Bibliograhy of Thomas Bird Mosher (works on, about or mentioning Mosher); Selectively Annotated

Bibliography of Thomas Bird Mosher
(works on, about or mentioning Mosher)
Selectively Annotated

(Adler, Elmer) Slater, John Rothwell. Catalogue of an Exhibition of the History of the Art of Printing -- 1450-1920. Rochester, New York: The Memorial Art Gallery, 1920, p. 53. This exhibition was collected and arranged by Elmer Adler. Adler is famed as one of America's outstanding printers. He was also noted as a publisher, designer and collector. He founded the Pynson Printers in New York, and created the memorable typographic and bibliophilic publication, The Colophon: A Book Collector's Quarterly. His concern with typography led him to form a collection of enough scope to justify the Art of Printing Exhibition held, not at a library, but at Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery, in "recognition of the fact that really good printing is itself a beautiful thing." (p.3). The Mosher publication, Circum Praecordia (1906), appears in the section "The Revival of Fine Printing" along with twenty-four other books from the Kelmscott, Essex House, Doves, Elston, Merrymount and other presses. The catalogue was written by John Rothwell Slater, professor of English at the University of Rochester (certainly annotated in cooperation with Adler). The write-up below Mosher's book states that "Mr. Mosher was one of the earliest American publishers to issue small books printed in small but good type in small editions for booklovers with small incomes. Though there has been no striking novelty in his typographical methods, his service to the cause of literature and of printing has been not inconsiderable."

Alphamu. "Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923)" in The Calcutta Review -- An Illustrated Monthly. Vol. 9, No. 3 (Third Series). Calcutta, India: Calcutta Review, December 1923, pp. 459-465. This monthly literary periodical was distributed through agents in London, New York, Bombay, New Delhi, Patna, and Calcutta. A lengthy quotation from this work is available.

Altschul, Frank. A Catalogue of the Altschul Collection of George Meredith in the Yale University Library, compiled by Bertha Coolidge with an introduction by Chauncy Brewster Tinker. [Boston]: Privately Printed [D. B. Updike, Merrymount Press], 1931.

American Type Founders Company. Specimens of type: ornaments and borders, brass rules and dashes, business cuts, society emblems, initial letters, card and billhead logotypes, newspaper headings, check lines, and other materials necessary in the printing office. Chicago, IL: The Company, [1896]. The noted printer of Maine, Fred Anthoensen, identified the Dickinson Type Foundry of Boston as one of Mosher's (or his printer's) sources of type. This foundry was one of fourteen old-line foundries which merged with the American Type Founders Company headquartered in Newark, NJ in the 1890's. Designs found in this source include the "Jenson Old-Style Series" of initials, page embellishments and borders used in Mosher publications like Empedocles on Etna, Collectors and Collecting, Little Willie, Hand and Soul, The Land of Heart's Desire, and In Praise of Omar.

Amphora -- A Second Collection of Prose and Verse Chosen by the Editor of The Bibelot. Portland, ME: The Mosher Press, 1926. The second Amphora is meant to be a companion piece to the first one published in 1912, and contains ten contributions by Mosher. The several tributes to Mosher include the sonnet "October, in Memory of Thomas Bird Mosher" by Thomas Jones; a dedication "To Thomas Bird Mosher" by Spencer Miller, Jr.; a tribute entitled "Forewords" by John L. Foley; another tribute "A Golden String" written by Christopher Morley; and a character sketch of Mosher entitled "Aldi Discipulus Americanus" written by Frederick A. Pottle. A full page notice on this second Amphora appeared as "In Memory of Thomas Bird Mosher" in The Publisher's Weekly, November 20, 1926, p. 1991.

Anon. "Books and Authors--Thomas Bird Mosher" in The Bulletin of the Maine State Library. Vol. XII, No. 3. Augusta, ME, January 1927, pp. 62-65. The library boasts owning a complete set of the Mosher books, but this article consists mostly of extracts from the second Amphora, including a lengthy quote from Publisher's Weekly of September 15, 1923. There is also a brief sketch of Mosher's life.

Anon. Edward Fitzgerald 1809-1909--Centenary Celebrations Souvenir. [Ipswich, England: The East Anglian Daily Times], 1909, pp. 5, 7, 50-51. Mosher is listed as a patron, the lender of the plates used to illustrate the souvenir (taken from his own publication of Edward FitzGerald: An Aftermath), and is given a two page write-up entitled "An American Tribute" in which Mosher boasts of owning FitzGerald's commonplace book, and his annotated copies of 'Lucretius' and 'Shiller's Wallenstein.'

Anon. "The Mosher Books." in The Protest, A Journal for Philistines. No. Five. Kent, England: Published for the Proprietors from the Sign of the Hop-Pole, Crockham Hill, Eden Bridge, January 1903. Reprinted as an advertisement accompanying The Bibelot for May 1903 (not to be found in yearly bound copies).

Anon. An Outline of Distinguished Reading -- With which are combined several appreciations of the work of Thomas Bird Mosher. New York: Wm. H. Wise & Co., 1925. The section "An Approach to Distinguished Reading" (pp. 7-14) serves as an introduction to Mosher's life and his publication, The Bibelot. The three essays at the end of the book are "The Joys of Books" by Alexander Smith, "A Golden String" by Christopher Morley, and "The Ending of the Bibelot" by William Marion Reedy. This little tome was meant as both an advertisement, and as a companion guide, to the reprint of The Bibelot of 21 volumes, also published by Wm. H. Wise & Co. in 1925.

Anon. "Portland Librarian Collects Thomas Bird Mosher's Books" in the Portland Press Herald. January 5, 1968. Included under the "Clearing House" section, the focus of this multi-column article is Miss Frances Lombard, a secondary school teacher and past president of the New England School Librarian's Association. Excerpts were taken from Lombard's paper on Mosher presented before "the College Club." The article presents no new information on Mosher, and mentions titles in her collection of Mosher books, in addition to quotes from her talk.

Anon. "Publisher on Rural Culture" in the Boston Sunday Post. Boston, August 22, 1920, p. [40]. Printed as a single sixteen-inch column with photograph. The title of this interview is a bit deceiving, but derives from Mosher's remarks: "It is a dream of mine to see literature carried to the farms. Is there any reason why a man with a milk route should not read Shelley?" Looking back over his publishing career, he also mentions that "the books which I have published are my contribution to the end which I would bring about... From the books I have read of prose and verse I have sought to extract the life-blood of the ages and would, by the books I publish, together with my method of publishing, persuade others to seek in them the same kinship I have found. We are now so situated by the compulsion of the hour that we cannot make a book of the same high quality at the old low price. Yet I won't make any other kind of a book." The interviewer remarked that "an hour spent with Mr. Mosher and his books reveals the fact that he has not only produced greatly but he has lived profoundly." (see also the Caswell entry below)

Anon. "A Publisher Who Saw His Dream Come True." Current Opinion 76. [February 1924], 177-79. Extensively quotes Charles Dunn article (see below).

Anon. "Revival of Printing" in Craftsman Homeowner. Vol. III, No. 4. Winter 1992, p. 7. This press release announces the Temple University exhibition "Thomas Bird Mosher and the Art of the Book" and gives a brief overview of Mosher's publishing career. The exhibition was also overviewed in Bookman's Weekly. Vol. 89, No. 21. Clifton, NJ: AB Bookman Publications, May 25, 1992, p. 2149.

Anon. "Sermones." "Thomas Bird Mosher" in Bookman's Journal and Print Collector. Vol. II, No. 35. June 25, 1920, p. 135.

Arellanes, Audrey Spencer, ed. Excerpts from the Letters of Thomas Bird Mosher. Pasadena, CA: Bookworm Press, 1972. This miniature twenty-nine page press book, limited to 215 copies, consists of an introduction by Arellanes, a facsimile frontispiece of Mosher's bookplate, a reproduction of W. Irving Way's monogram at the end of the book, and seventeen excerpts of letters at the Huntington Library from Mosher to W. Irving Way, the contents ranging from the profound to the humorous.

Arlen, Shelley. The Cambridge Ritualists: An Annotated Bibliography of the Works by and About Jane Ellen Harrison, Gilbert Murray, Francis M. Cornford, and Arthur Bernard Cook. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1990, entry 411. References Gilbert Murray's Andromache--A Play in Three Acts published by Mosher in 1913.

(Ashley Library) Wise, Thomas James. The Ashley Library. A Catalogue of Printed Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters. 11 vols. London: Printed for Private Circulation Only. 1922-36. Volume six is the only volume to contain references to the Mosher Press books present in the Ashley Library.

Ayers, William, ed. with Ann Barton Brown, curator. A Poor Sort of Heaven, a Good Sort of Earth--The Rose Valley Arts and Crafts Experiment. Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1983, p. 50 and 71. Comparison is made with Horace Traubel's publication, The Artsman, of which it is said: "In quality, Traubel's typographic work had its closest parallels with the turn-of-the-century products of Copeland and Day (Boston) and Thomas B. Mosher (Portland, Maine)." Several volumes of Mosher's little magazine, The Bibelot, are pictured on p.50.

Babington, Percy. L. Bibliography of the Writings of John Addington Symonds. London: J. Castle, 1925 (reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1968), entries 35, 492, 489, 493, 500 and p.51. Includes references to Mosher's editions of Fragilia Labilia (1902), Symonds contribution in The Garland of Rachel (1902), his translation of Michael Angelo Buonarroti--His Sonnets in the Bibelot Series (1895), The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti (1897) in the Old World Series, and Symon's translation of medieval Latin students' songs in Wine, Women and Song (1899) in the Miscellaneous Series.

(BAL) Jacob Blanck, compiler. The Bibliography of American Literature. 9 vols. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1955-1991. BAL includes references to Mosher imprints under John Hay, John Greenleaf Whittier, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Although Walt Whitman appears in BAL, reprinted Whitman books and selections published after 1900 were not included, therefore there are no later editions in BAL for Whitman. No note on any Mosher publication is listed under the Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, or the James McNeill Whistler entries. The American poets Lizette Woodworth Reese, Arthur Upson, John Vance Cheney, Daniel Henry Holmes are not included as entries in BAL.

Barker, Nicholas and John Collins. A Sequel to An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets by John Carter and Graham Pollard. The Forgeries of H. Buxton Forman & T. J. Wise Re-examined. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books (and Scholar Press), 1992. Mosher printed four of the Wise forgeries, The Two Sides of the River, Dead Love and Unpublished Verses, and The Pilgrims of Hope. The reader may also wish to consult John Carter and Graham Pollard's pioneering work which first appeared in 1934: An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets. Second Edition. With an Epilogue by John Carter and Graham Pollard. Edited by Nicholas Barker & John Collins (London & Berkeley: Scolar Press, 1983).

Barnes, Warner. A Bibliography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Austin, TX: The University of Texas & Baylor University. [1967]. Barnes' Mosher citations are confusing as he stops giving series identifications after the first three of the nine entries he cites in the index under publishers, and he misses some of the Mosher editions. Additionally, his entry E359 is listed as a 1910 "sixth" edition which is probably a misattributed edition note; it should read the 1910 "fifth" edition. The other problematic citation in Barnes is E391 which he lists as a 1913 Mosher edition at Yale. In checking the National Union Catalogue, the Library of Congress Online Catalogue, RLIN, and Yale's online catalogue (OPAC), no 1913 edition has been located.

