T. J. Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922)
Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson was an English artist and bookbinder associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. He was a friend of William Morris, and although he had studied law, he was persuaded by Morris's wife to become a bookbinder.
In 1893 he set up the Doves Bindery in Hammersmith, London, named after The Dove, a nearby pub,. In 1900 he established the Doves Press, with Emery Walker as a partner who oversaw the creation of the Doves Type used for all their publications.
Following a dispute, the partnership with Emery Walker ended in 1909, with an agreement that all rights to the Doves Type would pass to Emery Walker on the death of Cobden-Sanderson. However, when the press closed in 1916 Cobden-Sanderson threw the type along with its punches and matrices into the Thames.
In 2014 the original metal type, thought to be lost, was salvaged from the River Thames in London, and used by Robert Green to recreate a digital version of the Doves Typeface.
[DJD, April 2018]
