Catalogue No. 6 (E-List) - Recent Acquisitions (December 2019)
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Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue’s scarcest title
1) A Description of the Pastoral Staff Given to the Diocese of Albany, New York, Anno Do mini Mdcccxcvii: With Representations of the Chief Parts of the Staff. Boston: Printed by D.B. Updike, the Merrymount Press, 1900. Limited to 150 copies, of which this is #115. Printed in red and black. Frontispiece, borders, initials, and tailpiece designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. The book was printed for Mrs. J.V.L. Pruyn, of Albany, donor of the staff. There are 6 photogravure plates that provide 26 illustrations of the principal parts of the staff. Bound in blind-stamped quarter leather with printed paper boards. Measures approx. 12.25" x 17.5". Edgewear, bumping to corners, chipping to top and bottom edges of spine. Repaired cracks to top and bottom of front hinge.
“Updike’s books that retained more antique flavor…were usually his privately printed ones. A Description of the Pastoral Staff Belonging to the Diocese of Albany, New York is a very large book with paper as thick as cardboard. The double-spread opening has a frontispiece of the Albany Cathedral; both it and the text within have red Gothic architectural borders by Goodhue. The text is solid set in Caslon black letter type with both decorated and red initials” (American Book Design and William Morris, Thompson).
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A striking example of arts & crafts illumination
2) Poe, Edgar Allan. The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition. San Francisco and New York: Paul Elder, 1907. Limited to 1000 copies on Arches handmade paper. Photogravure Edition. Illustrated from paintings by Galen J. Perrett and with initials and decorations by Will Jenkins. All illustrations beautifully hand colored by Helen Dean. Inscribed by Dean on the half-title page to Harry S. Howland. Typography designed by John Henry Nash, printed by the Tomoye Press. Quarter suede and gray bevelled paper over boards, t.e.g., rest uncut. Original grey paper dust jacket. Measures approx. 8.25" x 10.25". Very slight wear to bottom edge of suede spine. Some small chips and tears to dust jacket. Flaps professionally reattached.
Helen Dean appears to have been a fairly prominent member of San Francisco high society, with a notice of her family taking up residence in a wing of the Fairmont Hotel in 1911 (link). Harry S. Howland was a Captain in the U.S. Military and transferred to the 16th Infantry and reported to the Presidio of San Francisco in February of 1912 (link).
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Four poems from the Essex House Press
3) Goldsmith, Oliver, et al. [Poems Printed by the Essex House Press.] Four volumes in slipcase: The Deserted Village, by Oliver Goldsmith (originally printed in 1904); Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray (originally printed in 1900); The Eve of St. Agnes, by John Keats (originally printed in 1900); and Adonais, by Percy Bysshe Shelley (originally printed in 1900). David Paradine, 1977. Prospectus included. Each volume has dark green paper covers with gilt title and Essex House Press flower to front covers. Housed in slipcase constructed with thick two-toned paper-covered boards and small white label featuring the signature flower in gilt. Measures approx. 5" x 7.75". Some smudges to label.
“The Essex House Press was established in 1898 by Ashbee (1863-1942) as an addition to the several crafts practiced at his Guild of Handicraft, located at Essex House in London’s Mile End Road. When he founded the press, Ashbee purchased the presses and other production equipment (though not the type) formerly owned by William Morris’ Kelmscott Press, which had shut down in 1897; in 1902, Ashbee moved his press and other Guild workshops to Chipping Campden. In the two locations, he printed books for 12 years (twice as long as Morris), with vellum, ink, and paper identical to that used by Kelmscott, in an effort to carry on the tradition Morris had established” (Pirages).
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With ANS by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson
4) Tennyson, Alfred Lord. Seven Poems and Two Translations. Hammersmith: Printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson & Emery Walker at The Doves Press, 1902. One of 325 copies on paper. Original limp vellum by the Doves Bindery (inkstamp at foot of rear pastedown). Printed in red and black. Measures approx. 6.75" x 9.5". Vellum worn at spine, with title on spine mostly effaced. Some browning to covers, and light foxing to pages.
