The Most Unsettling Series of Children's Books Ever Published

by Stephen J. Gertz

 

A beautiful actress and model turned fashion photographer, she, to all appearances an urban sophisticate, talked to the dolls she photographed for her personal pleasure, "Now, hold still; don't move; just stand there like that," in a child's sing-song voice. She, in fact, talked to her dolls whenever surrounded by them, which was often.

Dare Wright, cover girl, Cosmopolitan, 1951

Her favorite, Edith, the child amongst teddy bears, she had named after her overbearing mother. She liked to imagine Edith as herself. Her father had left the family when she was a a little girl.  She was separated from her beloved brother. Abandonment, fear of the adult world and punishment, sexual anxiety, and stifling domination by her mother kept her a child. They slept together as adults. Edie, as her mother was known, was a respected society portrait painter, though society was confined to Cleveland, where they lived before arriving in Manhattan, attracting artists, the interesting, and those of means, sometimes, to their good fortune, all three. They made quite a couple; Garbo, once a dinner guest, was charmed.

Dare Wright, photographer.

Dare Wright (1914-2001) was The Lonely Doll (1957), the book that brought her fame and the first in a series of children's books about Edith, the two bears who befriended her, and the juvenile psychodramas Wright placed them in, one great big happy family, the yearning of a woman-child working out her neuroses. The books are, to a large degree, autobiographical exercises in wish-fulfillment.

Dare Wright, in essence, photographed and published scenes from her fantasy life with her as the star, a little girl trapped in a world beyond her understanding and working through it with child-sense. And young girls responded; the books became very popular. Through the child-eyes of Dare Wright and her readers, The Lonely Doll series reflects the world as they understand it. To mature adults, they may seem a bit disturbing, with a strange, neo-gothic, somewhat creepy, perverse core; Dare Wright's life writ child-size. They are now very collectible.

Self-Portrait.

Dare Wright was drawn to photography after her career as an actress and model stalled. She was  absorbed by self-portraiture, often photographing herself as a sea nymph, nude and innocent, yet often trapped in a net or, washed up on the beach, corpse-like, ornamented with seashore detritus, a shell over an eye as if leaving Charon a coin for passage across the river Styx to the world of the dead. Yet the photos possess a palpable eroticism that she seemed completely unaware of. They are all symbolic of something we can't always comprehend but vaguely sense. Sometimes the symbolism is obvious.

One of many spanking scenes in The Lonely Doll series...

It is inevitable that in almost each book of The Lonely Doll series little Edith gets spanked. In one, she's bound to a tree with rope and gagged. There are times when you look at Wright's innocently conceived black and white tableaus in the books and see, at one and the same time, a sadist and masochist, the two roles as one in the subconscious of the author, id and ego in conflict with perfect propriety.

...and another.

Self-Portrait.

In another self-portrait she stands completely nude on a beach, open, unabashed, proud, almost defiant. Her mother sits on a towel in the far background. Dare holds something - a dead fish? - in her right hand above her head, and, face turned away in cool, contemptuous disregard, appears ready to drop it on her mother. It's a subconscious declaration of independence, anger, and disdain she could never acknowledge to herself, much less openly declare.

In 2004, Jean Nathan wrote The Secret Life of The Lonely Doll, a biography of Wright. It is one of the strangest, saddest, most bizarre and just plain weird stories you will ever read. She makes Marilyn Monroe appear to be the sanest, most well-adjusted woman-child who ever lived.

 

First editions of The Lonely Doll books (Wright wrote nineteen between 1957-1981), in fine condition with dust jacket, sell from $325 for the earliest, subsequent volumes, and up to $750 for a fine first edition of The Lonely Doll, the first book in the series, Wright's first session of self-psychotherapy, and the best-seller of all of them. The Lonely Doll was re-issued in 1998.

Dare Wright grew old, an alcoholic, was horrifically raped, mentally confused, and died alone, perhaps the inevitable fate of the inspiration and living template for The Lonely Doll.
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11/02/2011 CORRECTIONS:

Brook Ashley, executor to the Dare Wright estate, advises me that the spanking scenes do not occur in all of the books. This is certainly true and I likely conflated what I had seen in a handful in the past to the total.

The figure in the background to the self-portrait described above is not Edith, Dare Wright's mother, but, rather, Edith, the doll. My error is likely due to the figure being a bit indistinct and that I was confused by the photo's caption in Jean Nathan's biography as to which Edith was which, a confusion that Dare Wright, in her inner  conflict, apparently shared. My interpretation, however, remains sound, in my judgment, a desire to put Edith/doll behind her and become an adult, a death wish for Edith whether mother or alter-ego.

Ms. Ashley wanted it to be clear that Dare Wright did not die completely alone. She was, rather, surrounded by caring friends whose affection for Ms. Wright endues.

A word in general: An artist is sometimes the worst interpreter of their own work; they are too close to it and often do not understand where the product of their imagination came from, a sacred space deep in the subconscious that they must trust and not question lest the well-spring get tainted by self-doubt and run dry. Dare Wright was a troubled artist who brought her talent to bear in a genre of literature that, while rich with artistic illustration, is not generally associated with the aesthetic of high art. And, in the end, that is what The Lonely Doll books are, high art infused into a popular genre. They transcend the audience they were originally meant for to address the inner demons that lie shallow beneath the placid surface of a child's everyday life. Dare Wright's special gift was that she spoke to her child readers as a peer, not as an adult. She did not have to mediate between the two worlds to find a path to the child's; she spoke directly, through her simple (though highly stylized) photographs and text. The demons of childhood did not need to be recalled by her. They were alive, in the present, ultimately the only constant companion of The Lonely Doll.

