Introduction

A history of the Caseg Press has long been overdue; its omission from anthologies charting the course of the private press movement in Britain is evidence of both the insularity and uniqueness of the enterprise. A small isolated venture, it was very much an artists' press, drawing on the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia for its inspiration. The Caseg Press owed its origins to the youthful idealism of John Petts and Brenda Chamberlain, who met as students at the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1933. Two years later they abandoned their studentships and the metropolitan art scene to eke out an existence in the rugged terrain of Snowdonia. Petts can be placed most comfortably within the Berwick tradition of fine detailed wood-engraving, not to mention the Arts and Crafts Movement with its insistence on practical craftsmanship and truth to materials. Despite Petts's allegiance to the English romantic tradition, there is nothing sentimental or purely picturesque about the Caseg prints.