Loosely inserted is a post card from The Doves Bindery, dated Aug. 29, 1904, with the following note: “Dear Miss Hart, I have just returned / to town and find your letter. I shall[?] / be happy to m you on Monday between 3 & 4 / Truly yours, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson”. The post card is addressed to a boarding house is Tavistock Square. There was a Euphemia Hart who was an instructor at the Evelyn Nordhoff bindery in 1902 (link), and taught in the Cobden-Sanderson method, but this being the same “Miss Hart” is speculation.
“The Doves Press in Hammersmith, London, launched fine printing in the twentieth century by producing some of the best exemplars of the era. Founded in 1900 by Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, Doves Press followed upon the book arts of nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement with which both men had been involved. Cobden-Sanderson was both influenced by and departed from the elaborate and historically-focused aesthetic established by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press. By contrast, Doves Press publications were more austere, noted for an elegant simplicity which the scholar Marianne Tidcombe credited as setting ‘the standard for printing in the twentieth century’” (SMU).
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Bound in Kelmscott-style full vellum with ties
5) Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. London: George Bell & Sons, 1902. Printed at the Chiswick Press. Decorated borders and initials by J.A. Duncan and Christopher Dean. Bound in Kelmscott-style full vellum with green ribbon ties and title in gilt to front cover for Truslove & Hanson. Measure approx. 5.25" x 6.25". Some spotting and browning to covers (front cover slightly sprung). Repair to front lower tie to reattach several inches of original ribbon. Pencil inscription on ffep.
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One of the finest-produced exhibition catalogues from the turn of the century
6) Catalogue of an Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Bookbindings. The Caxton Club, 1898. Limited to 127 copies on handmade paper. Printed by R.R. Donnelley at the Lakeside Press. Paper covered boards with buckram spine and morocco spine label. The catalogue of an exhibition held by The Caxton Club at the Chicago Art Institute from December 16th to December 30th, 1897. Illustrated with 24 black & white photographs of bindings by Cobden-Sanderson, The Doves Bindery, Sarah Prideaux, Riviere & Son, Chambolle-Duru, and others. Measures approx. 6" x 8.25". A beautiful copy, with a few light marks to covers.
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Fine binding by Charles Scribner’s Sons bindery
7) Marvin, Frederic Rowland. Flowers of Song from Many Lands. Being Short Poems and Detached Verses Gathered from Various Languages and Rendered into English. Troy, NY: Pafraets Book Company, 1902. Limited to 1000 copies. Printed by D.B. Updike at the Merrymount Press. Bound in full dark blue morocco by the Charles Scribner’s Sons bindery, with gilt tooling to both covers at corners, accented with gilt stippling and inlaid red morocco ornaments. Extensive gilt stippling and small inlaid ornaments in red to spine. Elaborate gilt ruled turn-ins. All edges gilt. Measures approx. 7" x 9.75". Slight rubbing to edges of covers, and small dark stain to front cover.
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Exhibition binding by Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson
8) Fairless, Michael. The Roadmender. London: Philip Lee Warner, 1920. Printed at the Riccardi Press for the Medici Society. Limited to 1000 copies on handmade paper, of which this is #467. Bound in full grained morocco by Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson with blind stamped decoration representing medieval hinges. Title and author in gilt to spine, with blind stamped decoration in other compartments. Turquoise morocco doublures, decorated and ruled in gilt with hand-marbled endpapers. Taped onto one of the rear endpapers is an exhibition slip from the Architectural League of New York for this volume. Anderson also exhibited at the Guild of Book Workers exhibition of 1931 (link). Measures 6.25" x 9". Some browning and rubbing to edges. Spine browned.