It is, I believe, time for Dare Wright to be recognized for her self-portrait photography, an astonishing body of work that deserves exhibition and critical acceptance.

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Book images courtesy of Royal Books, currently offering these volumes, with our thanks. Self-portraits of Dare Wright  reproduced with the express and sole permission of the copyright holder, Brook  Ashley, heir and executor of the Dare Wright estate, with our thanks.

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Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bindings, Bound To Be Great

by Stephen J. Gertz

A binding that declares, Good Grieve!; an American binding that finally shows up amidst all the Anglos; a binding romance at Oxford; a neoclassical binding of an acclaimed edition of the Bible; a Riviere runs through it; and American television's most popular variety show host of all time, purposely confused with an accomplished binder for a cheap laugh, close Booktryst's Bound to Great Week.

The Lives of Illustrious and Eminent Persons of Great Britain.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1820.
Later binding by Andrew Grieve.

The covers to this attractive and animated, gilt and inlaid brown morocco binding are bordered by multiple plain and decorative gilt rules enclosing an unusual gilt frame of baroque-style flowers, leaves, volutes, swirls and quatrefoils, cornerpieces of inlaid red morocco quatrefoils outlined in gilt, a central panel dominated by a red morocco oval medallion adorned with a gilt laurel wreath, the oval with four red morocco petals from which spring gilt fronds and quatrefoils, these terminating at the top and bottom of the panel with ochre morocco-outlined mandorlas containing a gilt floral sprig, the background of the panel exuberantly decorated with many small gilt flowers, inlaid green morocco dots, ochre morocco half moons, and assorted small tools.

Raised bands, elegantly gilt spine compartments with central red morocco oval framed in gilt and with olive branch cornerpieces, turn-ins with gilt frames, marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt complete the binding.

This binding is the work of Andrew Grieve of Edinburgh, the teacher of Charles McLeish, who, for sixteen years, worked as a finisher for at the Doves Bindery under the supervision of Cobden-Sanderson.

SHERARD, Robert Harborough. Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship.
London: Privately printed at the Hermes Press, 1902.
Contemporary binding by Henry Stikeman

Prominent New York binder Henry Stikeman wrought this handsome and elegantly gilt Art Nouveau binding in olive green morocco. Its covers possess multiple plain and decorative gilt rules enclosing a large quatrefoil with very prominent floral cornerpieces and floral tool accents, the central panel on the upper cover containing a coronet imposed upon crossed writing tools. Raised bands, attractively gilt compartments with a large central lily framed by drawer handle tools, intricate gilt floral turn-ins, marbled endpapers, and top edge gilt finish the job.

Beginning toward the end of the nineteenth century into the beginning of the twentieth, Henry Stikeman’s career laid at the center of art bookbinding in America. A Stikeman binding from the 1880s through 1918-1919 represents the firm's best work.

Like a number of Stikeman bindings, this one reflects the contents of the book: the tooling employs the rounded geometrical shapes familiar from the Art Nouveau, and makes prominent use of lilies, Wilde's signature emblem and favorite flower.

BACON, Francis. Novum Organum…
Oxonii: E Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1813.
Contemporary binding by John Rodwell of Oxford.

This mainstream Romantic-period binding, elaborately decorated in gilt and blind by John Rodwell of Oxford on deep purple straight-grain morocco, features covers with a gilt-ruled border and intricate blind-tooled vegetal frame, a central panel with two very complex elongated ornaments in blind and gilt with palmettos, curls, and many small tools, these attached at the head and tail by graceful gilt tendrils with scroll and foliate accents. Four pairs of raised bands with blind tooling between each, densely gilt spine compartments, broad floral decorated turn-ins, blue moire silk endpapers, and all edges gilt complete the binding.

This volume, published in Oxford by Oxford's Clarendon Press and bound by Oxford's John Rodwell, screams...Oxford! John Rodwell did not produce a great many bindings (ABPC records fewer than half a dozen, none later than 1820), but his firm obviously produced fine, distinctive work.

(Bible in English). The Macklin Bible.
London: T. Bensley for T. Macklin
[final volume Bensley for Cadell & Davies], 1800.
Contemporary binding by Georg Friedrich Krauss.

Georg Friedrich Krauss is responsible for this magnificent contemporary neo-classical-style binding of the seven-volume Macklin Bible. Bound in sumptuously gilt and blue-inlaid red stright-grain morocco, it was executed for Duke Albrecht of Saxe-Teschen (with repeated "A S T" monogram).

The covers feature elaborate frames incorporating eleven plain and decorative gilt rules, four inlaid borders of blue morocco, and elegant swirling foliate ornamentation around the central scalloped panel.  Six pairs of raised bands, each flanking a recessed gilt and blue metope and pentaglyph rule, very handsome spine compartments with blue fan-shaped cornerpieces and central gilt-decorated blue medallions within sunburst gilt collars, turn-ins with Greek key pattern in gilt, striking endleaves of turquoise and green watered silk (the Apocrypha endleaves slightly different), finish the binding.

