[Updike, D. B.- ALS] Autograph Letter Signed to a Publisher

Scarce autograph letter signed, 2pp, by Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941), Boston book designer and printer, possibly to Thomas Niles, a partner in the famed press of Roberts Brothers. Written on Updike personal stationary with printed header, ìD.B. Updike, Decorative Printing and Book-Making, 6 Beacon St. Boston, and dated Aug 29, 1893, ìDear Mr. Miles: Will you kindly send a list of books published by you, by ìH.H.î to Mrs. Harold Brown, Bellevue Avenue, Newport, R. I. with the portion of the catalogs in which they seem marked or turned down. And truly much obliged, D. B. Updike.î Letters by Updike are quite scarce.

D. B. Updike (1860-1941), was an American printer and historian of typography. He obtained his first book-related job 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, where 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.