Exhibition of RR Donnelley's Four American Books

In 1926, the nation’s largest printer, RR Donelley in Chicago, started planning a series of literary classics to be designed and illustrated by the best American practitioners of the day, producing: Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s Two Years Before the Mast, designed by Edward A. Wilson, Thoreau’s Walden, designed by Rudolph Ruzicka, Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales, designed by W. A. Dwiggins, and Melville’s Moby-Dick, illustrated by Rockwell Kent. Known as the “Four American Books,” these were intended to prove that American book design and printing equaled that of Europe. The four books are on display in the Arion Press gallery on September 10, 2007 for the talk by Kim Coventry.

Herman Melville
Moby Dick, Or the Whale, 1930
Chicago: The Lakeside Press
Illustrated by Rockwell Kent

Kent himself described his book as "the most beautiful book ever published in America." Professor Claire Badaracco writes, "Kent's work was successful not solely because of his reputation as an artist but also because of the aesthetics of the text of Moby Dick itself. Melville's book is a philosophical story told in Old Testament dimensions . . . The whale that sound the ocean's depths is depicted by Rockwell Kent against stars in a pitch black sky."

Both Moby Dick and Walden were recognized for superior design by the Fifty Books of the Year competition in 1931.

Herman Melville
Moby Dick, Or the Whale, 1930
New York: Random House
Illustrated by Rockwell Kent

When Rockwell Kent submitted his drawings for Moby Dick, it was evident that this book was destined for success. It was quickly decided that a one-volume pocket-size trade edition of Moby Dick should be published in addition to the three-volume collector’s edition. Random House was selected as the publisher and the printing was done by R.R. Donnelley. Ten thousand copies were distributed through the Book-of-the Month Club. Many other editions of Donnelley’s illustrated Moby Dick have been issued over the last sixty years. It is still in print and requests for use of Kent’s drawings continue to be received.

Edgar Allen Poe
Tales, 1930
Chicago: The Lakeside Press
Illustrated by W. A. Dwiggins

There were several obstacles in publishing Poe’s Tales. It took nearly a year for R.R. Donnelley to select the 1840 edition as the one to publish. Dwiggins also found his task daunting, “I knew that it was foolish to try to ornament Poe. Nobody could hope to make pictures rich enough in weave to stand up beside the intricate embroidery of the text.” Indeed, Kittredge had a difficult time getting Dwiggins to finish his illustrations. Dwiggins wrote to Kittredge about the delay, complaining about the “jungle of damn little hurry up jobs,” but stating, “The Poe racket is the thing I am keenest about.”

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, 1930
Chicago: The Lakeside Press
Illustrated by Edward A. Wilson

The binding materials used for this book were most unusual. The blue cloth was purchased from Lord & Taylor in New York City. The cloth on the backbone, a natural linen, was purchased from Marshall Field & Company in Chicago. As these were not materials customarily used in book binding, it required special attention from the R.R. Donnelley bindery to prepare the cloth so it would take gold leaf stamping.

Henry David Thoreau
Walden: Or Life in the Woods, 1930
Chicago: The Lakeside Press
Illustrated by Rudolph Ruzicka

Rudolph Ruzicka, a native of Chicago, was an experienced book designer who had worked for R.R. Donnelley on several projects before the Four American Books commission. R.R. Donnelley arranged for a house for Ruzicka in Concord, Massachusetts during the summer of 1929, so he could be near Walden Pond while completing the illustrations.
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