Complete Writings of Elbert Hubbard

1908. First Edition . Signed. HUBBARD, Elbert. The Complete Writings. East Aurora, New York: The Roycroft Shop, (1908-15). Twenty volumes. Tall quarto, original three-quarter crushed brown morocco, gilt- and blind-tooled spines, raised bands, top edges gilt, uncut. $5200.Author’s edition of the collected Little Journeys, number 689 of 1000 sets, finely printed and bound by Hubbard’s prestigious Roycroft Press, each volume signed by Hubbard. With two pages of a Hubbard manuscript bound into Volume I.Appalled by the way commercialization cheapened the art of printing books, and inspired by William Morris' Kelmscott Press, Hubbard founded his own press in 1893. The Roycroft Press became perhaps the most important touchstone of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, which sought to revive the standards of medieval craftsmanship by producing books that were themselves works of art. This set is one of the finest examples of the Arts and Crafts style in American printing and the epitome of Hubbard's ambitions for the Roycroft Press. Under the Roycroft imprint Hubbard wrote 170 ""conversational"" essays (which he called ""Little Journeys"") about the lives and works of historic personages from the arts, government, and private enterprise. Printed in exquisite typography, on Roycroft hand-made paper, with three-color initial letters designed by Dard Hunter, and decorative devices throughout. Each ""journey"" is accompanied by a delicately etched portrait of the subject either by Gaspard or Schneider. Two pages of a Hubbard manuscript, on Palmer House, Chicago stationery, bound into Volume I, between pages 124-25. A few spines toned. Fine condition.