Bacon’s ''Essays'', in folio, printed at the Shakespeare Head, was followed by a number of handsome ''éditions de luxe'', of which the best known today is ''Gulliver’s Travels'' decorated by Rex Whistler. An early member of the Double Crown Club, he paid scrupulous attention to the matching of fine hand-press-work with enterprising illustrations, commissioned a number of the best wood-engravers of the day for editions of ''The Apocrypha'' or ''The Pilgrim’s Progress'' or, on a smaller scale, the elegant four-volume Herrick printed in Oxford’s Fell type, with decorations by Albert Rutherston.
When the market for books like these collapsed in the thirties, the Cresset Press turned to general publishing, matching best sellers like Nora Waln and John O’Hara with poets like Ruth Pitter and scholars like George Sansom, John Summerson and C. P. Fitzgerald. With John Howard〔(AP News Archive, 7 February 1988, "Marghanita Laski dies at 72": ) "She is survived by her husband, publisher John () Howard, who founded the Cresset Press".〕〔R. W. Burchfield, ("Laski, Marghanita (1915–1988)", rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' ), Oxford University Press, 2004.〕 as literary adviser the list always contained a strong component of ''belles lettres'' (the Cresset Library was a uniquely imaginative series of punctiliously edited reprints), and with James Shand of Shenval Press in charge of production Dennis Cohen’s feeling for the look of his books found a continuing if less luxurious expression.〔(Cassirer and Cohen - draft family genealogy ), reproduces "Obituary: Mr Dennis Cohen - Publisher and connoisseur" from ''The Times'', 26 February 1970 ''(not 2 Feb as cited)'', page 12.〕