Ward Ritchie press

The Ward Ritchie Press operated in Los Angeles, California from 1932 to 1974. Harry "Ward" Ritchie was born in 1905 in Los Angeles. He became interested in literature and publishing at an early age. While at Marengo Avenue School, he and fellow student (and life long friend) Lawrence Clark Powell, published several student projects. Later, after establishing his eponymous private press, Ritchie designed editions for the works of Robinson Jeffers, Archibald MacLeish, and a variety of literary and historical topics. Ritchie sold his press in 1974, shortly after which it ceased operation. After his "retirement" he continued to work on various projects, both as an author and as a printer on his 1835 Albion hand press. He died in 1996 at the age of 91.

Ritchie was born as Harry Ward Ritchie on June 15, 1905 in Los Angeles, CA; AB, Occidental College, 1928; did graduate work at the Univ. of Southern Calif. (1928) and at California Institute of Technology (1942); president, Ward Ritchie Press, Los Angeles, CA, 1932-74; instructor, Occidental College (1936-39) and Scripps College (1942-46); production manager, Foote, Cone & Belding, 1943-50; board member for the UCLA Library of Arts and Architecture, 1947-75; author of dozens of books focusing on printing, the history of printing, and poetry; he used various pseudonyms, including Davie Dicker, James Beattie Pitwood, Betsey Ann Bristol, and Peter Lum Quince; wrote an autobiography titled, Years touched with memories (1992); died of pancreatic cancer on Jan. 24, 1996 in Laguna Beach, CA.