Nonesuch Press was founded in 1922 by Francis Meynell, together with David Garnett and Vera Mendel. The Press passed to George Macy in 1936, but Meynell took control again from the 1950's to the mid-1960's, when the press finally closed. While the Press did operate a small printing establishment for design purposes, and occasionally printed whole books, the great majority of its publications were printed by commercial printers. Nonesuch Press was not, therefore, a fine press in the usual sense of the word, with all the work done by hand on the premises. Nevertheless, the standards of design applied to Nonesuch Press books, the use of high quality materials, and the careful selection and supervision of the commercial presses that printed the books, all meant that the Nonesuch Press operated very much in the spirit of a traditional fine press.

Special Collections has the following items printed at or published by the Nonesuch Press:

• Blake, William. The Illustrations of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, with the First Eclogue and the Imitation by Ambrose Philips. London: 1937. NC1115 .B65
• Cobbett, William. Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine, with Other Records of His Early Career in England & America, viz: Life & Adventures; The Scarecrow; Remarks of the Pamphlets; Talleyrand, a Spy; Farewell to America; A Court-Martial, A Retrospect. London: 1927. DA522.C5 A2 1927
• Dickens, Charles. The Nonesuch Dickens. Bloomsbury: 1937-1938. PR4550 .F37
• Donne, John. The Courtier’s Library, or, Catalogus Librorum Aulicorum Incomparabilium et Non Vendibilium. London: 1930. 098.3 D718c
• Donne, John. Donne’s Sermon of Valediction at His Going into Germany, Preached at Lincoln’s Inn, April 18, 1619, Printed from the Original Version in the Lothian and Ashmole Manuscripts and from XXVI Sermons. London: 1932. BX5133.D62 V3
• Donne, John. X Sermons Preached by That Late Learned and Rev. Rivine John Donne, Doctor of Divinity, Once Dean of the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul’s. Soho: 1923. BX5133.D61 K4 1923
• France, Anatole. The Gods are A-Thirst. London:1942. PQ2254 .D513 1942
• King, Henry. The Poems of Bishop Henry King. London: 1925. PR3539 .K65 1925
• Milton, John. The Mask of Comus: The Poem Originally Called ‘A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634, &c.’; The Airs of the Five Songs Reprinted from the Composer’s Autograph Manuscript. Bloomsbury: 1937. PR3557 .A1 1937
• Milton, John. Poems in English. London: 1926. 828 M64p33
• Montaigne, Michel de. Montaigne’s Essays: John Florio’s Translation. London: 1931. PQ1642.E5 F6 1931
• Perrault, Charles. Histories or Tales of Past Times Told by Mother Goose, with Morals. London: 1925. PQ1877 .A713 1925
• Plutarch. The Lives of the Noble Grecians & Romanes Compared Together by That Grave, Learned Philosopher and Historiographer Plutarke of Chaeronea. London: 1929-1930. DE7 .P5 1929
• Retrospectus and Prospectus: The Nonesuch Dickens. Bloomsbury, 1937. PR4550.F37 R48 1937
• Symons, A. J. A. The Nonesuch Century: An Appraisal, a Personal Note, and a Bibliography of the First Hundred Books Issued by the Press, 1923-1934. London, 1936. Z232 .N82 1936
• Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. London: 1936. PS1306 .A1 1936
• Walton, Izaak. The Complete Angler, or, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation, being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing for the Perusal of Anglers, with Instructions, How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream, by Charles Cotton. London: 1936. SH433 .A1936
• Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. London: 1936. PS3201 1936
• Wilmot, John (Earl of Rochester). Collected Works of John Wilmot. London: 1926. 828 R586A

Special Collections has the following secondary resources relating to the Nonesuch Press:

• Retrospectus and Prospectus: The Nonesuch Dickens. Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press, 1937. PR4550.F37 R48 1937
• Symons, A. J. A. The Nonesuch Century: An Appraisal, a Personal Note, and a Bibliography of the First Hundred Books Issued by the Press, 1923-1934. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1936. Z232 .N82 1936

Special Collections has the following additional items related to the Nonesuch Press:

• Maupassant, Guy de. A Woman’s Life. New York: Limited Editions Club, 1952. [printed from typographic plans originally prepared by Francis Maynell for the edition published by the Nonesuch Press] PQ2349.V4 E6 1952