News on Screen

Series

Series Name

This Is Britain

Issue

Issue No.

50

Date Released

1951

Completion

Mar 1951

Length of issue (in feet)

978

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. Love Of Books

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

COI synopsis: The story of English books as objects of beauty in themselves; and their importance today. "A book", says Sir Francis Meynell of the Nonesuch Press, speaking in the film, "must be created as a whole, each part made to an equal standard - binding, paper, type, margin, size, flexibility, endurance". Many examples of old and modern book-making, typography and engraving in Britain are shown: Caxton’s edition of Chaucer and that designed by William Morris 400 years later at the Kelmscott Press; the late Eric Gill’s alphabets; the work of Stanley Morrison and the Monotype Corporation; the fine engraving and printing of such private presses at the Golden Cockerel; the excellent taste and influence of cheap paper-bound editions evolved by Sir Allen Lane and others.

Keywords

Mass media; Industry and manufacture

Written sources

The National Archives INF 6   /1964
COI Catalogue Cards [BFI National Archive]
Films From Britain Catalogue   1954, p.35 - used for synopsis

COI Reference

MI 533/50

Credits:

Sponsor

Board Of Trade

Sponsor

Crown Film Unit

Production Co.

Crown Film Unit

Director

Cyril Frankel

Commentator

Michael Goodliffe

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)