Baskin, Leonard and Hosea. The Gehenna Press -- The Work of Fifty Years 1942-1992. Dallas, TX: The Bridwell Library & The Gehenna Press, 1992, p. 66. "The intersticed densities of the prodigious Portland pirate, Thomas Bird Mosher, here all set forth in bibliographical order, caused a call on my subtlest typographical skills. The immense, dense & complex index is reflective of Mosher's endless manipulation of the same texts, set & issued in various sizes in divers series; it resolved itself into forty one pages set in eight point type. This is not the place to discuss or assess Mosher, but he was influential & important on many different levels. The book was needed & its bibliographical avowals & endless index illuminate the tangled growth of his publishing tendencies."

Bayler, Particia, Beverly Brandt, et. al. (Wendy Kaplan, consulting editor). The Encyclopedia of Arts and Crafts -- The International Arts Movement, 1850-1920. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1989 (republished in 1998 by the Knickerbocker Press), pp. 145, 146, 148, and 150. The author of chapter seven on "Graphics" is Jean-Fran�ois Vilain. Although the entry for Mosher is necessarily brief, three of Mosher's books are illustrated on p. 148: the front cover to Fancy's Following, the opening spread of Empedocles on Etna (this copy hand-colored by Bertha Avery and once belonged to Mosher's secretary-manager, Flora Lamb), and a binding on the 1897 Old World Rub�iy�t executed by Christina Gaskel for the Guild of Women Binders.

Beckson, Karl, et. al. Arthur Symons: A Bibliography. Number Five in the 1880-1920 British Authors Series. [Greensboro, NC: Elt Press (Dept. of English at the Univ. of North Carolina)], 1990, entries A3c, A14a-b, B28, B, 32, B36, B49, B55. References include Mosher's publication of Symons' Lyrics (1903) and his Silhouettes (1909), and Symons' discussion of Francis Thompson in Thompson's Poems (1911) and the Hound of Heaven (1908), Symons' discussion in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1902), his introduction to Browning's Pompillia (1903).

(Beinecke) McKay, G. L., compiler. A Stevenson Library -- Catalogue of a Collection of Writings by and about Robert Louis Stevenson formed by Edwin J. Beinecke. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1951. For the purposes of a Mosher bibliography, use of only the first two volumes on "Printed Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides, etc." were applicable and included eleven citations.

Bentley, G. E. Jr. Blake Books -- Annotated Catalogues of William Blake's Writings... Reproductions of his Designs, Books with his Engravings... Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1977, entries 150 and 505. These citations involved Mosher's publication of Blake's Songs of Innocence (1904) and Blakes' XVII Designs to Thornton's Virgil (1899).

Bidwell, John. "The Publishing Career of Thomas Bird Mosher." in the New York-Pennsylvania Collector. April 1978, pp. 4-6. The author, John Bidwell, was curator of the Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Printing. The article pictures several designs of Mosher's book and his bookplate. The information covered is basically taken from Strouse's The Passionate Pirate and from the Hatch bibliography.

Bishop, Philip R. Thomas Bird Mosher -- Pirate Prince of Publishers. A Comprehensive Bibliography & Source Guide to The Mosher Books Reflecting England's National Literature & Design. With an Introduction by William E. Fredeman. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press; London: The British Library, 1998. xvi, 536 pp. (including 44-page descriptive index); 230 illustrations and eight-page color section; tables, charts, graphs. Entries arranged in alphabetical order by book title. This groundbreaking work describes the books produced by the American publisher, Thomas Bird Mosher, whose editions helped convey England's literature and design to the American public. The penetrating and insightful Introduction by Dr. William E. Fredeman, one of the foremost Pre-Raphaelite scholars of our day, gives the much fuller context within which Mosher promulgated his unique publishing venture. Additionally, Fredeman describes the full array of extraordinary features found in this work. This exhaustive study not only provides abundant new primary research, including new evidence on royalties paid, but also presents the material in a novel way. An overview with tables & graphs, and a set of highly useful appendices, neatly combine and cross-reference with the work's primary bibliography. Also, for the first time, the reader is presented with two check-lists of Mosher Press publications later printed by Mosher's "successors." The book's opening section is particularly useful in clearly presenting the various series, privately printed books, and books printed on vellum. The section on binders and bindings (illustrated in full color) adds yet another dimension showing the respect Mosher's imprints command. There is also a revealing section presenting both acclaims and criticisms of Mosher's publishing. A descriptive index, and an annotated and cross-referenced bibliography on Mosher himself, round out the book's strengths.

--- "Thomas Bird Mosher -- Publishing Prince...or Pirate?" in BIBLIO-The Magazine for Collectors of Books, Manuscripts, and Ephemera. Vol. 2, No. 7. Eugene, OR: Aster Publishing Cor-poration, July 1997, pp. 38 - 45. The front cover call-outs advertise the article inside as "The Princely Picaroon of Publishing." This illustrated article presents a general overview of Mosher's life, motivations, publishing program, and selling techniques. Two sidebars present the current retail market prices for key Mosher imprints, and sources for additional information on the Mosher Press. The unexpurgated article, with more than actually appeared in the the BIBLIO magazine is also available.

---. "Thomas Bird Mosher -- A Remembrance." in The National Book Collector. Vol. II, No. 3, May/June 1991. This is the text of a brief address given at the August 16, 1990 unveiling of a commemorative brass plaque at Mosher's publishing office at 45 Exchange Street in Portland, ME.

---, comp., and Introduction in "A B.R. QUARTET -- Letters from Bruce Rogers to
Thomas Bird Mosher at The Houghton Library." Typophiles Monograph- New Series 17. New York: The Typophiles, Inc., 2001. Transcribes and annotates four letters from Bruce Rogers to Thomas Bird Mosher, and includes an introductory commentary discussing the relationship between Rogers and Mosher.

---, "B.R. on T. B. M." A Keepsake for The Typophiles. Lmtd. to 75 copies. Distributed to members at the talk "Some Stylistic Elements of the Books of Thomas B. Mosher." June 14, 2000. Prints a December 30, 1909 letter from Bruce Rogers to Thomas Bird Mosher.

---, "B.R. on T. B. M." A Keepsake for The Philobiblon Club. Lmtd. to 75 copies. Distributed to members at the talk "The Mosher Books in Some of Their Graphical Aspects." May 9, 2000. Prints a December 30, 1909 letter from Bruce Rogers to Thomas Bird Mosher.

---, "A Pre- Post-Mortem Addition to a Book Collection." In the Delaware Bibliophiles Endpapers, March 2000, pp. 17-18. This article is about the first and last meeting between William E. "Dick" Fredeman and Philip R. Bishop, just before Dick's death. A book from Mosher's library, with Dick Fredeman's bookplate as well, was given to Bishop in remembrance of this final meeting. The full text of this article is available.

---, "A Report from the Front Lines in May 2001" in Delaware Bibliophiles Endpapers, September 2001, pp. 7-11. In addition to the discussion on several new Mosher acquisitions to the Bishop collection, this article provides a lengthy discussion about the newly acquired Curtis Hidden Page copy of The Germ (Mosher, 1898, one of twenty-five copies on Japan vellum) bound by the Guild of Women-Binders.

---, ed. and Scott Anderson, website designer and coordinator. The Mosher Press. 1997-98. Online. Internet. 15 January 1998. Available HTTP: www.millersville.edu/~mosher/index.html (hosted by Millersville University). This site is comprised of a variety of material. The table of contents lists the following sections: Biography of Mosher, Printing History, Books in Series, Piracy Dispute, Exhibitions, Book Samples, Fine Bindings, Bibliographies, Mosher Press Collections, Visitor Registration, and Sites of Related Interest. The site is illustrated, contains material for scholars to access, and is updated periodically.

---. For co-authorship, see Vilain, Jean-Fran�ois. Thomas Bird Mosher and the Art of the Book, and "The Covers of the Mosher Books"

Blackwell, Kenneth and Harry Ruja, et. al. A Bibliography of Bertrand Russell. Volume I "Separate Publications 1896-1990." London & New York: Routledge, [1994]. This three volume bibliography on Bertrand Russell lists both the first Mosher issue of A Free Man's Worship in 1923 (A44.1a) and the second edition of 1927 (A44.1b). The first entry indicates that there is correspondence between Russell and Mosher in the Houghton Library, Harvard. Correspondence and the galley proofs are also listed as being in The Bertrand Russell Archives of the William Ready Division of the Archives and Research Collections, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. There are also two letters catalogued in Volume II on pp. 530 and 545: J84.01 being a letter to Flora M. Lamb thanking her for sending five copies of the 1923 edition of A Free Man's Worship, (catalogued in the booksellers catalogue James F. O'Neil; List 85--C, Boston, April 1984, p. 9, item 79), and Hh90.02 being a letter to Blanco White from Flora Lamb reproduced in facsimile in Sheila Turcon's "Recent Acquisitions: Correspondence." Russell, n.s. 10 (summer 1990), pp. 30-67.

Blank, Jacob. "News from the Rare Booksellers." in The Publisher's Weekly 141. [January 19, 1942], pp. 210-11. Discusses the transfer of the Mosher Press assets to the Williams Book Store in Boston.

Block, Andrew. The Book Collector's Vade Mecum. London: Denis Archer, 1932, pp. 49-50. Block mentions Mosher in his fourth chapter on Modern Presses wherein he lists the Ashendene, Doves, Golden Cockerel, Kelmscott, Nonesuch, Vale, etc. When he turns to America he makes mention of the Merrymount Press, et.al, and comments: "For really charming editions we must turn to the books published by the late Thomas B. Mosher; they can nearly all be purchased at nominal prices, but are well worth acquiring." --p.49.

Bloomfield, B. C. "T. B. Mosher and the Guild of Women Binders." in The Book Collector. XVI. Sprint 1967, p. 82 (Note 285). Here given in its entirety: "May I offer the following small footnote to the articles on Mosher (The Book Collector Autumn 1962, pp. 295-312) and 'English Bookbindings LVI' (The Book Collector, Spring 1966, p.46). My copy of Mosher's reprint of The Germ has the following statement on the page facing the title-page: '25 copies only of this book have been printed on Japan vellum, for England. Acquired by the Guild of Women-Binders, 61 Charing Cross Road, London. This is No. 8 Thomas B. Mosher'. [The number and signature are manuscript]. The imprint on the title-page reads: London GUILD OF WOMEN-BINDERS [in red] 61 Charing Cross Road MDCCCXCVIII.' Since this copy is in paper covered boards the Women-Binders never seem to have got to work on it." Bloomfield was apparently unaware of any copies bound by the Guild of Women-Binders. The bibliography, Thomas Bird Mosher -- Pirate Prince of Publishers (1998) locates two copies, and yet another copy bound by the Hampstead Bindery. Others may still survive.

Blumenthal, Joseph. Art of the Printed Book 1455-1955 -- Masterpieces of Typography Through Five Centuries from the Collections of the Pierpont Morgan Library New York. Boston: David R. Godine, 1973. pp. 45-46. A brief sketch on Mosher is presented in the section "The Printed Book in the United States" along with Benjamin Franklin, Isaiah Thomas, Theodore Low DeVinne, Daniel Berkeley Updike, John Henry Nash, Elmer Adler, Dard Hunter, Victor Hammer, and Bruce Rogers. Blumenthal notes that Mosher published "some four hundred titles, modest in format, price, and design, with forthright charm -- the first American to sustain a consistent program of fine bookmaking."

---. Bruce Rogers -- A Life in Letters. Austin, TX: W. Thomas Taylor, 1989. Blumenthal notes: "The first book with the name Bruce Rogers in the colophon was Homeward Songs by the Way (plate 2) by A.E. (George Russell), with a few decorations by Rogers, published in 1895 by Thomas B. Mosher in Portland, Maine. (Mosher was the first American to have established and sustained a program, over thirty-two years, of splendid literary output in consistently felicitous typographical form.)" Also in this book Blumenthal quotes a November 22, 1943 letter from Bruce Rogers to Carl Weber in which Rogers discusses some of his early work for Mosher, including "lettering the title-page of one of his long slim volumes -- I think it was the Rubaiyat. This led to several other small commissions, some after I arrived in Boston...." --pp. 5-6.

