Kelmscott Press, *Works of Geoffrey Chaucer*, 1896.

A hand-written page from the Doves Press Bible with edits made in red. — A proof sheet with edits from The Doves Press Bible

The English Arts and Crafts movement that began in the late nineteenth century was a reaction against mass-produced books of that time. The movement sought to return to earlier bookmaking techniques before the introduction of new technologies and to emulate the beauty of the medieval book by focusing on design through typefaces, layouts, and illustrations.

Gould gathered hundreds of items relating to the history and production of each press, in addition to their published works, making this collection especially valuable for researchers. The collection includes business correspondence, proof pages, alternate bindings, preparatory sketches, and even original woodcut printing blocks. The collection is comprehensive, including nearly every book and ephemeral item, recorded and unrecorded, that these three presses produced.