{{Short description|American printer and author (1905–1996)}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry "Ward" Ritchie | image = Ward Ritchie, 1924.jpg | caption = Ritchie as high school senior, 1924 | birth_date = June 15, 1905 | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, United States | death_date = January 24, 1996 | death_place = Laguna Beach, California, United States | occupation = Printer, book designer, book collector, writer | partner = Gloria Stuart (1983–1996) }} '''Harry''' "'''Ward'''" '''Ritchie''' (Los Angeles, California June 15, 1905{{spnd}}Laguna Beach, California January 24, 1996) was an American printer, book designer, book collector and writer of around 100 books.<ref name="OLIVER" /> He was part of the "Golden Age" of fine printing that took place during the 1920s and 1930s in Southern California.<ref name=Lehmann>{{cite web|last=Lehmann|first=Sarah|date=July 2006|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8z09r1nd/entire_text/|title=The Ward Ritchie Collection|publisher=Online Archive of California}}</ref> Ritchie was also part of the Artists of the Arroyo Seco community.
== Early life and career ==
Ritchie grew up in South Pasadena and attended the Marengo Avenue School, South Pasadena High School, and graduated in 1928 from Occidental College in Northeast Los Angeles.<ref name="OLIVER">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-01-27-mn-29263-story.html|title=Ward Ritchie; Master Printer, Bibliophile|last=Oliver|first=Myrna|date=January 27, 1996|work=Los Angeles Times|department=Obituary|access-date=13 November 2012}}</ref> After a brief stint in law school at USC, Ritchie turned his attention to printing, his true passion. He enrolled at Frank Wiggins Trade School (now Los Angeles Trade–Technical College).<ref name="Reuven">{{cite news|last1=Reuven|first1=Ben|title=WEST VIEW: Ward Ritchie: His Imprimatur Is on Fine Printing|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 January 1976}}</ref> In 1930, Ritchie apprenticed in Paris with the renowned artist and printer François-Louis Schmied.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Ward Ritchie Collection|url = http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8z09r1nd/entire_text/|website = www.oac.cdlib.org|access-date = 2015-09-26}}</ref>
== Career ==
Returning to South Pasadena, Ritchie co-founded, along with fellow printer Grant Dahlstrom and bookseller Jacob "Jake" Zeitlin, the Rounce & Coffin Club.<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5f59s0mn/entire_text/ Finding Aid for the Rounce & Coffin Club papers] created by the Clark Memorial Library. Accessed 25 February 2012</ref> This club was created as a less formal alternative to the Zamorano Club, where other bibliophiles gathered in Los Angeles, and to which he was later welcomed in 1934.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Small Renaissance, Southern California Style|last = Zeitlin|first = Jacob|publisher = Bibliographical Society of America|year = 1972|location = Los Angeles|pages = 10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-new-york-school/1069-ward-ritchie-press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209071944/http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-new-york-school/1069-ward-ritchie-press|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 9, 2015|title=Ward Ritchie Press|publisher=History of Graphic Design|access-date=October 12, 2018}}</ref> The following year, he established the Ward Ritchie Press, through which he published thousands of books, over 750 designed by himself; his output included works by poets Robinson Jeffers, Carl Sandburg, Archibald MacLeish, Carlyle MacIntyre, librarian Lawrence Clark Powell, novelist Alexandre Dumas, and many others.<ref name="OLIVER"/>
In 1987 he gave the Englehard Lecture on ''Fine Printing: The Los Angeles Tradition'' at the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.<ref>Ritchie, Ward, and Center for the Book. 1987. ''Fine Printing: The Los Angeles Tradition.'' Washington: Library of Congress,</ref>
He was a member of the Book Club of California.
== Personal life and death ==
In 1983, Ritchie became romantically involved with film actress Gloria Stuart, who was inspired by him to design her own hand-printed books under the imprint Imprenta Glorias. Ritchie maintained a close relationship with Stuart until his death.<ref name="Harmetz">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/movies/28stuart.html|title=Gloria Stuart, an Actress Rediscovered Late, Dies at 100|last=Harmetz|first=Aljean|author2=Robert Berkvist |date=September 27, 2010|work=New York Times|page=B19|access-date=13 November 2012}}</ref>
Ritchie died of pancreatic cancer in Laguna Beach, California on January 24, 1996.<ref>{{cite web|last=Letson|first=Lester|date=3 May 2011|title=Harry Ward "Ward" Ritchie|website=findagrave.com|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69309220/harry-ward-ritchie}}</ref>
== External links == * [https://digital-collections.csun.edu/digital/collection/achievement/id/10/rec/11 Interview with Ward Ritchie] in 1976 at California State University, Northridge (by Norman Tanis)
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Harry Ward}} Category:1905 births Category:1996 deaths Category:American printers Category:American book publishers (people) Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:20th-century American publishers (people)