The most prodigious form of scripture in English ever published, the Macklin Bible was often put into ornate bindings, especially by London binders like Staggemeier and his contemporaries. In Vienna, Georg Friedrich Krauss (1806-1876) was the most prominent German bookbinder of his day, and the Duke of Saxe-Teschen was perhaps his most important client. Works from the Krauss bindery have passed through some of the most distinguished collections over the years.

SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles. Adieux à Marie Stuart. (1916).
Illuminated manuscript, calligraphy by Alberto Sangorski.
Binding by Riviere & Sons.

A stunner in elaborately gilt and inlaid dark blue morocco by Riviere & Sons, this manuscript was designed, written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski.

The covers bear a central red morocco escutcheon featuring a rampant lion on a field of densely stippled gilt with the royal crown above it in red morocco and gilt. The crown and shield are both inside a blue mandorla decorated with twining vines, the mandorla, in turn, enclosed by a large frame with lobed cornerpieces, this frame heavily stippled with gilt and inlaid within an exuberantly decorated gilt border outlined by a thin strip of inlaid black morocco and filled with gracefully swirling vines and curls, with each of the four sides of the frame with an ochre morocco-outlined, gilt-latticed compartment with one or two inlaid thistles in green, purple, and gilt.

Raised bands, spine gilt in similarly stippled compartments containing an inlaid acanthus leaf, turn-ins with inlaid black morocco strips enclosing a repeating pattern of gilt leaves, berries, and azured acanthus leaves, ivory moire silk endleaves, and all edges gilt complete this lily already golden.

Designed and illuminated by Sangorski with thirteen three- to four-line initials in red or blue, five red initials of similar size with penwork, two four-line initials in green, purple, and burnished gold, and six large illuminated initials elaborately decorated with flowers and acanthus leaves in shades of purple, mauve, and indigo, all on grounds of burnished gold, three with extensions of flowering stems, title page with lovely frame in purple, blue, and burnished gold emanating from the "A" in the first word of the title, the burnished gold letter containing a large Scottish thistle, first page of text with swirling red hairline borders at head and tail, with blue flowers, thistles, and numerous leaves and bezants of burnished gold, the first word, "Queen," having a large gray initial with white tracery and large brooch ornament at the center, the other letters in burnished gold, all on an elaborately checkered background, the page opposite with a large miniature of Mary Stuart gazing mournfully at France from the stern of a ship boumd for Scotland based on a painting by W. P. Firth and signed with Sangorski's cipher (dated 1916).

Calligrapher and illuminator Alberto Sangorski (1862-1932) was the older brother of Francis Sangorski, co-founder of the renowned Sangorski & Sutcliffe bindery. Alberto, who had started his professional life as secretary to a goldsmith's firm, became attracted to the book arts at age forty-three and began  illuminating manuscripts that were then bound by his brother's firm. Sometime around 1910 Alberto and Francis had a falling out, and the artist went to work for the rival Riviere bindery. Riviere's workmanship here is, as usual, first rate, as are the materials used, and the book is a shimmering example of 20th century handcrafted book art. Sangorski's one-of-a-kind manuscripts are highly prized in collections and in the marketplace.

BEDIER, Joseph. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult.
London: George Allen, 1903.
Contemporary binding by Sir Edward Sullivan.

This exuberantly gilt and inlaid green morocco binding by the Irish binder, Sir Edward Sullivan, is highlighted by more than fifty large floral inlays.

 

The front cover features a wide, scallop-edged gilt frame filled with leafy gilt stems terminating in inlaid orange tulips in the middle of each side, diamond cornerpieces in maroon morocco accented with small morocco daisies and gilt tools. The upper third of the central panel has a prominent and densely gilt oval wreath with inlaid pink roses and leafy stems, all against a stippled background, and a spray of inlaid pink and gilt lilies in the corners above the wreath. The lower two-thirds of the panel feature a particularly striking design incorporating nine long-stemmed gilt lilies with inlaid pink blossoms emanating from a base filled with flowering gilt vines and heart tools against a stippled background.

The lower cover possesses a similar though simpler design. The spine reiterates the design elements. Gilt and inlaid turn-ins repeating the covers' design, and all edges gilt put the star atop the tree.

Sir Edward Sullivan (d. 1928) "was a noted Irish barrister who was interested in both the craft and history of binding. He practiced tooling in gold, signing his work E.S. Aurifex, 'aurifex' indicating that he was responsible for the gold-tooling. According to Sullivan, binding as a craft had become sterile and he, like Cobden-Sanderson, wanted to promote originality of design, declaring 'I see no reason why Ireland should not take the lead in changing all of this'" (J.P.M. Marks, The British Library Guide to Bookbinding, p. 28). 

Binder Ed Sullivan and his apprentice,
Topo Gigio, share a candid moment.
Sullivan was known as the "seriously over-dressed binder."

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Bound To Be Great Week continues:

Monday: Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Tuesday: The Guild of Women Binders, Bound To Be Great.
Wednesday: More Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Thursday: The $65,000 Binding, Bound To Be Great.
Friday: Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
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All images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books, currently offering these books through their just published Catalog 61: Historically Significant and Decorative Bindings 1536-2010, a magnificent production, and an instant and important reference source.

This post impossible without the assistance of Pirages' head cataloger and Booktryst contributor, Cokie G. Anderson.

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Of related interest:

Five Great 20th Century Bindings.

Five Must-See Modern French Bindings.

A Royal (Roger) Payne in the Binding.

Three Must-See Bindings.

