The fire and the anvil: notes on modern poetry [electronic resource]

The fire and the anvil

Harry Tombs trained with his father, George, at the Christchurch base of Whitcombe and Tombs. After overseas study, travel, and work, he returned to Wellington where in 1907, he was appointed manager of the local branch of Whitcombe and Tombs. In 1914/15, he established his own printing business, first on Farish Street, later on Wingfield Street, Thorndon. Harry H. Tombs, Printer, and its 1948 incarnation, Wingfield Press, was an important player on the Wellington book trade scene for fifty-two years. While in Wellington, Denis Glover worked for a time at Wingfield Press. Tombs was committed to typographic excellence and limited edition, high quality, fine art publishing. He founded the Fine Arts (NZ) Ltd in 1929, launched the original Art in New Zealand, later the Year Book of the Arts and produced some early issues of Music in New Zealand. He was at the hub of New Zealand contemporary letters and was frequently called upon to print contemporary literary works such as this third edition of Baxter's Notes on Modern Poetry on behalf of the New Zealand University Press.

Further reading:

• Brodie, James W. 'Tombs, Harry Hugo 1874 - 1966'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 11 December 2002 , URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/
• Noel Waite, "Harry H Tombs," in The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998.