Private Presses - Columbiad Club, 1936-1939, 1958-1959

The Lewis Finch papers is a small collection of pamphlets, booklets, and other publications and printed items related to the processes of printing by small, privately owned presses. The collection, through correspondence and a variety of printed material, reveals a network of people around the United States and abroad who shared a common interest in and a love for books and "hobby printing." Correspondents include James D. Hart, Harold Hugo, and Will Ransom.

The Correspondence series is limited to one folder (additional correspondence is found in various folders of the Private Presses series) and refers entirely to his fine press work. Of note is Lewis Finch's card for admittance to a Trinity College Chapel service on November 3, 1940, commemorating the 500th anniversary of printing, where copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the Bay Psalm Book were exhibited during the service. The Ephemera series includes, among other items, sketches and notes by Finch and a group of programs presumably collected from various exhibits Finch attended.

The Printed Materials series is the largest and contains a variety of items, including bound print publications, oversized "type specimen sheets," as well as advertisements for local Hartford companies and organizations. Of interest are the type specimen sheets which illustrate the different fonts used in typesetting, and in some cases provide historical background. Also of note are the book catalogues and prospectuses, which lend insight into what titles were on offer by book shops and sellers at the time. This series also includes the paper, "Semantics, the New Precision-Instrument of the Advertising Copywriter" by Dr. Edward Pousland, Director of Publicity of the American Letter Company of Boston and later, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut).

The Private Presses series includes correspondence between Finch and other private press owners, as well as printed items, or "keepsakes," produced by and exchanged among their presses. Of note is the file on Herity Press, which was owned and operated by Ben Lieberman and his wife, Elizabeth, both known as leaders in the modern private press movement in America. Ben Lieberman was the founder and first president of the American Printing History Association.