Three More Must-See Bindings.

Search our archives under "bindings" to find more fascinating and visually stunning posts on the subject.
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The $65,000 Binding, Bound To Be Great

by Stephen J. Gertz

TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. The Princess.
London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1880.
One of 50 Large Paper Copies signed by the printer
and dated October 23, 1880 (this being copy #41.
Bound by Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson.

The great Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson bound this lavishly gilt apple green morocco masterpiece of art, craft, taste and restrained splendor with his own hands. A key work in the history of bookbinding - this is a superstar binding in all ways - it is being offered for $65,000.

Its covers are diapered in gilt with Tudor roses on leafy vines (Cobden--Sanderson Design No. 20), each compartment formed by roses containing an "M," the center cruciform panel on the upper cover with the name "MITFORD" tooled in gilt, and a "B" above it and a "C" below it. The rear cover possesses the date "24 February 1886" in the center compartment. Raised bands, a guttered (i.e., concave) spine (as intended), spine panels with central Tudor rose surrounded by leafy vines and much stippling, gilt turn-ins. All edges gilt and gauffered finish the work.

 

The front pastedown endpaper has the engraved bookplate of Bertram Freeman-Mitford. The rear pastedown has Cobden-Sanderson's handwritten receipt for £ 6.6.0 affixed, and  the rear free endpaper has manuscript letter from Cobden-Sanderson to Lady Clementine Mitford tipped-in. 

This is an important, early specimen of the work of Cobden-Sanderson, the central figure in the history of English bookbinding and the father of modern binding. Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922) did not produce many bindings with his own hands, but he did nothing short of change the entire course of bookbinding in England. 

Tidcombe's detailed and exhaustive catalogue records just 167 examples of bindings produced by him, all of them executed between July of 1884 and March of 1893. Through this small corpus of work, Cobden-Sanderson "rejuvenated English binding" with his theories of design "and set it on a new course of development" (Adams, Morgan Library Exhibition catalog). Howard M. Nixon calls Cobden-Sanderson a "pre-eminent figure . . . both as a designer of great originality, who rescued the craft from half a century of purely imitative work, and as a craftsman of outstanding ability" (Styles and Designs of Bookbinding From the Twelfth Through Twentieth Centuries. London, 1906).

Produced during the first twenty months of his career, the present binding heralds two milestones: the first use of the new Tudor rose and rose leaves (C-S tools 2a, 6a, 6n), and the first employment of an important and improved method of preparing the leather for its gilt decoration).

Rear endpaper with Cobden-Sanderson's holograph receipt.
Note his stamped-signature in gilt to lower turn-in.

Insight into the personal and business side of this volume can be found in Cobden-Sanderson's journal entry for December 22, 1885, which records that "on Saturday [19 December] Mitford and Lady Clementine came and were exceedingly polite. Mitford brought me a large paper (Kegan Paul) 'Princess' to bind by the 24th February, mode and finish to be left entirely to myself." The binder's notes observe that "the design of back-side varies from front. The 'M' is inverted in the lower half [of the back]. This, an accident, [is] a great improvement. Time 54 3/4 hours. Undercharged."

From the letter tipped into the volume we further learn that the book was delivered on 23rd February 1886 "by a sure hand," arriving just in time, as it was to be Lady Clementine's gift to her husband on his 49th birthday, the next day. Cobden-Sanderson visited the Mitfords in April and was pleased to find Bertram Mitford thrilled with the binding, even though his "Philistine friends" had thought the (intentionally) concave spine a flaw. Cobden-Sanderson records in his journal on 2 April 1886: "I advised him to stand by the gutter [i.e., defend the spine design], for it was most beautiful." 

Mitford (1837-1916), the diplomat and author, was created first Baron Redesdale in 1902; he is best remembered as the grandfather of the brilliant and scandalous Mitford sisters, including noted writers Nancy and Jessica, Nazi sympathizers Diana and Unity, and the current dowager duchess of Devonshire.

Artist, bookbinder, and fine press publisher, Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson was closely associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. It was during a dinner party held by his friend, William Morris, that the idea of becoming a bookbinder was suggested to him by Morris' wife, Jane Burden. 

"He told her about how anxious he was to use his hands, and she replied, 'Then why don't you learn bookbinding? That would add art to our little community, and we could work together.' Ten days later he was taking his first lesson in bookbinding from De Coverly, and within a year he was working independently" (op cit, Adams).

Opening a shop in 1884, by 1886, the date of this binding, he seems to have hit his stride; the binding, from February, is the first from that key year.

In 1900 he founded, in partnership with Emery Walker, the Doves Press (and bindery), located in Hammersmith, London.

Born Thomas Sanderson, upon his marriage he added the surname of his wife, Anne Cobden, to his own.

"Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson was a small man, intellectual, an unsocial socialist, proud, neurotic, and a genius. His bookbinding and his printing, largely concentrated in the quarter century  from 1885 to 1910, have a timeless beauty of style and come close almost to perfection in execution as can be expected from the hand of man. With a minimum stock of binder's tools of his own design…he achieved 'infinite riches in a small room.' He was anti-mechanical, anti-commonplace, and anti-dogmatic with respect to other people's dogmas. John Ruskin was his infallible master, William Morris his fallible mentor" (op cit, Adams).

Remember the name Thomas Cobden-Sanderson. Or, as he's known throughout the English-speaking world's Rap community, T-Cob. In Tokyo, T-Cob-San.

