Sir Francis Meynell

Sir Francis Meynell (born May 12, 1891, London, Eng.—died July 10, 1975, Lavenham, Suffolk) was an English book designer particularly associated with the fine editions of Nonesuch Press, publications that were notable for the use of modern mechanical means to achieve results that rivaled the printing of handpresses.

The son of Wilfrid and Alice Meynell, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1914 he set up the Romney Street Press, a handpress that published two books; and from 1916 to 1923 he managed the Pelican Press, which set type for advertisements and printed political pamphlets. One of the works issued by Pelican was Typography (1923), which is significant as a type specimen book and as an essay on book production. In 1923 he founded the Nonesuch Press, about which he once said, “Our stock in trade has been the theory that mechanical means could be made to serve fine ends; that the machine in printing was a controllable tool.” One of the outstanding achievements of the press was a seven-volume edition of Shakespeare, published in 1929–33.

From 1946 (the year in which he was knighted) to 1958, Meynell served as director general of the Cement and Concrete Association while also continuing to design fine books. His own works include Seventeen Poems (1945), Poems and Pieces (1961), and his autobiography, My Lives (1971).