author
Daniel Berkeley Updike
1860–1941
A master printer and typographic historian, he helped shape American book design through the celebrated Merrymount Press in Boston. His writing on type history became a lasting guide for printers, designers, and readers who care about how books look and feel.
1 Audiobook
In the day's work
by Daniel Berkeley Updike
About the author
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1860, Daniel Berkeley Updike built his career from the ground up. He joined Houghton, Mifflin & Company in Boston as an errand boy in 1880, later worked at the Riverside Press, and went on to become one of the most respected American printers of his time.
In 1893 he founded the Merrymount Press in Boston, a press admired for its clarity, balance, and high standards of craftsmanship. Rather than chasing ornament for its own sake, he became known for printing that was elegant, readable, and carefully made, and his work was especially important in fine book production and church printing.
Updike was also a serious scholar of typography. His best-known book, Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use, became a landmark study of type and printing history, helping preserve older traditions while influencing modern design. He died in 1941, but his reputation endures wherever readers and makers value the art of the printed page.