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Full morocco and doublures by The Harcourt Bindery
9) The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. London: Longman, 1849. Illuminated by Owen Jones, with each page chromolithographed in two reds, two blues, green, gold, and black. Bound in full burgundy morocco by The Harcourt Bindery, with extensive gilt decoration to covers, spine, and full morocco doublures. Beautiful embroidered flyleaves. Japan vellum endpapers. All edges gilt. Housed in cloth-lined buckram slipcase. The volume has each leaf swung on paper guards, presumably due to the thickness of the paper and the condition of the text block of the original volume. Measures approx. 5.75" x 8". Some minor repairs to front hinge.
“These were essentially album books, to be looked at rather than read; the emphasis is entirely on visual impact and Jones’s intention was to present them as ornaments rather than literary texts. His choice of styles and materials asserts the notion of preciousness, of value through association, and his publications were carefully calculated to cater for and express the social aspirations of the upper-end of a wealthy bourgeois market” (The Victorian Web, Cooke).
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Original watercolor by Leon Lebègue and binding by Chambolle-Duru, on a tale from Boccaccio’s Decameron
10) Boccacio, Giovanni (Anthoine Le Macon, transl.). La Fiancée du Roy de Garbe. Paris: H. Floury, 1903. One of 12 copies, of which this is #7, printed on Imperial Japon vellum with an extra suite of illustrations in black & white on China paper, and an original watercolor by Leon Lebègue, not reproduced in the volume. All pages surrounded by a hand-colored border, with many illustrations in the text, as well as six full-page illustrations, all colored by hand. Frontispiece and all initials accented with gold. Bound in medium brown morocco by Chambolle Duru, with gilt and blind-stamped decoration to covers and spine. Elaborate gilt turn-ins and marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Housed in felt-lined, morocco-edged marbled paper slipcase. Measures approx. 8" x 10.5". Slight browning to spine. Slipcase worn. A magnificent production.
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Interesting arts & crafts binding example
11) Hearn, Lafcadio. Kokoro. London: Osgood, McIlvaine, and Co., 1897. First UK edition. Bound in full tan morocco with arts & crafts gilt decoration of carnations and leaves to covers and spine. Gilt-ruled turn-ins. All edges gilt. Grey endpapers. Measures approx. 4.75" x 6.75". Some edgewear, spotting to covers, and browning to spine.
“Published six years after his arrival in the country in 1890, “Kokoro” was the third volume of essays on Japan by the prolific Anglo-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn. This collection teems with a diverse panorama of observations, offering snapshots of the country taken in the period of swelling national pride that followed victory in the First Sino-Japanese War” (Japan Times).
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Handmade copper binding on a Rubaiyat
12) Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. London: Macmillan and Co., 1899. Beautiful handmade copper decoration of chalice, grapes, grape leaves, and cherub done in high relief covering front cover. Plain copper over back cover. Original cloth spine has been painted brown. Silk endpapers. A fascinating and unique example of arts & crafts bookmaking. Measures approx. 4.25" x 6.75". Some scuffs to spine.
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Extra illustrated with 111 illustrations, along with manuscript title pages
13) Burns, Robert. Poetical Works of Robert Burns. [London: Bliss, Sands, and Foster, 1896.] Edited by John Fawside. Two volumes, expanded from one. Extra illustrated with 111 additional illustrations, primarily steel engravings. The creator of the set has created a manuscript title page for each volume. They have signed their monogram (“Wd. B.”?) on each title page and at the rear of volume two. Within each volume, a hand-written list of the additional plates has been bound in after the table of contents. Further, an additional 34-page index has been hand-written on each verso and bound in at the conclusion of the second volume. This example is truly a labor of love, and an indication of the lengths that those who practiced grangerizing would go to “update” their favorite works. Bound in ¾ green morocco with gilt lettering and decoration to spine. Marbled endpapers. Measure approx. 6" x 9". Some light rubbing to edges and spines very slightly faded. Foxing to pages.