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Tidcombe 33.

Marianne Tidcombe's The Bookbindings of T.J. Cobden-Sanderson: A Study of His Work 1884-1893, Based on His TIme Book (London: The British Library, 1984) is the key reference to T.J. Cobden-Sanderson's bindings.

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Bound To Be Great Week continues:

Monday: Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Tuesday: The Guild of Women Binders, Bound To Be Great.
Wednesday: More Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Thursday: The $65,000 Binding, Bound To Be Great.
Friday: Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bindings, Bound To Be Great.__________

Unless otherwise indicated, all images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books, currently offering these books through their just published Catalog 61: Historically Significant and Decorative Bindings 1536-2010, a magnificent production, and an instant and important reference source.

This post impossible without the assistance of Pirages' head cataloger and Booktryst contributor, Cokie G. Anderson.

__________

Of related interest:

Five Great 20th Century Bindings.

Five Must-See Modern French Bindings.

A Royal (Roger) Payne in the Binding.

Three Must-See Bindings.

Three More Must-See Bindings.

Search our archives under "bindings" to find more fascinating and visually stunning posts on the subject.
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More Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great

by Stephen J. Gertz

A book bound to read or worn as a tiara; two Scottish Wheels that took the high road; a Sutherland binding that soprano Joan Sutherland would have hit high C upon seeing; a Bumpus of Oxford  for Spenser of London; and a splendid binding by the London binders originally from Austria who, their surname literally translated, might have actually hailed from a town in Ohio, highlight today's fine binding bouquet.

MOORE, Thomas. Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817).
Jeweled binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

This early twentieth century, extravagantly gilt, richly inlaid dark blue Levant morocco binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, gloriously adorned with 226 jewels, is nothing short of spectacular, a magnificent masterpiece that could not be more sumptuous. An oxygen tank may be necessary to fully enjoy this binding; it will take your breath away.

The binding features an Oriental design (apropos the poem) with the upper cover featuring a sunken central panel, its unusual nine-sided shape resembling a clump of hanging grapes, within which two birds of paradise, inlaid in lilac, green, and brown morocco and with two rubies for eyes, are perched in a grape arbor, its inlaid leaves and fruit clusters on a densely stippled gilt ground accented with nineteen turquoises, the whole central tableau surrounded by a border of interweaving bands of inlaid brown morocco set with nine bands of mother-of-pearl, the entire sunken panel surrounded by two ornate frames filled with flowering vines of Oriental design composed of hundreds of pieces of inlaid morocco in red, blue, violet, and green on a background of brown morocco and heavily stippled gilt, the outer frame accented with twenty blue chalcedonies and twenty garnets. I need to catch my breath.

The lower cover possesses a similar frame and central panel, this one featuring two lovebirds inlaid with multiple colors and with two amethyst eyes, the birds in a similar grape arbor above a large mother-of-pearl heart, the panel further adorned with three sapphires, four blue chalcedonies, five turquoises, four carnelians, and ten additional bands of mother-of-pearl. raised bands, gilt compartments with large inlaid arabesque in green and brown morocco on a gilt background, gilt titling on inlaid compartments of chestnut brown morocco round out the binding. I need to lie down.

Front doublure.

Within, a glorious front doublure of ivory morocco covered in gilt vines with inlaid violet morocco flowers, the whole framed in green morocco decorated with gilt vines and red morocco posies and berries. At its center is a hand-painted Cosway-style portrait of the author on ivory surrounded by a gilt frame with twelve flowers composed of no less than seventy-two turquoises and thirty-six garnets, the oval portrait in a sunken panel enclosed by a wreath of inlaid morocco flowers.

Doublure detail.

The rear doublure is similar but its medallion features eight amethysts set among sinuously curving inlaid lilac strapwork twining around a large (approx. one carat) Mexican fire opal encircled by twelve pearls. 

This volume enjoys a distinguished provenance, having once been in the unparalleled collection of jeweled bindings held by New York collector Phoebe Boyle, and then in the impressive library of Pittsburgh philanthropist, art collector, and bibliophile Charles J. Rosenbloom.

Ratcliffe, Hidden Treasures: Jeweled Bookbindings and Illuminated Manuscripts in England 1900-1939, M12. Boyle 212. Elkind, A Census of Jewelled Bindings ca. 1900-1939, 97).

Take a deep breath.

HERRICK, Robert. Hesperides Or Works Both Human and Divine.
London: George Newnes Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902.
Binding by Charles Morrell.

The above burgundy morocco binding turns on its lavishly and intricately gilt Scottish Wheel design by Charles Morrell.

Its covers display a large central wheel of twenty compartments containing slender and elegant floral tools between two lines of dots radiating from a central rosette, massed tiny circle tools at head and foot of wheel, a triangle formed by small scalloped compartments and multiple tiny flowers above and below the centerpiece, large leaf frond tools at corners, and many small tools accenting the background.

Raised bands, interlocking floral garlands forming an oval wreath in spine compartments, punctuated on either side by a cluster of crescents and other small tools, elegantly and elaborately gilt turn-ins, ivory moire silk endleaves, and all edges gilt finish the work.

The London bindery of W. T. Morrell was established c. 1861 as successor to the firm begun by Francis Bedford, who, in turn, had taken over the famous bindery of Charles Lewis. Prideaux, in Modern Bookbindings (1906), says that Morrell at that time had a very large business that supplied "all the booksellers with bindings designed by his men," with bindings that were "remarkable for their variety and merit." The binding under notice is reminiscent of the Wheel" bindings originally produced in Scotland in the eighteenth century.

