Ohio History Journal

DARD HUNTER, THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE, AND

CHILLICOTHE

 

By LLOYD EMERSON SIBERELL

 

It is interesting to note that Dard Hunter was born in the

little manufacturing town of Steubenville, on the majestic Ohio

River. This town's chief bid for noteworthiness, so the inhabi-

tants and historians say, lies in the fact that it was one of

the very first settlements in the great Northwest Territory; some

claim it is second only to Marietta, Fort Steuben having been

erected there in 1789 and named in honor of that Prussian drill

master of the Continental Army, Baron Frederick William Von

Steuben. Steubenville's second claim to fame, so it seems, lies

in the fact that there was born there in 1814 that brusque and

intensely sincere man, Edwin M. Stanton, destined to fill the post

of secretary of war in President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet dur-

ing those trying times when brother fought brother.

Doubtless the history of Jefferson County entitled, "The

Pathfinders of Jefferson County," and "Addenda to the Path-

finders," written by Dard Hunter's father, William Henry Hunter,

and published by the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in

18981 would reveal many interesting facts to those interested in

the history of Dard Hunter's birthplace. Lack of space forbids

any further details upon that subject here. William Henry Hunter

was a very prolific writer and for twenty-five years was part

owner and editor of the Steubenville Gazette. Many of his ar-

ticles have been published by the Ohio Archaeological and His-

torical Society of which he was a life member and trustee.

The elder Hunter moved to Chillicothe in 1900 where he

took charge of the Daily News-Advertiser, the oldest daily paper

in Chillicothe, which is still controlled by members of the Hunter

 

In Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Quarterly (Columbus.

1887-), VI (1898), 95-313; 384-406.

(238)

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DARD HUNTER                     239

 

family. William Henry Hunter was a pioneer in Ohio news-

paper circles and a profound scholar, achieving great fame as an

editor through his literary talents and knowledge of human

nature. Many of his editorials are masterpieces. In the court-

house and public library in Chillicothe are many paintings and

medallions presented by Hunter during his life time. He died

at Chillicothe, June 3, 1906.

Dard Hunter, son of William Henry and Harriet Rosemond

Hunter, was a lad of seventeen when his parents moved to Chilli-

cothe. He later became a student at Ohio State University and

a graduate of Graphische Lehr Und Versuchs-Anstalt. He also

studied at Kunstgewerbe Schule at Vienna and at the Royal

Technical College in London, England. After returning from

England, Hunter was art director at Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft

Shops in East Aurora, New York, from 1903 to 1910. In 1908 he

married Helen Edith Cornell and in 1913 settled with his family

on a farm in New York State. In 191₉ he returned to Chillicothe

to live and ply his various arts which are the most diverse in

the history of publishing, having the distinction of being the

first man in history to make a book in its entirety from writing

the text, making the paper, designing and cutting the type, set-

ting the type, doing the press work, to the final step of publica-

tion. His contributions to the art and science of hand-made paper-

making are difficult to estimate.

Students and bibliophiles the world around have admired

and perused the excellent hand-made books of this master crafts-

man of Chillicothe.

Hunter for many years has lived more or less a life of se-

clusion with his family at the Mountain House, a picturesque

old castle-like homestead on Carlisle Hill overlooking in majestic

splendor the valley where the River Scioto flows peacefully, and

where lies the historic town of Chillicothe, which was the first

capitol of the Northwest Territory and twice the capitol of Ohio.

The Valley of the Scioto is richly steeped with legends of the

prehistoric Mound Builders, Mound City on the banks of the

Scioto near the site of Camp Sherman, to this day remaining

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240   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

one of the most intriguing mysteries of antiquity. Through the

leaded glass windows of Hunter's library one can behold across

the valley to the eastward a landscape so alluring and romantic

as to befit the scenery of dreamland. Beyond the tortuous course

of the Scioto one can see, outlined against the sky, the double

crest of Mount Logan, upon whose summit, so it is said, lies

interred the bones of that great master of invective, Logan, chief

of the Mingo tribe. It was while gazing upon this spectacle from

one of the western hills, across the fields of wheat and corn, with

which this fertile valley abounds, that the first law-makers of

Ohio conceived the design that now adorns the State seal of

Ohio. In this artistic and historic atmosphere, Hunter has taken

great strides in the fine art of book-making and his reputation

is well established the world over, but notwithstanding his fame

abroad, he is camparatively little known in his own county.

Hunter made the type from which his books are printed by

the same process used by the early type-founders, cutting the

punches by hand, striking them into bars of copper which formed

the matrices and then casting these matrices by use of the hand

mould. This type has been presented to the Smithsonian Insti-

tution along with other devices and equipment used in the making

of his first books. Each of Hunter's six hand-made masterpieces,

four from the Mountain House Press on the subject of paper-

making, of which he is the author, and two on the subject of

etching (which he did not write), from his press at Marlborough-

on-the-Hudson, is the symbol of the ideal which has been nur-

tured by their author for many years. Hunter is now researching

and gathering material and data for a volume embracing the

methods of modern hand-made paper-making in the Orient, which

a recent journey to Oriental countries and another proposed re-

search tour to the Far East this year should complete. Over a

span of two decades Hunter has produced six of his completely

hand-made books, which bears witness to the care and patience

with which he goes about his work. These books are in con-

stant demand because they are wisely published in extremely

limited editions. This scarcity, of course, is not a false one as

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DARD HUNTER                     241

 

is the case of many limited editions, for there is actually a physical

scarcity of the samples of ancient papers and other specimens

with which his books are profusely illustrated, which makes the

books all the more indispensable to students of paper-making as

well as attractive to collectors. Many times these rare volumes

have been referred to as "museum pieces," but they are also con-

tributions to art and literature. "Men of genius do not work

like hired laborers," an ancient sage has said, nor does Hunter,

for modern methods of high pressure business do not in the

least appeal to him. He once owned and operated hand-made

paper mills of his own devising, but under the pressure of modern

commercialism, for which he harbors an aversion, has given up

paper-making on a larger scale, to live a more cloistered life at

his hilltop retreat in the Ohio wonderland. Although sceptical

about the commercial success of his books, he has completely sold

out nearly every one of them before publication. Paper-making

through Eighteen Centuries, written by Hunter and published by

William Edwin Rudge, is one of the most comprehensive books

on the subject of paper-making known to exist, and is also of

great value to students.

The old Mountain House where Hunter resides and works

is a massive historical structure, a retreat for political refugees

in days gone by. Here he writes, sets into type and prints the

handsome books which have gained for him world renown in

book circles. He has in his home, perhaps one of the most com-

plete libraries upon the subject of paper-making in the world

and an elaborate and interesting collection of paper-making im-

plements gathered upon his extensive travels. His enduring quest

for knowledge upon the subject has availed him of many rich

experiences which he has nobly tinctured with an element of

wisdom and philosophy. There are few methods of paper-making

both ancient and modern with which he is not thoroughly con-

versant and he writes admirably upon the subject, being no mean

literary artist.

Destiny has decreed that this man, who is one of the most

vital and creative human beings living, one of the few men of

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242   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

genius of our age, should come and go and ply his bookish crafts

in Chillicothe with comparatively slight notice. To know Hunter

is to realize that William Dana Orcutt was not far wrong when

he wrote, "A perfectly trained mind under absolute control, is

the most beautiful thing in the world." Bookmaker, author,

philosopher, printer, paper-maker, typefounder and artist, an al-

most unbelievable combination, but a felicitous one, to be found

in one man!

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