Edward Clark, pictured on the left, was the Managing Director of the Edinburgh book printers, R & R Clark, died in August 1926. His will included provisions for two legacies to ‘further the teaching of typography’ which at that time meant print production in general as well as type design. The funds were used to refit the printing department at Heriot-Watt College, which ran classes for printing apprentices, to create an endowment fund to support trainee printers and a library for their use.
The Edward Clark Bequest, also known as the Edward Clark Trust, was set up under the will of Edward Clark, Managing Director of R & R Clark, and was originally administered by the executors, including William Maxwell, who had been Company Secretary of R & R Clark since 1910.
The collection focused on three areas:
(i) the development of type-faces and of the history of typography, and in particular of the work of the Private Presses since 1880,
(ii) developments in the printing of illustrations, and
(iii) book bindings. (Kilpatrick, 1976, p.xxiv-xxv)
The main period of collection building was between 1930 and 1950, led by William Maxwell, who had succeeded Edward Clark as the Managing Director of R & R Clark. A printed catalogue was produced in two volumes in 1976, with a later supplementary volume.
The Edward Clark Collection now amounts to approximately 5,000 items, and is known as the Edward Clark Library. It was designed as a resource for teaching, and is unique in its focus on the technical aspects of print production and typographic design. The collection includes some rare imprints, and examples showing the development of printing technologies, illustration techniques, type designs and bindings over the last 500 years. The collection also has a significant collection of modern private press books, including books from the libraries of Bernard H Newdigate (of the Shakespeare Head Press) and of the calligrapher Edward Johnston, both of which were added in the 1960s.
The classes for printing and the book collection were transferred to the newly-founded Napier College in 1964, and the collection remains in the care of Edinburgh Napier University. Sadly, ENU is no longer able to look after this collection and the Edward Clark Trust is currently seeking a new home.
The catalogue is currently available online through Edinburgh Napier University’s LibrarySearch or use Heritage Collections > Edward Clark Collection to browse. You can find out more about the background through the following links:
- a short history of R & R Clark, printers, written for their centenary in 1946
- an obituary of Edward Clark
- William Maxwell’s address about book collecting to the Edinburgh Typographia, an organisation for printers
- a portrait of William Maxwell
- more about the education of printers in Edinburgh