---. The Printed Book in America. Boston: David R. Godine, 1977, pp. 41-43, and illustration 31. "Thomas Bird Mosher of Portland, Maine, was not a participant in the Boston-Cambridge burst of typographic fervor. Neither was he touched by the tidal wave from Kelmscott. He is the first American to have established and sustained a program, over thirty-two years, of splendid literary output in consistently felicitous typographic form... They were bought by thousands of literate men and women whose pleasure in reading was enhanced by fine paper, good workmanship, and an unassuming and quiet typographic elegance." -- p.41

---. Typographic Years -- A Printer's Journey Through a Half Century 1925-1975. New York: Frederic C. Beil, [1982]. p. 3. Blumenthal writes, "In 1891, when Morris completed his first Kelmscott book, The Story of the Glittering Plain, Thomas B. Mosher in Portland, Maine, published George Meredith's Modern Love, the first of Mosher's long list of attractively designed small books of impeccable literary taste. The next forty years would witness the production of many beautiful books. Volumes were printed and published that compare favorably with the best work produced during the five centuries since the appearance of Gutenberg's great legacy to mankind."

Born, Edward. General Catalogue of Bowdoin College.. A Biographical Record of Alumni and Officers, 1900-75. Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin College, [1978]., p. 659. The section on "Honorary Degree Recipients" lists Mosher as receiving a Master of Arts degree (one of ten recipients of honorary degrees during 1906 -- six doctorates and four masters degrees). According to Bowdoin librarians, the actual college record of Mosher's honorary degree is absent due to college president, William Dewitt Hyde, who was in office in 1906. He burned or otherwise destroyed all his correspondence and records upon leaving Bowdoin.

Borst, Raymond R. Henry David Thoreau -- A Descriptive Bibliography. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982, entry E6. References Mosher's publication of Thoreau selections in A Little Book of Nature Themes (1906).

Boss, Thomas G., John William Pye and Judith Nelson. The Turn of the Century. 1/100 copies. Boston: Published by Thomas G. Boss Fine Books [Printed by the Firefly Press of Sommerville, MA], [1993]. This book is actually the composite of six bookseller's catalogues (V, VII, IX, XI, XIII, and XV) reprinted on special paper and bound in cloth by Boston's Harcourt Bindery, and comes with an index. The contents includes numerous Mosher publications, is well illustrated, and gives the reader a good feel for the type of book material being published around the time of Mosher's publishing efforts.

(Boswell & Crouch). Boswell, Jeanetta, and Crouch, Sarah. Henry David Thoreau and the Critics: A Checklist of Criticism, 1900-1978. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1981, p. 176. Citation is to Mosher's publication of A Little Book of Nature Themes (1906) selected by Thomas Coke Watkins.

Bowles, J. M. "On the Early Work of Bruce Rogers." in The Colophon -- A Book Collectors Quarterly. Part 11. September 1932, pp. [5] and [11]. Bowles notes that "what is of more importance to us is the fact that he lettered one or two title-pages for Thomas B. Mosher, the publisher (or re-publisher) of Portland, Maine, whose charming little paper-bound books were making a sensation just then.."--p.[5], and "it has always been a toss-up as to which was the first book with Rogers decoration, this [R. B. Gruelle's Notes: Critical & Biographical (Indianapolis: J. M. Bowles, 1895) about the art collection of W. T. Walters] or the 'Homeward songs by the Way' by A.E. (George Russell), published by Mosher the same year. It doesn't matter: anyway, the Walter's book is more important. Also in the little 'Homeward Songs' some of the decorations were either drawn too large as size for the space in which they were to be used, or their reduction was too great, for some reason, for the lines in the design are crowded. In the Walter's book the designs blend better with the type. Both books carry Rogers' name in the colophon. Although worked on in 1894, these books bear the publication date of 1895."--p. [11].

Brewster, Stella F. "Late T. B. Mosher: One of World's Foremost Lovers of Belles-Lettres." in the Portland Sunday Telegram and Sunday Press Herald. (three columns) Portland, ME, April 9, 1933. This is a general article touching on many familiar facts and reprinting often used quotes from Mosher's catalogues and The Bibelot. Perhaps the most telling feature is that the author was a resident of Portland, ME, and a member of the Portland Junior League, but never had heard of Mosher until a 1929 meeting with the poet, Thomas S. Jones, Jr.

[Briggs brothers]. Twentieth Century Cover Designs. Arranged, compiled, printed and published by Victor H. and Ernest L. Briggs. Plymouth, MA: Victor H. & Ernest L. Briggs, 1902, pp. [63, 67, 72, 74, 90, 98, and full page ad in rear]. Several pages within this book exhibit design work done either directly for Mosher, or binding designs placed on Mosher's books. Unfortunately the publisher information for many of the bindings is not given, but given the date and dimensions of the book, some are most likely on Mosher imprints, for example, the Ralph Randolf Adams binding on Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (illustrated on p.63) and the binding on the Rub�iy�t by Emily Preston (illustrated on p. 67). Mosher's two catalogues for 1900 (Goudy design) and 1901 (Crawford design) are give full-page illustrations on pp. 98 and 90 respectively.

Bruccoli, Matthew J. The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, Bookman. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, [1986], pp. 8, 10, 12-14, 24-25, 106-107. Bruccoli notes that Kennerley was an early collector of Mosher's books. He also mentions the unfortunate label of literary pirate given Mosher, and indicates "Kennerley would later emulate certain aspects of the Mosher imprint" (and like Mosher, Kennerley would also bring out an edition of Modern Love by George Meredith). Important mention is also made of Kennerley's and Mosher's shared interest in Aimee Lenalie (but unknown to Bruccoli, Lenalie was actually Mosher's first wife, Ellie Dresser). An interesting letter from William Marion Reedy (St. Louis Mirror) to Mosher reveals the circle of familiarity surrounding Reedy, Mosher, Kennerley, William Bixby, and John Quinn.

Bruckner, D.J.R. Frederic Goudy. (Masters of American Design) New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990, p. 48-49. Reference is made to Goudy's commission for designing the covers of the first four books in the Vest Pocket Series.

Burke, Harry R. A Visitation at Thatchcot. Herrin, IL: Trovillion Press, 1944, pp. 4 and 8. Mention is made of Mosher in two locations: " 'A counsel of wisdom guides them,' written to Hal W. Trovillion long ago by Thomas B. Mosher, whose beautiful books are treasured by booklovers everywhere; "Remember what a great man once said; 'don't try to die rich, but live rich!' " --p. 4 [and] "It [Francine's Muff] was printed in the chaste tradition of the Mosher Books -- small wide margined, of graceful clear-faced type. Simple, charming, beautiful, inviting."--p. 8 (see also entry "Schauinger, Herman" below).

Burke, W. J. and Will D. Howe. American Authors and Books 1640 to the Present Day. Augmented and Revised by Irving R. Weiss. New York, Crown Publishers, Inc. , [1962], p. 511. "The fine editions of literary classics which he published and the monthly periodical, The Bibelot, which he edited, are noteworthy exemplars of the graphic arts in America."

Caffin, Charles H. Article in The Artist. New York: Truslove, Hanson and Comba, December 1898. "While upon the subject of artistic book-making, it is a pleasure to allude to the delightful editions of choice literary morsels issued by Thomas B. Mosher of Portland, Maine. Each volume is confined in a parchment wrapper, sealed with a gold wafer, upon which a fleur de lis is embossed. This at once sets the key to our appreciation. Instinctively, we feel that something precious is therein, and begin to use our finger tips. We are en rapport with Mr. Mosher's own thought. It was just because the literary morsel was precious that he selected it; and feeling it to be a gem, has striven to give it a worthy setting. With a mind attuned to this impression, we pass a paper-knife beneath the seal and find inside the wrapper a daintily decorated slide-case, out of which we draw the enticing volume. It is printed on Van Gelder paper, stout and smooth, and bound in flexible Japan vellum. If you are a book-lover, you realize by this time that Mr. Mosher has done something for you that no other publisher accomplishes in the same way. Not by costliness, for the volumes are extraordinarily cheap, but by the reverence which he has for the text and the rare discrimination with which he gives expression to it, he has given a garnish to the volume that affords the most refined enjoyment to the reader. If you are not a book-lover and have hitherto regarded a book as a mere receptacle of matter to be read, you will get your first lesson in that deeper, personal affection which should exist between the reader and the book. You value your friend for his own sake as well as for the joy of his conversation, and volumes such as these will grow to be precious to you quite apart from their contents. Appropriateness is the sign-manual of all good craftsmanship, and, as far as may be, Mr. Mosher's editions certainly fulfill this condition. Their make-up is in spirit with the text."

Carter, John and John Sparrow. A.E. Housman -- A Bibliography. Second edition revised by William White. Godalming, Great Britain: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1982. For the particulars on the many publishers of the authorized and unauthorized editions of A Shropshire Lad, Carter references William White. The Library. Fourth Series. XXIII, June 1942, pp. 33-34; and Fifth Series. VII. September 1952, pp. 202-204; and the appendix to Carl J. Weber's 'Jubilee Edition' [of A Shropshire Lad], Waterville, Maine, 1946.

Caswell, Mina H. "Would See Literature Carried to the Farms -- Why Shouldn't the Milkmen Read Shelley?" in the Portland Evening Express & Advertiser. Portland, ME, May 5, 1920, p. 21. This article, filled with personal accounts by Mosher, is the result of a face-to-face interview in his office. For example, he mentions the first time he ever heard of the Rub�iy�t was during a hygiene lecture in Portland in 1879 by Dr. F. H. Gerrish. There is also mention of his early work on an historical volume on bookkeeping, "with special reference to Charles Lamb and his clerkship at the India House." He points out, in some detail, that his greatest achievement in his publishing career was not The Bibelot, but rather the reproduction of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The description of Mosher's behavior, while the interview is being conducted, is captivating. Obviously Mosher was an intriguing personality.

Catalogue of Special & Private Presses in the Rare Book Division. The Research Libraries. The New York Public Library. Vol. 2. Boston, MA: G. K. Hall & Co., 1978, pp. 66-76. This catalogue lists 214 Mosher entries (G. K. Hall & Co. also published specialized catalogues like this for other major research institutions in America).

Cave, Roderick. The Private Press. Second Edition. New York & London: R. R. Bowker Company, 1983, pp. 101 and 200. Surprisingly, Mosher is only mentioned in passing, and in discussing the Daniel Press production of The Garland of Rachel, Cave mentions, "the book had the distinction (if that is the right word) of being pirated in a sort of type facsimile by Thomas Bird Mosher at Portland, Maine, in 1902." Cave also indicates that Mosher's "little bibelot editions" helped to inspire Hal Trovillion to print his own publications of the Trovillion Press.

(CBEL). Bateson, F. W. Bateson. The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. 4 vols., plus supplement. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940-41.

Cevasco, G. A. Three Decadent Poets, Ernest Dowson, John Gray, and Lionel Johnson -- An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1990.

Chapman, Alfred C. "Thomas Bird Mosher" in Colby Library Quarterly. Series IV, No. 13. [February 1958], pp. 229-44. This article is most derivative, drawing upon memorial tributes in the second Amphora, Mosher's catalogues, and other authors cited in this bibliography. The conclusion of the article does present a useful overview of the relationship between Robert Frost and Mosher.

