[Fine Binding | Sarah T. Prideaux] The World at Auction

Field, Michael [pseud. of Katherine Bradley & Edith Cooper]. The World at Auction. London: Hacon & Ricketts, 1899. Limited to 210 copies. Red & black woodcut illustration & opening initial by Charles Ricketts, under whose supervision the book was printed at the Ballantyne Press. Bound in crushed red morocco by Sarah T. Prideaux (signed "S.T.P. 1901") with a large border on both covers featuring large gilt poppies in each corner, with swirling gouges terminating in solid gilt buds. Similar design to spine, with title and author in the 2nd and 5th compartments. Gilt ruled dentelles. Bookplate of M.C.D. Borden to verso of front free endpaper, and Nelson Doubleday bookplate to front pastedown. Measures approx. 5.25" x 9.5". Rubbing to hinges, though binding still tight. Spine darkened. Some light spots of rubbing to corners.

Lot #221 in the M.C.D. Borden sale of 1913--along with Fair Rosamund and The Race of Leaves--decorated in a similar style. Likely #58 in Tidcombe's list of "Bindings by Sarah Treverbian Prideaux".

"...Sarah Treverbian Prideaux (1853–1933) was an important pioneer [in the bookbinding trade] in that she established herself as an independent binder whose unconventional style was inspired by Art Nouveau designs. The daughter of Walter Prideaux (1806–1889), a lawyer, poet, and resident administrator of Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, Prideaux trained briefly with the fashionable London binder Joseph Zaehnsdorf. In 1884 she opened her own binding studio in London, where she instructed pupils until 1904, after which she continued to write well-received books on the history of binding and other books arts. In a catalogue of her bindings self-published in 1900, Prideaux expressed the desire that her designs would embody 'the qualities of simplicity of proportion and dignity of line, unobscured by a burden of detail'" (SMU).