The Ashendene Press was a small private press founded by St John Hornby (1867–1946). It operated from 1895 to 1915 in Chelsea, London and was revived after the war in 1920. The press closed in 1935. Its peers included the Kelmscott Press and the Doves Press. Hornby became friends with William Morris and Emery Walker, who helped inspire his work. These three presses were part of a "revival of fine printing" that focused on treating bookmaking as fine art. The Ashendene Press was famous for producing high-quality works by Dante. Ashendene books had excellent bindings and focused more on pleasure than reform than the other private presses of the time, though one review claims that the Ashendene Press was the most successful private press in recapturing the essence of fifteenth-century printing. Ashendene books were carefully printed with large margins, and despite their lack of extravagant decoration, they were considered spectacular works of art. Two original typefaces were created for the Ashendene Press: Subiaco and Ptolemy. They were known for handwritten, colored initials by Graily Hewitt. The press' main customers were book collectors who paid for a subscription for Ashendene books.

The printing press was originally set up in Hornby's father's estate, Ashendene, where his sisters, brother, and cousin could assist in printing the press' first books. Printing was a hobby for Hornby; he undertook the project solely for the pleasure it would bring him. Hornby moved the Ashendene Press with him when he moved to Shelley House, Chelsea, London in 1899.^[1] It closed for five years in 1915 but continued printing from 1920 until 1935.^[2]

Hornby was greatly influenced and inspired by the work of the Kelmscott Press and the Doves Press, both in his decision to start the Ashendene Press and in his artistic choices.^[3] These three presses are considered part of the Private Press Movement and the larger Arts and Crafts Movement in England at the end of the 19th century, though for Hornby, printing was always a hobby to be enjoyed rather than a venue for reform.^[4] Each of these presses produced books that were considered works of art,^[5] though the Ashendene Press produced books of excellent quality inspired by fifteenth-century printing practices.^[6]

The wood engraver William Harcourt Hooper worked for them from about 1896.^[7] Edward Prince, who also worked with the Kelmscott and Doves presses, cut types for Ashendene.^[8] Emery Walker worked with Hornby to design the press' two original types. Hornby worked with Sydney Cockerell to analyze the historic fonts on which the Ashendene Press fonts were based.^[1] Eric Gill, Graily Hewitt, Charles Gere, and Gwen Raverat were other artists who worked for the press.^[4] The illustrator Florence Kingsford Cockerell illuminated an Ashendene edition of The Song of Songs Which Is Solomon's in 1901, varying the designs for each of the 40-odd copies in the edition.^[9]

Hornby used Albion presses. He used paper from J. Batchelor & Sons and vellum from H. Band & Co.^[1] Ashendene books were bound by Zaehnsdorf initially and later were done by the W. H. Smith bindery.^[3]

The press' main customers were book collectors who paid for a subscription for Ashendene books.^[10] In addition to his impressive books, Hornby was known to print announcements, menus, and Christmas cards.^[11] Before the press closed in 1935, Hornby printed a farewell notice to his subscribers announcing that A Descriptive Bibliography of the Books Printed at the Ashendene Press would be the last book.^[12] Bridwell Library now holds archives for the Ashendene Press in their special collections, a collection that includes papers, original designs, manuscripts, correspondence, ledgers, and folios.^[13][11]

Initially, Hornby used fonts of the Fell type,^[3] but most Ashendene editions used one of two fonts which were specially cast for the Press: Subiaco, which was based on a fifteenth-century Italian type cast by Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim in Subiaco, Italy, and to a lesser extent Ptolemy.^[14] Morris originally planned to design a type based on Pannartz and Sweynheim's work, but abandoned the project. Hornby, who didn't consider himself a designer, paid for the project to be completed, named the font Subiaco, and used it in the Ashendene Press for more than 20 years. The original Pannartz and Sweynheim type had rather gothic characteristics but the Ashendene version eliminated the long "s" and completely redesigned the "k," "w" and "y."^[15] The font Ptolemy was created for the press' edition of Don Quixote and was based on the type used for a printing of Ptolemy's Geographia in 1482.^[4] Ptolemy was cut mechanically, unlike Subiaco which had been made by Edward Prince. Of the two types, Subiaco was darker but Ptolemy was more readable.^[15] Today, both Subiaco and Ptolemy are owned by Cambridge University Press.^[16]

Many Ashendene books featured printer's marks. One of Hornby's marks depicted two men working a printing press and read "Les hommes sont meschants mais leurs livres sont bons."^[12] The books also featured handwritten initials by Graily Hewitt and other artists. Some Ashendene books, such as that by St. Francis of Assisi, were illustrated with wood-engravings, but the majority were printed solely using type.^[11]