Chielens, Edward E. American Literary Magazines -- The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. New York, Greenwood Press, 1986, pp. 63-65. Though the entry on The Bibelot is generally good, there are two glaring mistakes. E. Kate Stewart, who wrote the entry, states that Mosher ceased publication of this little magazine in 1915 "because of retirement." Mosher never retired from the book business until he died in 1923. In a letter from Mosher to Elizabeth Butterworth dated August 19, 1914 (Bishop collection), Mosher states on p.3: "This completion of The Bibelot by no means indicates that I am to retire from business. On the contrary, I hope to devote even more time than was possible in the past years to the making of choice printing and beautiful editions." Stewart's mistake is forgivable though, since Mosher did indeed slow down production. The second mistake, however, is bibliographical. Stewart indicates that The Bibelot "carried no advertisements." This is patently untrue and makes one wonder if Stewart ever examined the original issues in monthly parts. The Bibelot did indeed carry numerous advertisements. The ads were dropped when the magazine was bound in blue boards covering each year.

Cirker, Hayward and Balanche, eds. Dictionary of American Portraits -- 4045 Pictures of Americans from Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., [1967], p. 440. Mosher's portrait, taken around the age of 49, appears on the lower right side. This is the same portrait that appears in some of Mosher's specially bound copies of his book catalogue.

Clark, Robert Judson, editor. The Arts and Crafts Movement in America 1876-1916. Princeton: Princeton University Press, [1972]., pp. 117 and 132. This is a catalogue for an exhibition organized by the Art Museum, Princeton University, and The Art Institute of Chicago. The section on "The Arts and Crafts Book" was written by Susan Otis Thompson, and pictures Mosher's edition of Fancy's Following, of which she says "occasionally, a welcome flourish makes a title stand out, ... [and] the bold lines of the floral decoration relate it to turn-of-the-century modes [of cover design] elsewhere."--p. 132. In her introduction to this section (p. 117), she mentions Mosher as one of the "avant-garde amateurs" and "literary publishers" of the 1890's.

Clary, William W. Fifty Years of Book Collecting. Los Angeles: The Zamorano Club (Printed by Grant Dahlstrom of Pasadena, CA), 1962, pp. 13-14, and 21. Clary formed a number of collections, including Shelley and Keats which included imprints by publishers W. Irving Way and Thomas Bird Mosher. The book is essentially the text (with illustrations) of Clary's talk before members of the Zamorano Club on May 27, 1961. He discusses the friendship between Mosher and W. Irving Way. Clary mentions that Robert Burns's The Jolly Beggars was one of Mosher's favorites, having a "strong affinity for the vigor as well as the ribaldry of Burns." He also mentions that "before his death Way gave me a package of 142 letters written to him by Mosher... These letters, of course, would be of great value to any student of the period.... They contain some blunt and outspoken comments on Los Angeles booksellers, whom Mosher did not like, and some equally outspoken remarks about the Boston highbrows who, he thought, high-hatted him because he had not attended Harvard University." Clary gave the entire collection of the Mosher to Way letters to the Huntington Library.

Cline, C. L., ed. The Collected Letters of George Meredith. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1970. This source contains four letters related to Mosher. Selections from letter 1405 (MS: Harvard), 1408 (MS: Yale), and 1399 (MS: University of San Francisco), have already been quoted. In letter 1409, dated 29 March 1892 (MS: Messrs Macmillan, but now should be in the Macmillan Papers in the British Library), George Meredith writes: "The enclosed shows our American Pirate invading my native land to despoil me. | Is it worth any expense required for a move to attack him at the Customs? Have we any sale for Modern Love? If not, then both English and American Editions my huddle together in the shades.--I have another Volume ready [Poems: The Empty Purse], after which I hope to stop this flux. | ..."

Colbeck, Norman. A Bookman's Catalogue -- The Norman Colbeck Collection of Nineteenth-Century and Edwardian Poetry and Belles Lettres in the Special Collections of The University of British Columbia. 2 volumes. Compiled with a Preface by Norman Colbeck. Edited by Tirthankar Bose with an Introduction by William E. Fredeman. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. This is a compilation of a distinguished collection of Romantic, Victorian, and Edwardian books in which there are numerous references to the Mosher books throughout.

Collie, Michael. George Gissing... (see note under Garland entry).

Collie, Michael. George Meredith, A Bibliography. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, [1974], pp. 123, 132, 141, and 144-45. The text mentions Mosher several times; however, it doesn't include any references for any other Meredith titles, only for editions of Modern Love. A reference to Mosher's printing of Love in the Valley is made in a chart on p.126, but no further information is given in the actual entry for this title (LIV).

Connolly, Rev. Terrence L., ed. An Account of Books and Manuscripts of Francis Thompson. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College, [n.d.], p. 62 and entry XXXVII(B).
References The Hound of Heaven (1908) from the Miscellaneous Series, The Hound of Heaven (1908) from the Golden Text Series, and Shelly--An Essay (1909). Mosher's edition of Thompson's Poems (1911) is not listed in this source.

Court, Franklin E., Comp. and ed. Walter Pater -- An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Him. De Kalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1980. Contains lightly annotated references to prefaces in Mosher's books on Pater. See entries 73, 145-46, 168, 177-78, 185-86, 190-91, 242-43, 250, 263. No mention or record is made of Pater's Uncollected Essays published by Mosher in 1903 with a note by Mosher, though more extensive comments were probably needed for inclusion in Court; however, Mosher's catalogue write-ups would have been useful to Court. Emphasis seems to be on appearances of, and comments in, The Bibelot.

Cowan, Robert Ernest, and William Andrews Clark, Jr., et. al. comps. The Library of William Andrews Clarke, Jr. Wilde and Wildeiana. 6 vols. San Francisco: Printed by John Henry Nash, 1922. These volumes are difficult to use in that there is no comprehensive index. There are sixteen references to Mosher's books throughout, and also two references to The Bibelot in Cowan IV, pp. 18-19.

Crane, Joan St. C. Carl Sandburg, Philip Green Wright, and the Asgard Press, 1900-1910 : a descriptive catalogue of early books, manuscripts, and letters in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library. Charlottesville, VA : Published for the Associates of the University of Virginia Library by the University Press of Virginia, 1975, p. 86. There is an October 20, 1906 letter from Carl Sandburg to Philip Green Wright in which Sandburg suggests that Wright send a letter to Thomas Bird Mosher asking him to distribute the book for Asgard because it would appeal to Mosher's clientele. Sandburg offered 50% of the receipts if Mosher promoted and distributed the book, adding that if Mosher preferred instead to share his mailing list, Asgard would give him 10% of the receipts. No response from Mosher is cited. It should also be noted that the physical appearance of Philip Green Wright's The Dreamer (Galesburg, 1907), with a foreword by Sandburg and printed by Wright, looks very much like a Mosher book.

Crichton, Laurie W. Book Decoration in America 1890-1910. A Guide to an Exhibition by Laurie W. Crichton. Revised by Wayne G. Hammond [and] Robert L. Volz. Williamstown, MA: Chapin Library, Williams College, 1979, pp. 17-18, 45-47, and plates on pp. 73-74. Crichton's book is a most useful reference. While generally a reliable work on book design of the period, Crichton omits the cover designer of Mimes and missed the clear reference Mosher himself gives to the designer of the pictorial frontispiece and the two headband illustrations (plus a tail-piece) in Aucassin & Nicolete. Both of these designers were easily identified from Mosher's own readily available sources. Mosher's 1901 "A list of Books..." which provides the cover designer's name for Mimes: Earl Stetson Crawford. With regard to the Old World Aucassin & Nicolete, the designer's "PH" monogram is cited in Crichton, but there is no further identification. The information on the designer is found in Mosher's own explanation of the monogram as standing for P. Jacomb Hood (see his "Note" on the verso of the half-title). A lengthy quote from this work is available.

Currier, Thomas Franklin. A Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1937, p. 184. References Snow-Bound--A Winter Idyl (1911).

Cutler, B. D. Sir James M. Barrie, A Bibliography. With full collations of the American unauthorized editions. New York: Burt Franklin, 1968 (reprint of 1931 text), pp. 141-42, 144-45. Citation involves Mosher's publication of George Meredith (1911) by Barrie.

(Cutler & Stiles) Cutler, B. D. and Stiles, Villa. Modern British Authors: Their First Editions. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1930, p. 38. References Ernest Dowson's Cynara: A Little Book of Verse (1907) and Studies in Sentiment (1915).

(DAB) Sargent, George Henry. "Thomas Bird Mosher" in Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by Dumas Malone. Vol. XIII. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934, pp. 278-79 (see also the Concise Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1964], p. 709). Mosher's entry is about 1� columns in length and says little about the books published save for Modern Love, The Bibelot, and the Amphora. There are a few corrections to the biography. The phrase "trip to the Rhine" should read "trip to the Elbe..." The return from the world voyage was in spring 1870, not the winter of that year. The article strongly suggests Mosher took out on his own, "uninfluenced by the revival in printing... led by William Morris in England in 1890." In fact, Mosher was influenced by several of the British presses and publishers throughout his career, including Morris' Kelmscott Press, the Bodley Head, the Chiswick Press, the Daniel Press, and the Vale and Eragny Presses. In the references section at the end, Koopman's article should read "Modern Am. Printing", not "Modern Am. Painting."

Day, Kenneth, ed. Book Typography 1815-1965. In Europe and the United States of America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1965, p. 341. "The aesthetic movement appeared in America, as in Europe, considerably before the fin de si�cle; Oscar Wilde had made his famous American lecture tour in 1882, and Patience had scored as resounding a success in New York, as in London. During the 1890's it reached its peak, quickly going out of favour as an aftermath of the Wilde scandal; during its heyday in the '90's it made up in intensity what it lost in longevity. Like the arts and crafts revival, the aesthetic movement attracted its poseurs and imitators, but it also numbered among its young and enthusiastic members a number who showed genuine originality and talent. Among these were the publishing firms of Stone and Kimball, Way and Williams, and Copeland and Day, all of which published small books of great originality and charm, bearing a certain family resemblance, and yet each with its own house style and originality. More significant, perhaps, was Thomas B. Mosher, literary pirate and publisher, of Portland, Maine. "

Denson, Alan, ed. Letters from AE. New York: Abelard-Schuman, [1961], pp. 50-51, 55-56. This book of George W. Russell's (AE's) letters includes two letters written to Mosher in March 1904 and April 1905. Included in the first letter is the comment: "I have to thank you for the very charming little edition of Yeats Land of Heart's Desire and for other Bibelots... I notice you announce a new edition of Homeward Songs in the spring at which I am much pleased. I will never be so charmingly bound and printed anywhere again unless you undertake to improve on your past." At the conclusion of the second letter represented, Russell mentions, "I heard great praises of you from a Mrs. Simeon Ford of New York who was over here lately as the only American publisher of any independence who only published what he liked." Mrs. Simeon Ford is Julia Ellsworth Ford, the American lady whose book on Simeon Solomon was published in 1908, as was her book A.E.--A Note of Appreciation.

---, compiler. Printed Writings by George W. Russell (AE) -- A Bibliography. With Some Notes on His Pictures and Portraits. Foreword by Padraic Colum... Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1961, pp. 48-49. The citations involve Mosher's publication of AE's Homeward Song by the Way (1895 & 1904).

