Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Beautiful Inlaid Pictorial Bindings of Chris Lewis

by Stephen J. Gertz

Chris Lewis was one of Bayntun-Riviere's most talented 'finishers" - the craftsperson who, after the book has been bound, executes the design. He designed and finished many unique inlaid bindings during his time at Bayntun-Riviere in the 1960s, established his own bindery in the 1970s, and returned to Bayntun prior to his death in the late eighties.

Here's a selection from a trove I recently had pass through my hands. Of particular note are the bindings he designed and bound in his own bindery, 1970 - early 1980s; it was then that he began to fully implement hand-painted highlights, a technique he began to experiment with while still at Baynton-Riviere (see Mr. Pickwick, below, with painted facial highlights), and which reached its apotheosis with his binding for the Rackham-illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

[POGANY, Willy (Illustrator). GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von.
HAYWARD, Abraham (Translator). Faust. Translated by
Abraham Hayward. With Illustrations by Willy Pogany.
London: Hutchinson & Co., 1908.

Bound c. 1960 by Bayntun-Riviere,
designed and finished by Chris Lewis.
Detail.

Full crimson crushed morocco pictorially inlaid with orange, deep red, pale blue, sea green, deer brown, dark blue, white, dark brown, and beige morocco against a black-incised drawing that partially reproduces the illustration opposite p. 98, "Faust and Margaret in the Summer House,"  within a gilt-tooled border and outer frame of interlacing gilt strap-work. Gilt rolled edges. Raised bands with gilt ornaments, and compartments with gilt-ruled frames highlight the spine. Broad turn-ins decorated with gilt rules and floral corner devices. Pale pink end-leaves. All edges gilt.

REYNOLDS, Frank (Illustrator)]. DICKENS, Charles.
Mr. Pickwick. London: Hodder & Stoughton, n.d. [1910].

Bound c. 1960 by Bayntun-Riviere,
designed and finished by Chris Lewis.

Detail.

Full crimson crushed morocco with  charming pictorial, green, beige, brown, yellow, and flesh colored onlays  reproducing Frank Reynold's frontispiece of Mr. Pickwick within a central, sunken panel surrounded by four gilt-ruled borders enclosing prominent gilt corner-pieces of Tudor roses, leaves and swirls, gilt roses at each side. The lower cover reiterates the upper's gilt-work without the pictorial central panel. Wide turn-ins with large gilt corner-pieces and ruled borders. Raised bands with gilt ornaments, gilt framed and decorated or lettered compartments. Pales straw moire silk end-leaves. All edges gilt.

ROBINSON, W. Heath. Bill the Minder.
London: Constable, 1912.

Bound c. 1982, by Bayntun-Riviere,
designed and finished by Chris Lewis.
Detail.

Full red crushed morocco with multi-colored pictorial inlays and black-stamped flowers that reproduce the color plate, "The King of Troy Compelled to Ask His Way," opposite p. 30, within a blind-tooled frame surrounded by gilt double-ruled borders. Raised bands with gilt tools and compartments with gilt ornaments within a gilt double-ruled frame highlight the spine. Gilt rolled edgework. Gilt decorated turn-ins. All edges gilt. Cockerell endleaves.

[RACKHAM, Arthur]. CARROLL, Lewis.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
London: William Heinemann, [1907].

Bound ca. 1980 by Chris Lewis of Bath.

Detail.
Note painted highlights.

Full emerald morocco with double gilt fillets and a gilt-tooled central panel enclosing a multicolored pictorial inlay with original hand-coloring, reproducing A Mad Tea Party opposite p. 84. Gilt ornamented raised bands, gilt decorated compartments with ruled borders and central panel. Gilt rolled edges. Gilt tooled turn-ins.

RACKHAM, Arthur. The Romance of King Arthur
and His Knights of the Round Table. Abridged from
Malory's Morte D'Arthur by Alfred W. Pollard.
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1917.

Bound by Chris Lewis (stamp-signed), c. early 1970s.

Detail.
Note painted highlights.

Full crimson morocco. Triple gilt-ruled borders. Central pictorial inlay of Sir Launcelot slaying the dragon, with multi-colored morocco inlays and painted highlights. Gilt ornamented and decorated compartments. Gilt rolled edges. Gilt dentelles. Top edge gilt, others rough.

[RACKHAM, Arthur, artist]. SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles.
The Springtide of Life. Poems of Childhood by Algernon
Charles Swinburne. With a Preface by Edmund Gosse.
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London" William Heinemann, (1918).

Bound c. early 1970s by Chris Lewis.

Detail.
Note painted highlights.

Full emerald morocco. Gilt-ruled border. Gilt frame enclosing a pictorial onlay of multi-colored morocco with painted highlights that reproduces the frontispiece. Gilt decorated compartments. Gilt rolled edges. Gilt rolled turn-ins. Top edge gilt.

Pictorially inlaid bindings were once quite popular. Chris Lewis caught the last wave, or, rather,  swam against the current. They fell out of fashion with the development of modernism and the integration of abstraction into binding designs by the mid-20th century. As a result, the art and craft is getting lost as the demand has ebbed and the skills declined. Chris Lewis was the last binder to specialize in the genre, and with few to carry on the tradition and pass the knowledge to another generation, the art of pictorially inlaid bindings may fade into binding history.

That would be unfortunate. While pictorially inlaid bindings belong to another era and are, for some, a bit too representational with a precious, diabetic quality that may cloy, they possess a traditional charm and craftsmanship that for many overrides modern taste: not too sweet at all, they're "just right."

Ultimately, master craftsmanship never goes out of style.
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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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