Roycroft Books and Things
March 03, 2020
Born in 1856, Elbert Hubbard became wealthy as a result of his work in a Buffalo, NY soap and mail order company. He decided to leave business when he was 36 years old. Calling himself both an anarchist and a socialist, Hubbard worked to realize social, economic, political, and spiritual freedom while rejecting industrialism through his writings. When he struggled to find commercial publishers interested in his ideas, he bought a small press in East Aurora, NY, in 1895 and began producing a magazine titled The Philistine: A Periodical of Protest.
The Philistine caught the attention of the printing and design communities, and quickly became a success. Hubbard invited talented printers, typesetters, book binders, graphic designers, and more to East Aurora to work, teach classes, and live in a community of like-minded individuals. Over 500 artists, furniture makers, and other craft workers soon joined, comprising the Roycroft community. Members were known as Roycrofters. Part of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States, they had a significant impact on early 20th century American architecture and design. Living together in East Aurora, Roycrofters were drawn to Hubbard's charisma, and bound by an allegiance to the social and artistic ideals he advanced. The community thrived in upstate New York until Hubbard's death on the Lusitania in 1915.
The Philistine was bound in brown butcher paper. Hubbard authored the content of early issues almost entirely by himself, especially satirical essays. Each issue included whimsical flourishes, including aphorisms on front and back covers that advanced Hubbard's social ideals like "Faith in yourself and faith in humanity is faith in God" and "Get your happiness out of your work or you'll never know what happiness is." Their design and layout on the back cover of each issue in particular showcased the Roycroft Press' Arts and Crafts aesthetic. In 1908, Hubbard began producing his second periodical publication, The Fra: A Journal of Affirmation. While The Fra also features satirical essays and aphorisms authored by Hubbard, issues include essays and articles written by other Roycrofters about philosophy, women's rights, education, industry, and more. The Philistine, The Fra, and other Roycroft publications like A Catalog of Roycroft Books and Things, The Roycroft Books: A Catalog..., and The Book of the Roycrofters were printed on handmade papers, and were produced on hand-operated presses. Graphic designers incorporated colored design elements in the Arts and Crafts style, and took advantage of the flexibility offered by hand-set type in structuring the layout of the text and graphic elements on each page.
Though Hubbard was personally wealthy, Roycrofters sought to financially support the community while remaining true to its ideals. Publications often included advertisements for products made by Roycroft furniture makers, metalsmiths, leathersmiths, and bookbinders. In addition to periodical publications, the Roycroft Press produced and circulated catalogs highlighting and showcasing its own output while advancing the reformist ideals of the Roycroft community. They described Roycroft products in one publication as "the product of Hand & Brain in partnership," valuable in their estimation because "[i]n things made by hand there are no duplicates; and further, there is a quality of sentiment attached to articles thus produced that never clings to fabrics made in vast quantities by steam."
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