Songs and Lyrics From the Dramatists 1533-1777.
 London: George Newnes; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.
Binding by Charles Morrell.

Charles Morrell, at the wheel again, produced this heavily and flamboyantly gilt decorated olive-brown morocco Scottish Wheel design.

Each cover has a large central wheel of twenty compartments containing slender and elegant floral tools between two lines of dots radiating from a central rosette, all contained within two scalloped concentric rings filled with dense and very regular stippling, the wheel with tangent massed gilt circlets at top and bottom and then complex fleurons farther above and below featuring a very charming cherub, corners with triangular floral ornaments, other small tools surrounding central wheel.

Raised bands; compartments attractively gilt in a playful scrolling manner with an interwoven design including two shell ornaments; very wide dentelles with intricate and complementary gilt decoration, pastedowns and free endpapers of bright crimson moire silk, and all edges gilt complete the binding.

IRVING,Washington. The Alhambra.
London and New York: MacMillan and Co., 1896.
Binding by George Thomas Bagguley.

Blame George Thomas Bagguley for this magnificent, contemporary dark green crushed morocco binding with extravagant gilt-work.

The covers feature borders of multiple plain and decorative gilt rules, a lobed inner frame with fleuron cornerpieces, the whole enclosing a large and extremely intricate gilt lozenge. Raised bands, a lavishly gilt spine in double-ruled compartments, gilt titling and dentelles complete the outer work.

Within are beautiful vellum doublures elaborately tooled in a diapered gilt, red, and green Moorish pattern.

This is a handsome example of the rarely seen Sutherland style of binding and a volume with flamboyant design elements appropriate for its contents - Irving's romanticized sketches relating to the Alhambra, the famous Moorish palace located in Granada.  Patented by the Staffordshire binder George Thomas Bagguley (b. ca. 1860), the inventive Sutherland bindings (named after the Duchess of Sutherland) are characterized by vellum doublures that are elaborately decorated with gilt and colored tooling. All of these bindings sparkle but the one under notice is distinctive in at least two ways: it is larger than the typical Bagguley binding, and the decoration on the covers is far more ornate than usual.

Established in 1890, the Bagguley firm employed a number of outsiders to design bindings (including Leon V. Solon, Dorothy Talbot, and Charles Connor), and although the bindery operated for only a few years, its output was distinguished. Bagguley himself did not do any binding, but his eminent staff of binders included Louis Genth (chief finisher at Zaehnsdorf from 1859-84) and Thomas E. Caley, who had been apprenticed to Fazakerly of Liverpool and who later worked for the Hampstead Bindery.

SPENSER, Edmund. Epithalamion and Amoretti.
London: John & E. Bumpus, Ltd., 1903.
Binding by Bumpus of Oxford.

This striking,  gilt and inlaid contemporary moss green crushed morocco binding by Bumpus of Oxford features covers with French fillet border, the upper board with a large central panel containing intricately twining thorned gilt stems with many spade-shaped dark brown inlaid morocco leaves and terminating in a total of nineteen roses in red and white inlaid morocco, the design accented with numerous gilt circlets and two inlaid red dots.

Raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with central rose framed by six inlaid red leaves and with red dot cornerpieces, gilt ruled turn-ins, vellum endleaves, top edge gilt.

Bumpus of Oxford St., a London department store that sold books, was known for classically designed, well-executed, and generally undervalued bindings produced under the Bumpus name for a substantial period, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. Packer reports that Bumpus bindings  came from the bookselling firm of John and Edward Bumpus, which was founded in 1780, and grew to offer a variety of goods. The Bumpus name was still spoken with honor amongst London binderies well into the 20th century - though Bumpus never bound a single book itself, farming out the work to top binderies, Riviere & Son, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, etc.

KEATS, John. Endymion: A Poetic Romance.
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 1818.
Later binding by Zaehnsdorf.

Zaehnsdorf is responsible for this elegantly gilt and inlaid chocolate brown crushed morocco binding.

The covers possess gilt-ruled and inlaid frames of ochre and maroon morocco, a central panel intricately diapered with curving ochre acanthus leaves forming ogival compartments containing a maroon fleuron. Raised bands, and maroon-framed compartments with inlaid ochre and maroon centerpiece complete the outer work.

This binding's rich, warm colors and the lush, Art Nouveau-style design evoke luxury, seducing with its exceptional level of aesthetic and technical achievement. It is generally understood that the Zaehnsdorf firm reserved the use of the oval gilt stamp found here, depicting a binder at work, for their finest bindings.

No record of  Zaehnsdorf from Zanesville, Ohio, USA.
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Bound To Be Great Week continues:

Monday: Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Tuesday: The Guild of Women Binders, Bound To Be Great.
Wednesday: More Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Thursday: The $65,000 Binding, Bound To Be Great.
Friday: Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bindings, Bound To Be Great.__________

Unless otherwise indicated, all images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books, currently offering these books through their just published Catalog 61: Historically Significant and Decorative Bindings 1536-2010, a magnificent production, and an instant and important reference source.

This post impossible without the assistance of Pirages' head cataloger and Booktryst contributor, Cokie G. Anderson.

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Of related interest:

Five Great 20th Century Bindings.

