Nash, John Henry, 1871-1947

Printer and lecturer.

Biography

John Henry Nash was born in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada on March 12, 1871. He left high school at the age of sixteen and became an apprentice in the shop of James Murray, one of the leading printers in Toronto. He worked as a compositor for several years in Toronto and for a few months in Denver before moving to San Francisco in 1895 where he found employment with the Hicks-Judd Company. Several years later he and Bruce Brough established the Twentieth Century Press which became the Tomoyé Press when Paul Elder became a partner. In 1911 he formed a partnership with Henry H. and Edward Dewitt Taylor which lasted until 1915. Following a brief association with the Blair-Murdock Company, he opened his own shop. For the next 22 years he produced books, pamphlets, broadsides and job printing which embodied the technical perfection he demanded. Vital patronage came mainly from William Andrews Clark, Jr. who commissioned him to print catalogues of his extensive library as well as Christmas books for distribution to friends. William Randolph Hearst chose him to publish a biography of his mother which appeared in 1928 and one of his father in 1933. Continuous support also came from bibliographic organizations such as the Grolier Club of New York City and the Book Club of California and from numerous individual clients. Most of his other publications were intended as gifts for friends and clients. His most ambitious publication and one of the few printed for direct sale was The Comedy of Dante Alighieri which appeared in 1929. Nash retired in 1938, moved his library and shop to the University of Oregon at Eugene, and accepted a temporary appointment as Professor of Typography. He supervised the design and composition of books selected by students to be printed by the John Henry Nash Fine Arts Press. In 1943 he returned to Berkeley where he died four years later.