Edwin B. Hill papers, 1963

Upon his death, Edwin Bliss Hill had operated the longest running private press in America. He developed a love for the art of printing at an early age. His first job was as printer’s devil for the Michigan Christian Herald, and he later worked as a newspaperman for the Detroit Journal where he would stay for ten years. Between 1888 and 1898, Hill printed a literary quarterly called The Stylus. After becoming acquainted with Frank David Woollen, Hill developed an interest in Henry David Thoreau, and Thoreauviana would occupy much of the rest of his professional career. In 1900, he began work on his most important project, Pertaining to Thoreau. Soon after, Hill was forced to quit work with the Detroit Journal due to ill health and a tuberculosis diagnosis. Moving West to recover, Hill began working for the United States Reclamation Service to distribute irrigation water to Mesa and Chandler, Arizona. While living in Granite Reef, Arizona, Hill continued to print pamphlets and broadsides. In 1918, the Reclamation Service transferred his work to El Paso, Texas, and Hill settled with his family in Ysleta. It was here that Hill chose to use a cowboy hat as his colophon.