(DeVinne). "The Library of the Late Theodore Low De Vinne." New York: The Anderson Galleries, 1920. Five Mosher books were recorded in the library sale of America's foremost printer of the day: The House of Usna, 1903 (#1113), Modern Love, 1891 (#1386), The City of Dreadful Night, 1892 (#1424--presentation copy), Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair (#1422), and Essays from the "Guardian," 1907 (#1502). In the fall of 1892 Mosher gathered and printed opinions from several bibliophiles including Theo. L. DeVinne who is quoted as writing: "I am well pleased with your book [Modern Love]. The composition and press work are well done." In response to the presentation copy of The City of Dreadful Night sent to him, De Vinne wrote (on his letterhead dated January 12, 1892) that "I have to thank you for your kind remembrance in the gift of the "City of Dreadful Night." It is a very good bit of book-making. Allow me to ask your acceptance of our "Columbus Letter" sent by this mail." Certainly a pair of pleasing nods from this master printer.

(DLB) Various editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vols. 9, 32, 34, 35, 55, 57, 123. Detroit, MI: A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Gale Research Co., 1984. In addition to articles on authors and publishers, entries in this multi-volume work have a listing on first British and American editions of an author's publications. There is a remarkable omission in the series. Although the DLB has two volumes devoted entirely to "American Literary Publishing Houses, 1638-1899," there is not one mention of Thomas Bird Mosher or The Mosher Press. Many small or obscure publishers are mentioned, and even the Roycrofters receive a lengthy section, but Mosher is left entirely out of the picture on American publishing.

Dobson, Alban. A Bibliography of the First Editions of Published and Privately Printed Books and Pamphlets by Austin Dobson. With a Preface by Sir Edmund Gosse, D. B. New York: Burt Franklin, 1970 (reprint of 1925 text), pp. 87-88. References the Daniel Press's The Garland of Rachel (1902) and Austin Dobson's Proverbs in Porcelain and Other Poems (1909).

Dunn, Charles. "Thomas Bird Mosher" in The Publisher's Weekly. September 15, 1923, p. 466. Reprinted in Maine Library Bulletin. Vol. XII, No. 3, pp. 62-63. A portion of this recollection also appeared in The Literary Review for September 22, 1923 under the "Book Sales and Rare Books" section by Frederick M. Hopkins.

Ellis, Estelle, Caroline Seebohm, and Christopher Simon Sykes. At Home with Books -- How Booklovers Live With and Care For Their Libraries. New York: Carol Southern Books, [1995], p. [i]. This attractively color-illustrated book surprisingly pictures a slightly enlarged and color-tinted reproduction of Mosher's personal library bookplate with the book's half-title "At Home with Books" superimposed on the bookplate. Even today the Mosher bookplate is strongly associated with the formation of a fine personal library.

Esdaile, Arundel. Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of George Meredith, O.M. London: Walter T. Spencer, 1907 (Norwood Editions, 1979), pp. 35, 40, and 45. References the English Reprint Series edition of Modern Love (1891), the Old World Series edition of Modern Love (1898), and The Tale of Chloe (1899).

Essick, Robert N. A Troubled Paradise -- William Blake's Virgil Wood Engravings. With an afterword on collecting William Blake by John Windle. San Francisco: John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller, 1999, p. 45. Neither the "Bibliography to A Troubled Paradise" contained within this book, nor Robert Essick's essay, point out that Mosher's publication was the first to reproduce all seventeen of Blake's engravings since their first appearance in Thornton's The Pastorals of Virgil of 1821. The first republication of Blake's wood engravings was a remarkable occurrence which Mosher was first to accomplish and for which he deserves at least minimal credit, and one in which Essick's Troubled Paradise publication stands in succession. Even Geoffrey Keynes notes that "the woodcuts were first reproduced and published by Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine, in 1899" (The Illustrations of William Blake for Thornton's Virgil... [The Nonsuch Press, 1937, p. 19]). And as a side note, A. G. B. Russell in The Engraving of William Blake (1912) notes that "the whole seventeen [woodcuts] were fairly well reproduced by the Unicorn Press [London, 1902]... They were also done, better, by Thomas B. Mosher, (Portland, Maine, U.S.A.)."

Everitt, Charles P. The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter. Boston: Little Brown Co, 1951, pp. 160-61. "The man from whom Hubbard probably stole most of his ideas about bookmaking (except for the ooze leather, which was original) was an interesting character of a very different type, Thomas Bird Mosher, of Portland, Maine. Mosher had a delicate, fin-de-si�cle taste in literature, and introduced such people as Lionel Johnson and William Ernest Henley to America in dainty little volumes invariably printed from hand-set type on Van Gelder handmade paper...
Two things distinguished Mosher as a publisher, aside from his unerring though rather precious taste: he was probably the first in this country who was, and made other people, conscious of books as physical things; and he made a great deal of money doing it. He found a way of turning taste and personality into cash that has been the despair of "fine book lovers" in the trade ever since."

(Ewelme) Kable, William S, compiler. The Ewelme Collection of Robert Bridges -- A Catalogue. Bibliographical series, No. 2. [Columbia, SC]: University of South Carolina, Department of English, 1967, entries A4, C2 and D3. References The Garland of Rachael (1902), The Growth of Love (1894), and selections by Robert Bridges in Odes, Sonnets & Lyrics of John Keats (1922).

Foley, John. "Foreword" in Amphora, a Second Collection. Portland, ME: Mosher, 1926, pp. xiii-xviii. A lengthy quote is avialble from this work.

Foley, John L., ed. Shadow of the Perfect Rose: Collected Poems of Thomas S. Jones, Jr. With a Memoir and Notes by John L. Foley. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., [1937], pp. xxiii-xxiv, xxvi. The newspaper man, John Foley, recalls that the "tie between publisher and author [Thomas Jones] was one of mutual admiration and cordiality." A selection from a Jones to Mosher letter is quoted. It is also mentioned that Flora MacDonald Lamb, Mosher's assistant, would continue to publish Jones's work after Mosher's death.

Forman, Henry Buxton. The Books of William Morris. New York: Burt Franklin, [1969]. (Originally published in 1897), pp. 193-94 and entry 152. References The Hollow Land (1897) and The Story of Amis & Amile (1896).

Forman, Maurice Buxton. A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of George Meredith. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1971 (first published in 1922), pp. 31-32, and 95. References Modern Love (1891) and The Tale of Chloe (1899).

Franklin, Colin. The Ashendene Press. Dallas, TX: Bridwell Library -- Southern Methodist University, 1986, pp. 14 and 16. These pages refer to Mosher's Rub�iy�t being sent to Hornby and his use of Mosher's Old World Rub�iy�t bibliography in the Ashendene edition. Actual correspondence from St. John Hornby to Mosher can be found in the Vilain/Wieck and Bishop collections.

Franklin, Colin, and John R. Turner. The Private Presses. Second Edition. Hants, England: Scolar Press, [1991]. p. 155. Though this work is devoted to the English private presses, brief mention is made of Mosher: "The mock-Morris manner of the Vincent Press appears more commonly in early American echoes of the printing revival. Thomas Bird Mosher of Portland, Maine, used it conspicuously in his edition of Arnold's play Empedocles on Etna. The fashion had traveled east to west by slow boat and established itself as a fresh movement unworried by comparisons. Portland and Hammersmith were far apart in those days. Mosher printed in other ways over the years and made his own style of neat reprint, often taking his notions from the English private presses -- sometimes pirating against anyone's will, as in his edition of Garland of Rachael, sometimes making useful reprints of scarce works, as when he re-issued the Pre-Raphaelite journal from 1848, The Germ. Mosher reprints are quite pleasant little books now, but not a vital part of the printing renaissance.

Fredeman, William E. Pre-Raphaelitism -- A Bibliocritical Study. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965. Numerous citations throughout this well known and excellent source on Pre-Raphaelite authors.

Fredeman, William E. See (PBSC).

(Free Library) Strouse, Norman H. "An Exhibition of Books from the Press of Thomas Bird Mosher--From the Collection of Norman H. Strouse. January 16th - March 12th, 1967. [Philadelphia, PA]: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1967. This sixteen-page exhibition catalogue is a record of the first major exhibition of Mosher's books in the Twentieth Century. The text of Strouse's three-page introduction is basically taken from his own book on Mosher, The Passionate Pirate. There were 156 exhibits distributed among the thirteen exhibit cases, including many copies on Japan vellum (some from Mosher's own library), twelve copies of Mosher publications on pure vellum, numerous letters from Mosher (including seven to Miss Emili� B. Grigsby), Richard Le Gallienne's original autograph manuscript "Thomas Bird Mosher--An Appreciation," and many Mosher books in fine bindings.

(Frost, Robert) The following books and articles include information on the relationship between Mosher and Robert Frost, and correspondence exchanged between the publisher and the poet:

____________________

Blumenthal, Joseph. Robert Frost and His Printers. Austin, TX: W. Thomas Taylor, [1985], pp. 1, 4-7, and plate 2. Blumenthal discusses the Mosher/Frost correspondence, the printing of Frost's poem, "Reluctance," and Mosher's tardy demurral to Frost's request to print his first book in Mosher's Lyric Garland series. The plate illustrates the Mosher catalogue cover and the page where that poem is printed.

Burch, Francis F. "Mosher and Baxter: Robert Frost's Early Supporters" in The New England Quarterly -- A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters. Vol. LXIV, No. 1. March 1991, pp. 179-181 (Also in American Notes and Queries -- A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews. Vol. 3, No. 4. Lexington, KY, October 1990, pp. 179-181). Burch writes that "At one point, Mosher appears to be the only editor who expressed confidence in Frost's talents and urged him to try to make a go of poetry." He also notes Louis Untermeyer's labeling of Mosher as an "arty publisher" (Untermeyer. The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer. New York: Holt, 1963, p. 18).

Crane, Joan St. C. Robert Frost -- A Descriptive Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library University of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA: Published for the Associates of the University of Virginia Library by the University Press of Virginia, 1974. The entries included in this mammoth Frost collection include: A3.1 (Barrett copy 592719-Mosher's copy of North of Boston, E44 (Mosher's comment in an inscription: "Thomas Bird Mosher said Reluctance was all I had ever written and all I needed to have written."), F16-16.6 (six ALS from Robert Frost to Thomas Bird Mosher, 1912-1915), and F35.1-2 (two ALS from Frost to Mosher's assistant, Flora Lamb, extending permission to "use Reluctance" in the second Amphora, and Frost comments: "I have a special feeling for that poem from the way it bound me in friendship to Tom Mosher..." ) .

Gould, Jean. Robert Frost: The Aim Was Song. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, [1964], pp. 107-108, 121, 123, 143-145, and 237. One of the more interesting insights is Mosher's last minute request to publish Frost's first book, just after Frost had committed himself to the British publisher, David Nutt. Gould also indicates Frost gave permission to publish the poem "Reluctance" in Mosher's book catalogue. Gould also mentions the American publication of Frost and Mrs. Nutt's annoyance with Mosher.

Lincoln, Franklin P. "Frost Had Great And Good Friend in Portland Publisher" in the Portland Press Herald. (four columns) Portland, ME, June 22, 1960, p. 8. This is a good general overview of Frost's relationship with Mosher.

Myers, Jeffrey. Robert Frost. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996, p. 341. Mosher is mentioned at several places, but on p. 341 Myers describes a talk given by Frost at the National Poetry Festival in Washington, D. C. on October 23, 1962, during which Frost generously praised old friends who supported him through his career, including the Maine editor, Thomas Bird Mosher.

Nash, Ray. "The Poet and the Pirate" in New Colophon II, part 8. [February 1950], pp. 311-321. This is a very insightful article on Robert Frost's friendship with Mosher, quoting the complete text of four Frost-Mosher letters, a selection from many at Dartmouth College Library. Nash also tells several stories Frost himself would tell about their curious relationship. The relationship was "curious" because in all their dealings with one another, Mosher never produced one book of Frost's poetry. Yet Frost's admiration for Mosher was certain, for he was to exclaim that Mosher was one of only three persons that stirred a biographical impulse in him.

