Updike, Daniel Berkeley, 1860-1941

Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941) was a book designer and printer in New England. He was born an only child in an old and well-connected New England family, but his father's death in 1877 prevented Updike from pursuing higher education. Updike's Episcopalian background greatly influenced both his character and his later work as a printer, and his intellectual and cultural character was molded by his mother, an antiquary and scholar of French and English literature. Updike's first book-related job was as a temporary volunteer in the library of the Providence Athenaeum. In 1880 he was offered a job as an errand boy at Houghton, Mifflin and Company of Boston. He worked at the firm for twelve years, moving up to the advertising department, where he prepared copy. In his last two years with the firm, he was transferred to the Riverside Press at Cambridge, Mass., where he learned about the mechanics of printing and displayed an aptitude for designing books. Upon leaving Houghton, Mifflin in 1893, Updike founded the Merrymount Press, and in 1896 he chose John Bianchi as the foreman of the press. Although he moved the press around the Boston area over the course of approximately thirty years, Updike finally settled in at 712 Beacon Street. Throughout the history of Merrymount Press, Updike was supported by a clientele that requested and appreciated fine books. He also received the patronage of commercial publishers such as Thomas Y. Crowell and Scribners, who asked him to design high-quality editions. After Updike's death, Bianchi carried on the work of the Merrymount Press until 1949, when its operations ceased.

From the description of Daniel Berkeley Updike papers, 1917, 1943. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 429909587

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