Daniel Berkeley Updike

Daniel Berkeley Updike (ŭp´dīk´), 1860–1941, American printer and historian of typography, b. Providence, R.I. At the Merrymount Press, which he founded in 1893 in Boston, his stated purpose was "to do common work well." Here, the excellence of his printing, influenced by William Morris, inspired and instructed ...

Daniel Berkeley Updike (ŭp´dīk´), 1860–1941, American printer and historian of typography, b. Providence, R.I. At the Merrymount Press, which he founded in 1893 in Boston, his stated purpose was "to do common work well." Here, the excellence of his printing, influenced by William Morris, inspired and instructed other printers. At Harvard he taught the first college course in the United States on the history of type and the practice of printing. In his books he added the care and scope of the scholar to the knowledge of a master printer. Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use (1922, 2d ed. 1937) is the standard work on the subject and a basic book for all interested in the graphic arts. Updike's other works include In the Day's Work (1924) and Some Aspects of Printing (1941).

See G. P. Winship, Daniel Berkeley Updike and the Merrymount Press (1947); Updike: American Printer and the Merrymount Press (1948), a symposium.