Five Must-See Modern French Bindings.

A Royal (Roger) Payne in the Binding.

Three Must-See Bindings.

Three More Must-See Bindings.

Search our archives under "bindings" to find more fascinating and visually stunning posts on the subject.
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The Guild of Women Binders, Bound To Be Great

by Stephen J. Gertz

I promise to refrain from expressing wisecracks and torturous cat o' nine tales about the Guild of Women Binders and trade unionism for dominatrixes. And you? Do we have a deal? Okay.

WALTON, Izaak. The Complete Angler.
London: D. Bogue, 1884.
Binding by Miss Baly, c. 1900, for the Guild of Women Binders.
Bound in green morocco with gilt and an onlaid design of fishes
and water lilies. The design is by Miss Baly who was involved with
the Guild from its inception and designed some of the early tooling
patterns with the work carried out by Miss Heinrich.Image courtesy of State Library of South Australia.

The Guild of Women Binders was founded by Frank Karslake (who also founded The Hampstead Bindery) in 1898. It operated until 1904 as a loosely-knit federation of women binders from such groups as the Edinburgh Social Union, the Kirkby Lonsdale Handicraft Class, the Chiswick Art Workers' Guild, and Miss Bassett's Leighton Buzzard Handicraft Class for crippled girls, among others. Some of the more outstanding women binders represented by the Guild included Miss Constance Karslake, Miss Edith de Rheims, Florence de Rheims, Miss Helen Schofield, Mrs. Frances Knight, Mrs. Annie Macdonald, Miss Mary Downing, Miss Heinrich, Miss Baly, Miss Hélène Cox, Miss Lilian Overton, Miss Gaskell and Miss Edwards. The Guild, together with its counterpart, The Hampstead Bindery, published The Bookbindings of To-morrow in 1902, and held both exhibitions and sales of their bindings at Sotheby's.

"Because the women were generally unaware of the long history of traditional bookbinding design, they produced designs that were freer and less stereotyped than those of men in the trade" (Tidcombe,  Marianne. Women Bookbinders 1880-1920).

ROGERS, Samuel. Italy, A Poem.
London: Edward Moxon, 1838.
Binding by Hélène Cox c. 1900
for the Guild of Women Binders.

This very striking, dark green morocco binding with extraordinarily elaborate gilt and inlaid decoration is an exuberant riot of decoration.

Its covers feature an exceptionally animated and complex design with a central stippled cruciform radiating a controlled melee of gilt tooling and more than 600 inlays of red, moss green, gray, and ochre morocco forming flowering vines and geometrical shapes. Raised bands, compartments decorated with six inlaid flowers and multiple teardrop tools, and a compartment with gilt titling highlight the spine.

Azure morocco doublures with attractive Art Nouveau frames featuring delicate gilt tooling and inlaid dark green sidepieces, light green cornerpieces, and orange dot accents grace the inside covers. Vellum endleaves with tiny gilt heart at each corner, and all edges gilt complete the binding.

Front doublure.

An  effervescently ornate binding that is both historically important and absolutely spectacular, a previous owner's notes at the front indicate that this volume was sold by Sotheby's in 1904 (as part of the liquidation of Guild bindings after the group was officially disbanded) and later sold by the same auction house on 28 May 1923 as part of the library of I. A. Graham, Esq. of Carfin, Carluke, Lanarkshire. The annotator was the purchaser at that sale, paying the considerable sum of £5, 10 shillings.

His notes also indicate that the binding was executed by Hélène Cox, mentioned by Tidcombe as one of the women who did ornate inlaid bindings at the Guild workshop, starting in about 1900. This must surely be one of the most flamboyant Guild bindings ever produced.

FIELD, Michael (pseud. of Katherine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper).
Stephania: a Trialogue. London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1892.
Bound by Annie MacDonald in 1898 for the Guild of Women Binders.

This exceptionally attractive modeled goatskin binding by Mrs. Annie MacDonald features a front cover with large lobed frame, its upper corners enclosing the binder's initial and the date (1897); the lower corners with daffodil blooms; the large central panel showing an elaborately detailed scene featuring a woman with long, flowing hair entreating the god Mercury in his signature winged hat and sandals, the two figures surmounted by an imperial crown through which twines a sprig of mistletoe (a design that appears in the woodcut frame on the title page). 

The lower cover shows the woman kneeling by a man reclining on a couch, this scene enclosed in an oval beaded frame. A modeled title flanked by pine cone device at head and tail decorates the spine. Green moire silk pastedowns framed by unusual turn-ins decorated with gilt vines and calf circles painted green and blue finish the inside covers. Leather hinges and top edge gilt finish the binding.

Front cover.

The style of modeled leather seen here originated in Edinburgh with Mrs. Annie MacDonald (d. 1924), whose own work and that of her pupils played an important role in the history of British bookbinding, especially among women. Inspired by Medieval books, she began teaching herself and others in the early 1890s (in a group that became known as the Edinburgh Arts and Crafts Club) the special technique of modeling seen on this volume. MacDonald used undressed goatskin, which mellows with age from white to a rich amber color, and worked it with one small tool, without cutting, raising, or padding the leather.

Tidcombe gives MacDonald the credit for inspiring the bookseller Frank Karslake to establish the Guild of Women Binders and says that "MacDonald was the prime mover in this, as she was eager to have a London outlet for bindings produced by her group... Their modeled goatskin bindings comprised 40 of the 114 bindings shown in the first Guild exhibition." The design of this binding is impressive in the precision and extent of detail seen in the modelling, and it is, as a whole, a fine, flamboyant, and prominently signed exemplar of MacDonald's work.