Sergeant, Elizabeth Shepley. Robert Frost -- The Trial by Existence. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960, pp. 98, 109-10, 112, 130, 139, 143-45, and 259. Most of these pages are quotes from the Frost to Mosher letters later printed in Thompson's Selected Letters.

Thompson, Lawrance. Robert Frost -- The Early Years 1874-1915. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [1966], pp. 389-90, 401-03, 421, 428 and 591. This work contains portions of letters from Frost to Mosher along with some commentary surrounding the purchase of the poem "Reluctance," the publishing of Frost's first book by the firm of David Nutt & Company in London, and Frost's comments on Ezra Pound to Mosher. "Reluctance" was the only poem of Frost's Mosher ever published, and only in his 1913 catalogue. After Mosher's death, the Mosher Press reprinted the same poem in the second Amphora (1926) and the Introduction to Dartmouth Verse (1925).

---, ed. Selected Letters of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964, pp. 46-47, 55-56, 70, 73-75, 83-84, 96-97, 109, 119, 129, 137, and 139. Ten letters from Frost to Mosher are quoted. As part of a short introduction to Frost's February 19, 1912 letter to Mosher, Thompson portrays Mosher as, "a picturesque gourmet, dilettante, and book collector, with a taste for blue-china, poetry, fine printing, and pornography..." An interesting remark on Mosher's books appears in a letter (4 April 1913) from Frost to his former Pinkerton Academy student and later newspaper reporter in Canada, John Bartlett, in which Frost proclaims, "I had hardly signed this contract [for A Boy's Will, and other books] when I had requests for a book from two American publishers, one a most flattering thing from Mosher of Portland, whose letterpress is considered perhaps the most beautiful in the States."--p.70. In his letters to Mosher, Frost seems to try to tantalize the American publisher with his successes in England. Mosher apparently does bite from time to time, but Frost writes back that Mosher's requests to publish Frost are too late. This little cat and mouse game occasionally surfaces in Frost's letters. One such letter revealing what Americans thought of Mosher appears in the Frost to Mosher letter (dated 27 July, 1914) in which Frost mentions, "I have thought of you in connection with my new book several times since its appearance. It has done so well here that I should almost venture to send you a copy in spite of your well-known predilection for the manner of the nineties." --p.129. These letters from Robert Frost to Mosher are often quoted in publications on Frost, the most recent occurrence being in Walter Jost's "Lessons in the Conversation That We Are: Robert Frost's 'Death of the Hired Man' " (College English. Vol. 58, No. 4. April 1996, p. 413).

Walsh, John Evangelist. Into My Own -- The English Years of Robert Frost. New York: Grove Press, 1988, pp. 45, 75, 117, and 153. Includes four references to Mosher and quotes from letters mainly with regard to Frost's projection of his importance. For example, Frost writes to Mosher: "You are not going to make the mistake that Pound makes of assuming my simplicity is that of the untutored child. I am not undesigning."--p. 117.

Weintraub, Stanley. The London Yankees. Portraits of American Writers and Artists in England 1894-1914. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, [1979], pp. 304-305, 311, 314, 316, 317, 318, and 362. The references to Mosher are all in connection to Robert Frost.

* End of Robert Frost material *

____________________

Fuller, Marion Cobb. "Thomas Bird Mosher" in Maine Library Bulletin. Vol. XII, No. 3. [January 1927], pp. 62-65. Mostly quotes from the Charles Dunn's article.

Garland, Bruce. "Checklist of George Gissing's Appearances in Mosher Press Publication" in The Gissing Newsletter. Vol. XII, No. 1 (January 1976), pp. 19-21. This checklist was listed in Michael Collie's George Gissing--A Bibliographical Study. Winchester, England: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1985, p.154 (No further reference to Mosher appears in Collie's bibliography). The opening of Garland's checklist states: "Thomas Bird Mosher chose the books he published with loving care. An occasional piracy now and then seemed justified when one beheld the end product -- a privately printed book, simply beautiful and beautifully simple. Gissing was among those authors honored by Mosher's selection." --p.19. Garland's checklist covers books by Gissing in the Mosher corpus up to 1928, books containing references to or quotations from books by Gissing up to 1926 (basically in the Amphora and Mosher's catalogues), and Gissing's appearances in The Bibelot.

[Gerstley]. Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Catalogue of the Henry E. Gerstley Stevenson Collection, the Stevenson Section of the Morris L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists, and Items from Other Collections in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections of the Princeton University Library. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Library, 1971. Contains numerous entries to Mosher's publications.

Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. Glaister's Glossary of the Book. Second edition. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1979, p. 333. "Mosher Press: established as a publishing imprint in 1891 at Portland, Maine, by Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923)... From 1894 to 1914 he published as 'gift books' a series of anthologies called 'The Bibelot'. The books he published were small, usually 12mo, printed mostly on Van Gelder paper, and prettily tricked out with decorative title pages, slip cases and limitation notices. They were made to be sold cheaply, which his critics claimed could only be done because he pirated English texts by authors who had failed to register them in Washington. Andrew Lang, Francis Thompson, Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Bridges were but a few of those affected. The British trade referred to him as the 'Portland Pirate'.
Mosher argued with reason that what he printed was unknown in America since others were unaware of it or considered it unprofitable to publish, and he certainly extended the reputation there of the writers he chose. By 1923 he had issued some 800 editions. After his death Flora Lamb ran the Press for his widow until 1938. In 1941 it was sold to a Boston bookshop."

Gomme, Laurence J. "The 'Pirate of Portland' -- Thomas Bird Mosher" in the Maine Digest. Vol. 2, No. 1. [Fall-Winter 1967], pp. 88-93. A brief version of this article also appears in the Maine Digest. Vol. I, No. 4. [Summer 1967], pp. 105-106. Though mostly a general overview, Gomme does mention a few things of interest, including the fact that as proprietor of The Little Book-Shop Around the Corner, he felt privileged to be an agent for the Mosher Books in New York City from 1909-1917. He also mentions that Mosher sent him a letter about how the piracy controversy in England helped sell books. In one letter he sent Gomme, he relates, "Since the letter of Richards [the British publisher, Grant Richards, who came to Mosher's defense] was printed I had several letters from England, and they are continuing to come in so that it was really very good advertising." --p.92

---. "The Little Book-Shop Around the Corner" in The Colophon New Series -- A Quarterly for Bookmen. Vol. II, No. 4. New York: Pynson Printers Inc., Autumn 1937, pp. 574-575. Gomme used some of this material for his article later on in 1967 in the Maine Digest (see previous entry). A lengthy quote from this work is available.

Gordon, Ruth I. Paul Elder: Bookseller-Publisher (1897-1917): A Bay Area Reflection. Unpublished dissertation. Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkeley, 1977, p. 36. Gordon explains the exclusive place and high regard for the Mosher books at Paul Elder's establishment: "In this room, which was the roofed-over former backyard, one cabinet had the jewelry of a local craftsman, Ferdinand Heiduska, as well as the jewelry of W. S. Hadaway of London. These objects were displayed on Japanese brocades and ooze leather, a substance with a suede-like finish that also was popular for book binding at the time. It was there, too, that the books of reprint publisher Thomas B. Mosher were shown, an indication of Elder's high regard for these books. Elder & Shepard, and later Elder alone, were the West-Coast agents for Mosher."

Green, Roger Lancelyn. Andrew Lang -- A Critical Biography with a Short-Title Bibliography of the Works of Andrew Lang. London: Edmund Ward, [1946], pp. 246 and 248. This Oxford scholar includes only three entries on Mosher's publications of Lang, all being selections which appeared in The Bibelot: the 1903 appearance of "Lyrics," the 1908 inclusion of "Three Poets of French Bohemia," and the 1910 entry entitled "Does Ridicule Kill?" In all three entries Green records the American publisher of each work: "Pirate Edition by Moscher [sic]." None of the book forms of Lang's works appears here, and one can only speculate as to why Green consistently refers to Mosher as "Moscher."

Greif, Martin. The Gay Book of Days: An Evocatively Illustrated Who's Who of Who Is, Was, May Have Been, Probably Was, and Almost Certainly Seems to Have Been Gay During the Past 5,000 Years. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, Inc. (A Main Street Press Book), [1982], p. 18. The following appears under the entry for Marsden Hartley, the early American modern abstract painter: "Among Hartley's acquaintances were a telephone directory of contemporary homosexuals, including William Sloan Kennedy, the biographer of Longfellow, Whittier, and Holmes; Thomas Bird Mosher, the publisher of Whitman and one of the earliest American publishers of Oscar Wilde; Horace Traubel, socialist editor of the Conservator and Whitman's secretary; Peter Doyle, Whitman's trolley conductor lover; Gertrude Stein; the American painter Charles Demuth; writer and publisher Robert McAlmon... Although few seem to know it, Hartley was also a fine poet..." Though Mosher had several close friendships with men throughout his life, including Horace Traubel, William Marion Reedy, W. Irving Way, and an early relationship with Leopold Lobsitz, there is no corroborating evidence for Mosher's inclusion in The Gay Book of Days. In fact, there is a vast amount of evidence to prove the contrary. The key to Mosher's contact with Hartley probably resided in their mutual love of poetry.

Gress, Edmund G. The Art & Practice of Typography. New York: Oswald Publishing Co., 1917. Gress shows a title-page from McClure's 1903 publication, Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author. The elongated anchor and dolphin device is the same as used by Mosher in his publications The Runes of Woman (1915), In Memoriam (1920) and on many of his catalogues, especially those after 1917.

Grigsby, Emili� B [Busbey]. "The Art and Literary Collections of Emilie B. Grigsby of New York City." New York: The Anderson Auction Company, January 22 and 29, 1912. This two-volume catalogue is divided into "Part I: Objects of Art" and "Part II: Books and Carbon Prints". Miss Grigsby collected Nineteenth Century authors, purchased fine bindings including those from the Doves Bindery and Sarah Prideaux, and assembled collections of several of the English private presses including Kelmscott, Essex House and the Vale Press. A substantial number of the Mosher books on Japan vellum were sold to Miss Grigsby by Mosher himself who first assembled a complete collection of his books up to 1897 and thereafter continued to supply Japan vellum copies of all his newly published books.

Several of the copies listed in this sale either were inscribed or had association letters inserted, e.g., there are several letters cited from the John Addington Symonds biographer, Horatio F. Brown, to Mosher (see Grigsby 1158, 1172 & 1180). Miss Grigsby was also one of the few people who ever co-published a book with Mosher, a limited edition of only ten copies of the 1902 Rubaiyat printed on pure vellum. She also purchased many of Mosher's other limited editions on pure vellum, usually acquiring copy #1 of each very limited edition.

Grigsby owned several items which had a bearing on the Mosher piracy dispute including several of Mosher's Andrew Lang imprints with letters from Edmund C. Stedman relating to these publications, and a whole portfolio on the Mosher and Lang controversy over the Aucassin and Nicolete piracy. This 3/4 blue morocco portfolio includes autograph letters from Lang, Mosher, and David Nutt (Lang's London publisher), the original autograph manuscripts of Mr. Mosher's side of the question called "An open Letter to Mr. Andrew Lang" (14 pp. dated June 26, 1896, with an opening quote from Emerson: "The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it."), and the ALS of Mr. Hatch (L. W. Hatch, not Benton Hatch, the Mosher bibliographer) who published a criticism of the Mosher publication. There are six items in the portfolio, representing about twenty-eight manuscript pages (see Grigsby 688, 690, and 691). This portfolio collection is now at Arizona State University (Box 2, F1). There are several large lots of Mosher Books (829-839, 872-873, 1042-43, 1050, 1134, 1185, 1200-1201) not separately cited in the bibliography. For biographical information on Emilie B. Grigsby, see Bruccoli's The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, pp. 57-58, 75-77.

