Carl Purington Rollins and the Design of Scholarly Books

Carl Purington Rollins became manager of the manufacturing department of Yale University Press in 1918, and over the next thirty years he designed and supervised the production of more than two thousand books for the Press. In so doing he set design standards for university press books throughout the nation. This article examines Rollin's philosophy and methodology, which developed through the creation of a partnership between handcraftsmanship and emerging technologies of mechanical book production.