Press of Kells collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0236

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Small collection of documents, ephemera, and clippings relating to Everett C. Johnson and the Press of Kells. Special Collections holds additional publications of the Kells Press which are cataloged in the printed collections.

Dates

Creation: 1916 – [ca. 1981]

Creator

Press of Kells (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research

Conditions Governing Use

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Biographical / Historical

The Press of Kells was founded in Newark, Delaware, ca. 1916 by Everett C. Johnson. Johnson, who founded the Newark Post in 1910, was a Secretary of State for Delaware, an alumnus and member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, a gentleman farmer, and a journalist and printer. His original print shop was located at the corner of Main Street and South College Avenue, then called Depot Road. In approximately 1916, Johnson constructed the building which housed the Press of Kells on the corner of West Park Place and South College Avenue, which at the time was on the outskirts of Newark proper. Johnson’s building and the press were named after the Irish monastery which produced the Book of Kells in the seventh century.

Johnson was a devotee of fine printing and shortly after he founded the Newark Post in 1910, announced his plans to set up a press to produce books. Like many would-be printers of his time, Johnson was inspired by the Kemscott Press of William Morris and influenced by his American contemporaries Elbert Hubbard and Thomas B. Mosher. Books printed at the Press of Kells included The Declaration of Independence & The Constitution of the United States, The Gospel According to St. John, a collection of letters by E.I, Du Pont, an edition of poems by Walter Savage Landor, several titles by Coningsby Dawson, Johnson’s own booklet on Abraham Lincoln, and W.O. Sypherd’s edition of The English Bible.

Everett C. Johnson died on February 19, 1926. Although his wife, Louise S. Johnson, continued her husband’s publishing operations for several years following his death, she was unable to do so for long. The Newark Post was sold in 1935 and moved to Thompson’s Lane. In 1940, the Press of Kells was sold to E.D. Woodyard Publications, and the press and machinery were shipped to its plant in West Virginia. The building was originally converted into apartments and subsequently sold in 1945 to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Mote. In 1961, the Motes sold the property to the YWCA, which continues its operations in the building.

Sources:

“A Brief Account of the Press of Kells,” by Marjorie Johnson Tilghman and Cornelius A. Tilghman, Sr. Unpublished

“Everett C. Johnson,” in Wilson Lloyd Bevan, History of Delaware, Past and Present (New York: Lewis, 1929).