(Grolier). The Lengthened Shadow... An Address By Norman H. Strouse at an Opening of an Exhibition of Modern Fine Printing at the Grolier Club April 19, 1960. New York: Philip C. Duschnes, 1960, pp. 15-18 and p. 36. As Norman Strouse mentioned in his opening remarks, the majority of the books presented in this exhibit were of a sort, "edging in spirit toward the amateur, and in professionalism somewhat toward the commercial. We might say that these are the presses representing that labor of love that also make a living. If they are not 'private,' they are at least very personal enterprises... The presses which seem to capture the special fancy of most discriminating collectors of fine printing are those which are as Emerson defined an institution, 'the lengthened shadow of one man.' " Strouse devoted several pages to Mosher, and Mosher books were exhibited along with fifty-five other categories of presses, club publications, and individual printers and designers totaling 117 entries. Three Mosher books were selected: A.E.'s Homeward Songs by the Way (1895) with the Bruce Roger's designs, Rossetti's Hand and Soul (1898), and Whitman's Memories of President Lincoln (1912), all listed on p.36.

Groome, Francis Hindes. Edward FitzGerald: An Aftermath. With Miscellanies in Verse and Prose. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, [1972]. This is a reprint using Mosher's 1902 edition.

Gully, Anthony Lacy. "Scholarly Resources: Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian Publisher Collections of the Charles Trumbell Haydon Library, Arizona State University" in The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies. New Series 5. (Spring 1996), pp. 95-97. The article deals with Arizona State University's Pre-Raphaelite collection and three large collections of "innovative" Victorian presses: the Vale Press, the Edwin Gilcher Collection of George Moore (though it's difficult to see how this collection ranks as a Victorian press), and the Mosher Press. In the last two paragraphs of the article (p. 97), Gully mentions that the Mosher collection was formed from the Root collection and members of the Mosher family "whose ancestor established this notorious press." He gives a brief synopsis of the content and quantity of Mosher's publishing program and notes that "the Mosher Press was the first large private press in America." Professor Nicholas Salerno is credited with being instrumental in attracting the "Mosher Family Bequest" to Arizona State University.

(Haberly, Loyd) Loyd Haberly -- A Centennial Exhibition. Madison, NJ: Florham-Madison Campus Library [Keepsake printed at the Bullnettle Press], March 1996, p. [12-13]. Rhodes scholar, poet, printer, typographer and artist (Seven Acres Press, Gregynog), and finally dean at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Loyd Haberly wrote "My last press --now in the Florham-Madison Campus Library-- was bought at a Boston sale of the effects of Thomas Bird Mosher, the Portland, Maine, printer who had earned the undying enmity of Robert Bridges by pirating his preciously-guarded sonnets." Haberly's remarks (pp. [7-13]) were delivered on the occasion of the presentation of his Stansbury Press to the Florham-Madison Campus Library in 1972, and are reprinted from The Printing Art (London), Vol. I, No. 3. Autumn 1973.

Hart, James. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. With Revisions and Additions by Phillip W. Leininger. Sixth edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 449. "Mosher, Thomas Bird (1852-1923), Maine publisher, whose Mosher Books, a series begun in 1891, were attractively printed, cheap editions of great works of literature little known in the U.S. The Bibelot (1895-1915) was a monthly reprint of prose and poetry from obscure but significant works, which both in selection and in printing were marked by his usual good taste."

Hatch, Benton L, compiler and editor. A Check List of the Publications of Thomas Bird Mosher of Portland Maine *MDCCCXCI MDCCCCXXIII* Amherst, MA: Printed at the Gehenna Press for the University of Massachusetts Press, 1966. A pioneering effort and the primary bibliography for many years. Finely printed by The Gehenna Press with tipped-in title page facsimiles. Entries are arranged chronologically by year of publication. This work should be consulted for extensive details on pagination. There is an excellent biographical essay on pp. 9-39 by Ray Nash (unfortunately Nash does not give the location sources for three critical documents cited or quoted at length), and a comprehensive index. This is a prime source for some information contained in the new bibliography Thomas Bird Moser--Pirate Prince of Publishers (1998). Additions to Hatch were included in the 'Addenda & Corrigenda' which appeared in the Temple exhibition catalogue by Jean-Fran�ois Vilain and Philip R. Bishop.

Hornung, Clarence P. and Fridolf Johnson. 200 Years of American Graphic Art: A Retrospective of the Printing Arts and Advertising since the Colonial Period. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1976, p. 119. "The revival of interest in book design paralleled the general awakening in aesthetics. The turn of the century may well be called the "Bibelot Period," charmingly exemplified by the dainty books printed at the press of Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923), whose fastidious taste in literature complimented his judicious use of Caslon type, wide margins, and handmade paper." The authors held diametrically opposite views on Hubbard and the Roycrofters.

(Hoyle, John Thomas, comp.) In Memoriam Elbert and Alice Hubbard. East Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters, [c. 1915], p. 66. Following the death of Elbert and Alice Hubbard on the Lusitania (May 7, 1915), the Roycrofters published this memorial tribute ("Collected and arranged, secundum artem, by John T. Hoyle" and with a preface signed by Elbert Hubbard, II) listing 328 contributors which included letters from people like Robert H. Ingersoll, Richard LeGallienne, William Marion Reedy, and Mitchell Kennerley. One contributor was Thomas Bird Mosher who wrote: "The friendship that Elbert Hubbard had for me, and which it is possible I may not have as deeply considered as I should, was none the less something not overlooked and which now, when these words to you can mean nothing to him, was real and lasting. Some few of his letters I have before me, the earliest being dated December Second, Eighteen Hundred Ninety-five. I shall place it with a copy of his first volume received by me so many years ago. I well remember the impression that his "Message to Garcia" produced not only upon the millions but upon a single individual, myself. It is one of the minor masterpieces, but it is a masterpiece that I hope will go on making its appeal for many a year to come."

Hume, Robert Ernest. The Thirteen Principal Upanishads Translated from the Sanskrit. With an Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads and an Annotated Bibliography. Second edition, revised. London, New York: Oxford University Press -- Humphrey Milford, 1934, pp. 461-465. Mention to Mosher's edition is in Section I on "Translations of Collected Upanishads."

[Humphry] Weber, Carl J. Fitzgerald's Rub�iy�t -- Centennial Edition. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Carl J. Weber and with a check-list of the Rub�iy�t Collection in the Colby College Library compiled by James Humphry III. Waterville, Maine: Colby College Press, 1959, entries 24, 27, 86, and 115 .

Huntress, Keith G. "Thomas Bird Mosher: A Bibliographical and Literary Study." Unpublished dissertation. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, 1942. The major contribution of this 211 page dissertation is its second chapter "The Bibelot" on pp. 43-136 (the others being a "Biography" from pp. l-42, "The Mosher Books" from pp. 137-84, and a "Conclusion" from pp. 173-81). This still remains the only extensive study ever done of The Bibelot. There is also a brief appendix (182-85), and a chronological title list of The Bibelot and the Mosher books from pp. 186-208. Pages 209-211 are a general bibliography. Huntress notes that "Mosher should be known as the first publisher in this country to bring to the business of printing something of the feeling of the artist... He is also important as the printer of first editions of AE, Swinburne, Fiona Macleod, and Walter Pater"--p. 176.

Hutner, Martin and Jerry Kelly. A Century for the Century -- Finely Printed Books from 1900 to 1999. New York: The Grolier Club, 1999, p. XII, and XXVII (Entry No. 8, including accompanying illustration). "Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923) began his career as publisher and printer in Portland, Maine, in 1891, the same year as the founding of the Kelmscott Press. Mosher had had several careers before settling down to publishing at the age of thirty-nine. Unlike the works of the Kelmscott Press, Mosher's books were mostly small, although also well-designed and well-printed, and available to a larger public. Occasionally, he would produce deluxe volumes in limited editions such as the Calvert [Ten Spiritual Designs by Edward Calvert] in 1913 (no. 8). In a career that lasted until 1923, Mosher produced over four hundred books of consistent quality." Of course Mosher was never a "printer" and it is curious that the authors never referenced the newer bibliography on Mosher: Thomas Bird Mosher--Pirate Prince of Publishers (1998). Nevertheless, it is good to see that one of Mosher's books deservedly ranks as one of the best hundred books produced in the last century.

Inland Printer, 1933. Reprinted in The Mosher Books catalogue, 1935-36, p. [2]. " There are some names that will always stand out in the history of printing in New England, such as Stephen Day [sic, Daye], the first printer in Cambridge; Isaiah Thomas, the great printer-publisher of Worcester, and the publishers of the works of the poets, authors, and historians of the last century. Among the later notables there should be included one whose name is not so widely known, as his works had a limited sale. I refer to T. B. Mosher, of Portland, Maine. Mr. Mosher was a bookseller who edited and published "Belle Lettres" on his own account. He had discriminating literary taste, to which he added ability in planning formats of his books. Every collector of fine printing in the United States should acquire some representative Mosher works."

Jacob, Gertrude, compiler. "Bertrand Russell, An Essay Toward a Bibliography" in Bulletin of Bibliography... Vol. 13. No. 10. Boston: The F.W. Faxon Company, September 1926-December 1929, p. 198. The citation is to Mosher's first edition of Bertrand Russell's A Free Man's Worship (1923).

(Japan Paper Company) "Hand Made Paper." Numbered portfolio. New York: Japan Paper Company, [ca. 1913-1916]. The Japan Paper Company, with offices in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, was America's leading importer of hand-made papers for private editions, de luxe books, club books, and a whole host of others book arts needs. This company's large client portfolio (15" x 11") of loosely inserted material was distributed to printers, book binderies, and others concerned with the printed, bound, or calligraphed page, and was updated on an ongoing basis. Some of the most interesting inserts are the slim bound booklets with titles like Japanese Shadow Paper; Momoyama Papers; and Italian Hand Made End and Side Paper. There are numerous price lists for soft Japan papers, Italian Fabriano cover paper, French "Arches" papers, Imperial Japan velum, parchments & vellums, Kelmscott "Hammer & Anvil" paper, and many, many more. Though direct evidence of Mosher's use of this particular company has not been found, the samples and availability through Boston and New York strongly suggest his use of this company in selecting his papers (Even if he acquired his papers elsewhere in America, it speaks to the ready availability of such stock to the artful minded publisher). It provided a sort of one-stop-shopping, so to speak. For example, all the papers used throughout Mosher's Venetian Series are neatly mounted and numbered in "Italian Hand Made End and Side Paper." In the "Japanese Shadow Paper" booklet one finds the endpapers in The Amphora, and on the cover of Tam O'Shanter. In "Momoyama Papers" we find the cloudy grey paper used on the 1920 In Praise of Omar. The portfolio does not include Dutch Van Gelder paper.

Jefferies, Richard. See Miller, George.

(Jenkinson) The Richard C. Jenkinson Collection of Books -- Chosen to Show the Work of the Best Printers. Newark, NJ: The Public Library by Order of its Board of Trustees, 1925, entries 94 and 246. This is an exhibition catalogue commemorating a major gift of modern finely printed books Jenkinson gave to the Newark Library. Included are Kelmscott, Officina Bodoni, Bruce Rogers designed books, Merrymount Press, De Vinne, Chiswick, small private presses from England, and a variety of others. Included with this august company are Mosher's The Germ, and Tristram of Lyonesse.

