You are cordially invited to a free online lecture (25 September 2025 at 12 p.m. EST): “The Ideal Book: Introducing the Doves Press and Bindery Collection at McMaster University.” 

In 2024, McMaster acquired a complete run of all vellum-bound editions produced by the Doves Press (1900-1916) — that high point of Arts and Crafts typographic excellence — as well as the associated output of the Hammersmith Publishing Society and a significant collection of related primary documents. Taken together with our existing holdings from this enterprise, McMaster now possesses one of the most comprehensive Doves collections in the Americas. To celebrate this extraordinary acquisition, join McMaster’s conservator and librarians for a 90-minute discussion about the significance and legacy of the Doves Press and Bindery. We will explore their aesthetic milieu and broader cultural context, their immense impact on subsequent printing and book design, the personalities and (often fractious) relationships between key figures associated with the project, and — not least — the astonishing story of how the legendary Doves Type came to be destroyed, meaning that the output of the press could never be replicated.  

This lecture will be led by Bronwen Glover, McMaster’s Archives and Book Conservator; Myron Groover, Archives and Rare Books Librarian; and Ruth-Ellen St. Onge, Distinctive Collections Cataloguing Librarian. 

Register using this link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8517557930544/WN_ZszcNXwwSCezo6wfSa5x1g#/registration