LAGUNA BEACH -- Ward Ritchie, a renowned printer who also wrote nearly 100 books, has died. He was 91.
Mr. Ritchie died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday night at his Emerald Bay home here, it was announced Friday.
He was among the last of the printers whose elegant works gave Southern California a reputation for artistic publishing in the 1920s and 1930s.
During his decades-long career, Mr. Ritchie designed about 750 books and published and collected thousands more. He also was a noted historian of printing, and some of the books he wrote were about his own publishing.
As a noted historian, he was a perfect fit with the Ancient and Honorable order of E Clampus Vitus and was a most important officer in the organization in the early days of the revived order.
From 1932 to 1974, Mr. Ritchie ran a publishing firm that specialized in books on cooking and Western Americana. After retiring, he worked with a hand press at home.
Mr. Ritchie, the father of five sons, was once divorced and once widowed. His frequent companion in recent years was Gloria Stuart, an actress, artist and lifelong friend.
Harry "Ward" Ritchie was born in 1905 in Los Angeles, California. His interest in literature and publishing developed at an early age; as an eighth-grader at the Marengo Avenue School in South Pasadena, he and a fellow student launched a printed paper called The Marengo Literary Leader. They printed student writings, including several of the early efforts of classmate Lawrence Clark Powell, future University Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Ritchie's lifelong friend. In high school Ward Ritchie worked on the school paper and yearbook, and as an undergraduate at Occidental College, he took a keen interest in the poetry of Occidental alumnus Robinson Jeffers and that of Occidental English professor Carlyle MacIntyre.
As a printer he would go on to publish editions of both their works. After graduating from Occidental College in 1928, he entered law school at the University of Southern California. He quickly realized, however, that law was not congenial to him.
After discovering the journals of the great English printer Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson, co-founder of the Doves Press, who was once himself a discontented lawyer, Ritchie decided to give up law and become a printer and book designer. He enrolled in a printing class at a nearby trade school and got a job at the Abby of San Encino Press in South Pasadena.
Mr. Ritchie died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday night at his Emerald Bay home here, it was announced Friday.
He was among the last of the printers whose elegant works gave Southern California a reputation for artistic publishing in the 1920s and 1930s.
During his decades-long career, Mr. Ritchie designed about 750 books and published and collected thousands more. He also was a noted historian of printing, and some of the books he wrote were about his own publishing.
As a noted historian, he was a perfect fit with the Ancient and Honorable order of E Clampus Vitus and was a most important officer in the organization in the early days of the revived order.
From 1932 to 1974, Mr. Ritchie ran a publishing firm that specialized in books on cooking and Western Americana. After retiring, he worked with a hand press at home.
Mr. Ritchie, the father of five sons, was once divorced and once widowed. His frequent companion in recent years was Gloria Stuart, an actress, artist and lifelong friend.
Harry "Ward" Ritchie was born in 1905 in Los Angeles, California. His interest in literature and publishing developed at an early age; as an eighth-grader at the Marengo Avenue School in South Pasadena, he and a fellow student launched a printed paper called The Marengo Literary Leader. They printed student writings, including several of the early efforts of classmate Lawrence Clark Powell, future University Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Ritchie's lifelong friend. In high school Ward Ritchie worked on the school paper and yearbook, and as an undergraduate at Occidental College, he took a keen interest in the poetry of Occidental alumnus Robinson Jeffers and that of Occidental English professor Carlyle MacIntyre.
As a printer he would go on to publish editions of both their works. After graduating from Occidental College in 1928, he entered law school at the University of Southern California. He quickly realized, however, that law was not congenial to him.
After discovering the journals of the great English printer Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson, co-founder of the Doves Press, who was once himself a discontented lawyer, Ritchie decided to give up law and become a printer and book designer. He enrolled in a printing class at a nearby trade school and got a job at the Abby of San Encino Press in South Pasadena.
LAGUNA BEACH -- Ward Ritchie, a renowned printer who also wrote nearly 100 books, has died. He was 91.
Mr. Ritchie died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday night at his Emerald Bay home here, it was announced Friday.
He was among the last of the printers whose elegant works gave Southern California a reputation for artistic publishing in the 1920s and 1930s.
During his decades-long career, Mr. Ritchie designed about 750 books and published and collected thousands more. He also was a noted historian of printing, and some of the books he wrote were about his own publishing.
As a noted historian, he was a perfect fit with the Ancient and Honorable order of E Clampus Vitus and was a most important officer in the organization in the early days of the revived order.
From 1932 to 1974, Mr. Ritchie ran a publishing firm that specialized in books on cooking and Western Americana. After retiring, he worked with a hand press at home.
Mr. Ritchie, the father of five sons, was once divorced and once widowed. His frequent companion in recent years was Gloria Stuart, an actress, artist and lifelong friend.
Harry "Ward" Ritchie was born in 1905 in Los Angeles, California. His interest in literature and publishing developed at an early age; as an eighth-grader at the Marengo Avenue School in South Pasadena, he and a fellow student launched a printed paper called The Marengo Literary Leader. They printed student writings, including several of the early efforts of classmate Lawrence Clark Powell, future University Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Ritchie's lifelong friend. In high school Ward Ritchie worked on the school paper and yearbook, and as an undergraduate at Occidental College, he took a keen interest in the poetry of Occidental alumnus Robinson Jeffers and that of Occidental English professor Carlyle MacIntyre.
As a printer he would go on to publish editions of both their works. After graduating from Occidental College in 1928, he entered law school at the University of Southern California. He quickly realized, however, that law was not congenial to him.
After discovering the journals of the great English printer Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson, co-founder of the Doves Press, who was once himself a discontented lawyer, Ritchie decided to give up law and become a printer and book designer. He enrolled in a printing class at a nearby trade school and got a job at the Abby of San Encino Press in South Pasadena.
Mr. Ritchie died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday night at his Emerald Bay home here, it was announced Friday.
He was among the last of the printers whose elegant works gave Southern California a reputation for artistic publishing in the 1920s and 1930s.
During his decades-long career, Mr. Ritchie designed about 750 books and published and collected thousands more. He also was a noted historian of printing, and some of the books he wrote were about his own publishing.
As a noted historian, he was a perfect fit with the Ancient and Honorable order of E Clampus Vitus and was a most important officer in the organization in the early days of the revived order.
From 1932 to 1974, Mr. Ritchie ran a publishing firm that specialized in books on cooking and Western Americana. After retiring, he worked with a hand press at home.
Mr. Ritchie, the father of five sons, was once divorced and once widowed. His frequent companion in recent years was Gloria Stuart, an actress, artist and lifelong friend.
Harry "Ward" Ritchie was born in 1905 in Los Angeles, California. His interest in literature and publishing developed at an early age; as an eighth-grader at the Marengo Avenue School in South Pasadena, he and a fellow student launched a printed paper called The Marengo Literary Leader. They printed student writings, including several of the early efforts of classmate Lawrence Clark Powell, future University Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Ritchie's lifelong friend. In high school Ward Ritchie worked on the school paper and yearbook, and as an undergraduate at Occidental College, he took a keen interest in the poetry of Occidental alumnus Robinson Jeffers and that of Occidental English professor Carlyle MacIntyre.
As a printer he would go on to publish editions of both their works. After graduating from Occidental College in 1928, he entered law school at the University of Southern California. He quickly realized, however, that law was not congenial to him.
After discovering the journals of the great English printer Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson, co-founder of the Doves Press, who was once himself a discontented lawyer, Ritchie decided to give up law and become a printer and book designer. He enrolled in a printing class at a nearby trade school and got a job at the Abby of San Encino Press in South Pasadena.
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