(Jenkinson II) The Richard C. Jenkinson Collection of Books -- Chosen to Show the Work of the Best Printers. Book II. Newark, NJ: The Public Library by Order of its Board of Trustees, 1929. This is a continuation of the first volume which appeared in 1925 and contains numerous entries of Mosher books. It includes a dozen books from The Brocade Series, three titles from the Reprints from The Bibelot Series, Love in the Valley from the Golden Text Series, and four books from the Miscellaneous Series: The Heptalogia, The House of Usna, The Silence of Amor, and William Blake XVII Designs to Thornton's Virgil.

Johnson, Bruce E. "More Than Words" in Country Living. Vol. 20, No. 2. New York: The Hearst Corporation, February 1997, p. 40. Johnson's article (on pp. 38, 40, and 63) centers on Hubbard and The Roycrofters, but mentions Mosher as one of the private presses of Arts and Crafts Books in America: "The Arts and Crafts Movement found many dedicated followers in America. Between 1895 and 1910 more than 50 private presses were established to produce handmade, artistic books. In Portland, Maine, Thomas Mosher published limited editions of Arts & Crafts books of the finest design. In some instances, such as his 1897 edition of the Rub�iy�t of Omar Khayy�m, Mosher printed a mere 100 copies on the highest quality Japan vellum, a stiff, long-fibered paper recognized for its exceptional printing capabilities."

Johnston, Paul. Biblio * Typographica -- A Survey of Contemporary Fine Printing Style. New York: Covici, Friede, 1930, pp. 5 and 15. "Both D. B. Updike and Bruce Rogers owe some debt to [William] Morris, yet their attention had already been directed to the art in books when they first heard of him. Thomas Bird Mosher, the American disciple of Pickering, and Pickering himself were probably as much of a source to them as was Morris... Thomas Bird Mosher set out to publish a series of books, quite obviously with Pickering's editions in mind." --p. 5.

(Jones, Dan Burne). American Book Collector. Vol. XIV, No. 10. (Special Rockwell Kent Number) Summer 1964, p. 41. This entry appears along with several others appending an article by Rockwell Kent on the Asgaard Press, but this portion is clearly by Dan Burne Jones who follows with a list of books illustrated by Kent. The specific entry is worded: "Tristan and Iseult, 1923. Small octavo, the Mosher edition of 1922, title p. and binding removed, new title p. with wood engraving by Kent, printed at the Lakeside Press under the supervision of Wm. A. Kittredge, and bound there in full maroon niger with binding design by Kent stamped in gold. Given as a gift to Frances Lee Kent [Kent's second wife]."

Jones, Louise Seymour. The Human Side of Bookplates. Los Angeles, CA: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1951, p. 132. Brief mention is made of Mosher in the company of other fine printers and publishers: "Then there are the master printers, men who with stars in their eyes design and create books and handle them tenderly: William Morris, Daniel Berkeley Updike, Tom Mosher, Hal Trovillion, John Johnson, John Henry Nash, Ward Ritchie, Bruce Rogers, all hard-working creative book lovers and not a dilly-dally aficiona do-da-do in the lot!"

Jordan-Smith, Paul. I Salute the Silver Horse -- The Story of the Trovillion Private Press, America's Oldest Private Press Whereonto is Added an Account of Its Founding by Hal W. Trovillion. Herrin, IL: Trovillion Private Press at Sign of Silver Horse, 1958, pp. 6 and 7. Paul Jordan-Smith relates a story about his education at Lombard College in Galesburg, IL. It was there that he met Carl Sandburg's teacher, guide and inspirer, Philip Green Wright. Wright taught economics and ran a private press he called the Asgaard Press. Jordan-Smith recalls how Wright, "...tried to inspire in his students creative activity. He spoke often of William Morris and Cobden-Sanderson. He showed his students the dainty little books from the private press of Thomas Bird Mosher and told them that if a book was worth reading it was worth keeping, and, to that end it should be well printed on durable paper. He praised the small book as something to be carried about through the day as an amulet against evil." Influenced by Wright, Jordan-Smith began collecting "those memorable little pocket books printed by Mosher." Hal Trovillion was also influenced by the Mosher Press and often related how those books became his model for printing (see Schauinger, Herman).

Kaplan, Wendy, editor and contributor. "The Art that is Life": The Arts & Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920. Boston: Little, Brown and Company (Boston Museum of Fine Arts), 1987, pp. 294-95. Susan Otis Thompson prepared the section on graphics. Entry No. 156 shows a copy of Empedocles on Etna: A Dramatic Poem by Matthew Arnold. This is the Vilain/Wieck copy specially hand-colored, but pictured in black and white in The Art that is Life.

Keith, Elizabeth. "Thomas Bird Mosher: Internationally Appreciated Publisher and Lover of Books -- Once a Resident of Portland, Maine" in Sun Up, Maine's Own Magazine. June 1927, pp. 5, 42-44. This is a general overview of Mosher's life and work as a publisher, and one which Mosher's assistant, Flora MacDonald Lamb, enjoyed as a tribute to Mosher.

Kennerley, Mitchell. "Recollections of Thomas B. Mosher" in the New York Evening Telegram. September 5, 1923. Included in Kennerley's discussion is: "Mr. Mosher made popular in America such authors as Walter Pater, Andrew Lang, Arthur Symons, Maurice Hewlett and a host of others many years before they would have otherwise become known... there is no doubt that he did more for the cause of pure literature in America than any other publisher America ever had." Kennerley, who started as an assistant to John Lane, was a New York City publisher, and later, director of the American auction house, the Anderson Galleries. He was also a close friend of Mosher's.

Keynes, Geoffrey. A Bibliography of William Blake. New York: The Grolier Club, 1921 (Kraus reprint of 1969), pp. 279 and 300. The particular references are to Mosher's 1914 reprint of the Songs of Innocence (Keynes 163) and to XVII Designs to Thorton's Virgil (Keynes 223).

Koopman, Harry Lyman. "Modern American Printing" in The American Mercury, May 1924, pp. 25-28. Reprinted in Amphora: A Second Collection, pp. 98-99. This essay was read before members of the Grolier Club in 1924 and included: "We may recall with satisfaction that one of the leaders in American fine printing issued his first book also in 1891, and that, save for a single volume which was frankly an imitation, Thomas B. Mosher published his charming and significant books all on classical lines, regardless of the weight of ink and the startling types that were being employed by other American book-designers. So our discussion of modern fine printing in America may well begin with the work of Mosher.
He was not a printer in the sense of owning a press, but he worked with printers to get the results that he desired. He followed classical lines in type, paper, ink and press work, and every book of his was a genuine composition. His publications varied in size from the impressive quarto edition of Burton's Kasidah to the tiny quarto leaflet of John Hay's In Praise of Omar. Mr. Mosher's printing, or rather book-design, cannot be separated from his publishing, for which he deserves no less credit. It was his service to his countrymen to introduce to them a selection of choice but not popular literature that was an excellent corrective of provincialism and of content with the commonplace. To each book chosen by him for publication he endeavored to give an ideal dress. In thought he was something of a come-outer, but in printing he was a decided conservative, so that even his innovations were always in the interest of the finest elements of the old order." Koopman was an author, librarian / bibliographer at Brown University, and fellow member of the Grolier Club.

---. The Booklover and His Books. Boston: The Boston Book Company, 1917, p. 137. Koopman mentions, "...we can imagine a popular series that should deserve the name of tribute typography. Certain recent editions of the German classics, perhaps, come nearer to justifying such a claim than any contemporary British or American work. In more expensive publications some of Mr. Mosher's work, like his quarto edition of Burton's Kas�dah, merits a place in this class... [and] the work of the Kelmscott Press obviously falls within this class." Dr. Koopman was then librarian of Brown University.

Kramer, Sidney. A History of Stone & Kimball and Herbert S. Stone & Co. Chicago, IL: Norman W. Forgue, 1940, pp. 26 & 40. Brief mention is made of Mosher advertising his reprint series in The Chap-Book. Kramer also notes that "The Bibelot derived directly from the eclectic publications with which 'The Portland Pirate' had begun, in 1891, his publishing career, and Stone & Kimball were always polite to Captain Mosher."

Kraus, Joe W. A History of Way & Williams... Philadelphia: George S. MacManus Co., 1984, p. 17. Brief mention is made of W. Irving Way writing, "a long biographical introduction for the Thomas B. Mosher edition of The Rubaiyat in 1898" which leaves the reader with the impression that it was only with the 1898 edition that Irving Way's biographical introduction begins. Way's biographical sketch of FitzGerald first appeared in the 1895 Old World Edition of the Rub�iy�t and continued, in updated form, throughout subsequent editions until the tenth and last edition of 1911.

Krishnamurti, Dr. G., compiler. Women Writers of the 1890's. With an introduction by Margaret Drabble. London: Henry Sotheran Limited [and the 1890s Society], 1991, pp. 44, 88, and 113. Three entries in this Sotheran exhibit were Mosher publications: (1) Michael Field's Long Ago, 1897, (2) Rosamund Marriott Watson's Tares: A Book of Verse, 1906, and A. Mary F. Robinson's An Italian Garden; A Book of Songs, 1897. The above date of 1906 is not a misprint. For some inexplicable reason Krishnamurti included the 1906 "Lyric Garland", rather than Mosher's 1898 "Reprint from The Bibelot" edition. Krishnamurti was responsible for an 1890s exhibition eighteen years earlier compiled in catalogue form: The Eighteen-Nineties -- A Literary Exhibition September 4-21, 1973. London: National Book League and the Francis Thompson Society, 1973. Mosher receives no mention whatsoever, either in the catalogue and in its supplement, but with the advent of Women Writers of the 1890's, we have several nods in Mosher's direction, certainly a recognition of Mosher's role in the 1890's literary movement and its authors.

Labbie, Edith. "Mosher Books Were Works of Art" in the Lewiston Evening Journal (Magazine Section). Lewiston, ME, March 17. 1979, pp. 1 and 8. Though this well illustrated newspaper feature article in the magazine section covers much familiar territory, there are a few things which add to Mosher's story. Labbie mentions that some booklovers actually referred to Portland as "Mosher Town." The article draws heavily from an interview of Mosher written in 1904 by Alice Frost Lord, then staff member of the Lewiston Evening Journal magazine. The underlying philosophy of Mosher's style of printing and book design and his modus operandi as a publisher, which Lord appealingly labels a 'Love Affair with Publishing,' is set forth with clarity and candor in Mosher's response to one of the questions Lord put to him in the interview: "...I have never done much with illustrations. Thus far [up to 1904] the lettering of my title pages has been drawn by New York artists, but hereafter type will suffice for I believe it is more simple and truly artistic. My style of typography is open to anybody from the types anyone can secure." Mosher also told Miss Lord that "the silk ribbons for book marks, I purchased in England." A 1979 interview with Francis M. O'Brien, one of Maine's outstanding booksellers, is also included in this issue in which he reveals he was asked by one of Mosher's sons to "come out and help appraise it [the library]."

(Lamb Typescript of The Mosher Books). This twelve-page typescript, plus title (about 10" x 11 1/2") is located at Dartmouth College and was probably prepared by Flora Lamb up to 1928, the date of its last entry. Flora Lamb was Mosher's long-time assistant who managed The Mosher Press after Mosher's death (1923) until 1941. The typescript's cover title is "A bibliographical list of the Mosher Books compiled by Miss Flora MacDonald Lamb," and the final page bears the signature of Steven Barabas (an assistant?). In the 1924 Mosher Books catalogue, Flora Lamb wrote that :

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