Cockerell Bindery Collection

The collection consists: sample papers and Christmas card designs using Cockerell Bindery papers; material relating to the 1981 exhibition 'Cockerell Bindings 1894-1980'; publications by Douglas and Sydney Cockerell, including a series of pamphlets on Bookbinding as a school subject, and reprint of the 1901 'Bookbinding and the Care of Books'; and articles about the Cockerell Bindery.

The Cockerell Bindery was established by Douglas Bennett Cockerell (1870-1945) in Denmark Street, London in 1897. It moved to Letchworth, Hertfordshire in 1925 where it was re-established as 'Douglas Cockerell and Son' with Sydney Morris Cockerell (1906-1987), known as Sandy, and subsequently to Grantchester, Cambridge. The bindery closed in 1987 after Sandy's death.

Douglas Bennett Cockerell was born on 5 August 1870. Around the age of 15 he was sent by his mother to Canada, where he found employment first as a farmworker and then in banking. He returned home in 1891, and worked as a secretary of the Chiswick School of Arts and Crafts. His older brother, Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, was a secretary to William Morris and introduced Douglas to the book arts, and it appears that he was initially self-taught. Morris gave him 'The Tale of King Floras and the Fair Jehane' (published by Kelmscott press in 1893) to bind. He was then accepted by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson as an apprentice at the Doves Bindery (1893-1897), where he received a thorough training in binding and also met key figures in the Arts and Crafts movement, such as William Lethaby, Emery Walker, Edward Johnston. In 1897 he opened his own bindery at Denmark Street, London. Douglas taught at the Central School of Art and Design 1897-1905 and 1921-1935, and also at the Royal College of Art. He died on 25 November 1945.

Sandy Cockerell enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1924, where he joined the bookbinding classes taught by his father – and when Douglas was indisposed, Sandy took the classes. When Douglas left to teach at the RCA, Sandy took over at the Central School, and later also taught at the RCA. It was while at the Central School that he became interested in paper marbling, and in 1932 the bindery took on William Chapman to work on marbling. Sandy later moved into the conservation of ancient books and manuscripts. Sandy died on 6 November 1987.

The collection consists of:

• COC/1 Booklet of sample papers
• COC/2 Cockerell Christmas card designs, 1950s-1960s
• COC/3 Material relating to the exhibition 'Cockerell Bindings 1894-1980', 1981'
• COC/4 Publications by Douglas Cockerell and Sydney Cockerell
• COC/5 Articles about the Cockerell Bindery

The archival material may be viewed by appointment only.

A copy of the handlist is available on request.

This entry was compiled by Greta Bertram, Curator, Crafts Study Centre, February 2022.

Written permission must be sought before any archival material is published.

None timetabled.

None expected.