The Song of Solomon. London: [Printed by William Clowes and Sons
for the] Guild of Women Binders, c. 1898.
Binding by Constance Karslake (?) for the Guild of Women Binders.

This superb, elegantly gilt dark clue morocco binding is graced by a tooled Art Nouveau design featuring a large central anthemium of flowers rising on a long stem from a stippled base. The cetral ornament is flanked by by three long-stemmed irises on either side. Vertical gilt titling, a single fillet, and small circles decorate the flat spine.

Matching blue morocco doublures are tooled with an attractively complex central ornament encompassing considerable stippling and twenty large stylized flowers on curvilinear stems. Vellum free endleaves are ornamented with gilt hearts at the corners, and the top edge is gilt.

This binding is also "among the historically significant productions done by members of the Guild of Women Binders, a group of British female artisans responsible for distinctively innovative binding decoration during a kind of golden moment at the very end of the 19th century. Frank Karslake established the Guild in order to give an organizational identity to a group of women already at work binding books in various parts of Britain, often in their own homes. Karslake first became interested in women binders when he visited the Victorian Era Exhibition at Earl's Court in 1897, held to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. He was impressed with a number of bookbindings at the Jubilee exhibit, prominent among them being those of Mrs. Annie MacDonald of Edinburgh, and he invited the women to exhibit their work in his shop at 61 Charing Cross Road.

"The Guild was formed soon thereafter, when some of the women named Karslake as their agent. The binding here with its attenuated Art Nouveau feeling, is typical of the early work of the Guild, much of it designed by Karslake's eldest daughter Constance, the director of the Guild's workshop" (Cokie  G. Anderson, Binding Women). This unsigned binding appears to be her work.

ROGERS, Samuel. Poems.
London: Edward Moxon, 1838.
Unsigned binding by the Guild of Women Binders, c. 1900-1904.
Image courtesy of Bauman Rare Books.

This stellar, early 20th-century full dark blue morocco binding has raised bands, an elaborately gilt-decorated and inlaid spine, wide cover borders gilt-tooled and inlaid in green and red floral motifs, and inlaid morocco doublures, vellum free endpapers, with all edges gilt. 

GRAY, Thomas. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
London: Printed for the Guild of Women Binders, 1899.
Binding unsigned, possibly by Constance Karslake.Image courtesy of Princeton University.

Full grain green goatskin with orange and citron inlays and gold tooling highlight this abstract Art Nouveau binding design.

KEATS, John. Poems.
London: George Bell, 1897.
Contemporary binding by Mary Downing.
Image courtesy of Christie's.

This contemporary, heavily gilt morocco binding by Mary Downing features covers with a stylized design in relief of four fish forming large cornerpieces creating a central diamond with foliate decoration against a background of repeated pointillé dots, top edges gilt, others uncut. With binder's label stating "The cover of this Book was designed and worked by me Mary Downing" and front free endpaper stamped "Guild of Women Binders" It is No. 34 of 125 copies on Japanese vellum.

ELIOT, George (pseud. of May Ann Evans). The Legend of Jubal...
Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1897.
Unsigned binding, likely by Constance Karslake.

This binding for George Eliot's Jubal,  with its attenuated Art Nouveau feeling, is typical of the early work of the Guild, much of it designed by Karslake's eldest daughter Constance, the director of the Guild's workshop (a pencilled note at the front here attributes the design of this volume to her, but we have not been able to verify that).

“In an age largely given over to utilitarianism,” wrote Elliot Anstruther, “it is gratifying to find purposes and persons at variance with the conditions around them, and in no field is the discovery more productive of satisfaction than in that of industry. …The introduction of machinery has nearly lost to us the self-reliant, consciously-proud figure of the English craftsman; the old Trade Guilds, with their dignified constitutions and worthy aims, had little in common with their corporate successors of to-day, and the stress of competition has driven thousands of women and girls into the already overcrowded ranks of suppliant labour.” (Introduction, The Bindings of To-Morrow. A Record of the Work of the Guild of Women-Binders and of the Hampstead Bindery. London: [Griggs & son], 1902). 

Because of the Guild of Women Binders, Anstruther concluded, “The future is full of promise for the reunion of industry and art, even if the final aspect of that reunion lies beyond the purview of our own years.”

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Bound To Be Great Week continues:

Monday: Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Tuesday: The Guild of Women Binders, Bound To Be Great.
Wednesday: More Magnificent Bindings, Bound To Be Great.
Thursday: The $65,000 Binding, Bound To Be Great.
Friday: Drop-Dead Gorgeous Bindings, Bound To Be Great.__________

Unless otherwise indicated, all images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books, currently offering these books through their just published Catalog 61: Historically Significant and Decorative Bindings 1536-2010, a magnificent production, and an instant and important reference source.

This post impossible without the assistance of Pirages' head cataloger and Booktryst contributor, Cokie G. Anderson.

__________

Of related interest:

Five Great 20th Century Bindings.

Five Must-See Modern French Bindings.

A Royal (Roger) Payne in the Binding.

Three Must-See Bindings.

Three More Must-See Bindings.

Search our archives under "bindings" to find more fascinating and visually stunning posts on the subject.
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