Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Robert Reid fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
5.44 m of textual records; approximately 400 photographs; approximately 275 slides; 4 transparencies; 1 compact disc
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert Reid was born in 1927 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His family came to the West Coast in 1936, living in Abbotsford and Vancouver.
Reid became interested in printing when he was given a handpress during his childhood. His years as a student at the University of British Columbia, where he graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor of Commerce, were spent experimenting with his press, producing imaginative ads for campus events.
Reid worked at the UBC Library in the Reference Division. His association with Neil Harlow, then the Chief Librarian, led him into the field of fine printing. He opened his own press under a variety of names including Graphos Press, The Nevermore Press, and eventually the Private Press of Robert Reid.
Reid lived and worked in the Vancouver area until 1963 when he moved to Montreal and then to New York in 1974.
Robert Reid passed away on January 21, 2022.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of material relating to the work and collections of Robert Reid. It includes a collection of fine printwork from a variety of presses, examples of printed material at various stages in the publication process, and research and reference material relating to design and printing.
Also included in the fonds are biographical material, correspondence to and from Reid, financial records, speeches, notes, clippings, and photographs. The content of this material relates to both the personal and professional life of Reid and spans from the the 1930s to the 2000s.