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Classic Shakespeare biography, extra illustrated and bound by Riviere & Son
14) Mabie, Hamilton Wright. William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1900. Limited to 150 copies on large paper, of which this is #67. Signed by the author. One hundred illustrations, with nine plates in photogravure. In addition, extra illustrated with 26 plates, including several portraits of Shakespeare as additional frontispieces, landscape engravings, a facsimile engraving of Queen Elizabeth’s signature, two hand colored plates (original illustrations?), and others. Bound in dark turquoise morocco by Riviere & Son, with elaborate frame in gilt on both covers, built up of pictorial tools, fillets, leaves, and flowers. Extensive gilt decoration to four of six spine compartments, with gilt tooling surrounding a pictorial tool of a lute, horns, and rubbon (also utilized on the covers). Burgundy endpapers with gilt-ruled dentelles with stippled decoration at each corner. Measures approx. 7.25" x 10.5". Some rubbing to covers and light browning to spine, rubbing to spine bands. Wear to front inner hinge.
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Elegant binding of Browning by Riviere & Son
15) Browning, Robert. Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1892. Bound in cordovan crushed morocco by Riviere & Son with gilt title to spine and inlaid navy flowers to front cover. Green floral endpapers. All edges gilt. Measures approx. 4.75" x 7". Some light spots and marks to covers (primarily the rear). Spine very slightly faded.
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Striking inlaid Riviere & Son binding
16) Goldsmith, Oliver. The Vicar of Wakefield. London: John Van Voorst, 1843. First edition. With 32 black and white line illustrations by William Mulready. Bound in olive green morocco by Riviere & Son, with a striking inlaid arts & craft design to the covers and spine. The central design on the front and rear covers is made up of inlaid green leaves surrounded by red flowers, on a background of the finest gilt stippling I have encountered on a bookbinding. Each corner features a similar design, with a green inlaid leaf and three red flowers of inlaid morocco extending from it. Four of six spine compartments simplify the design further, with a green leaf and two red flowers on a stippled background. Covers and decorated spine compartments feature a green inlaid border. Blind-ruled turn-ins with inlaid red flowers and gilt stippling to corners. Top edge gilt. Original brown cloth covers bound in at rear. Measures 6" x 8.5". Fading to covers, some rubbing to edges and bumping to corners, wear to bottom compartment of spine, and paper remnants to front pastedown and free endpaper. Library date stamps to back free endpaper.
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Hand painted vellum by Giulio Giannini
17) The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi. London: J.M. Dent, 1903. Frontispiece portrait and decorative title page with tissue guard. Bound in full vellum by Giulio Giannini with elaborate hand-painted dragon, urn, and fleur-de-lis done in red & pink, white, and gilt. Rear cover is a floral decoration in red & pink, accented in gilt. Title in gilt to spine. Gold fleur-de-lis endpapers. All edges gilt. Gift inscription dated 1905. Measures approx. 3.75" x 6". Some light browning to covers and spine, and minor loss to gilt ruling on spine.
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Full vellum binding by Percy H. Bate
18) Henley, William Ernest. Poems. London: David Nutt, 1898. Frontispiece with tissue guard. Bound in full vellum by Percy H. Bate, with gilt rules and exquisite hand-painted designs on the front cover and spine of viburnum blossoms outlined in blue on a background of gold stippling and surrounding the hand-drawn title and author. The design is initialed with Bate’s signature “B” on both cover and spine and dated “99”. Measures approx. 5.5" x 8". Some light browning to edges.
“[Percy H. Bate is the] Secretary of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts [and] was born in Manchester and educated in Maidstone Grammar School. After filling a post as museum assistant, and holding the appointment of curator of the Holburne Art Museum at Bath, he was brought to Glasgow in 1900 to succeed the late Mr. Robert Walker at the Art Institute. Mr. Bate is an enthusiastic collector of 18th century furniture and old English glass; he is a student of genealogy and heraldry, and no unskilled designer of book-bindings in illuminated vellum. He is also the author of articles and brochures on such artistic subjects as the pre-Raphaelite painters, English table glass, and the future of oil-painting.” (Index of Glasgow Men, 1909).
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