An Arts & Crafts Poster For A Bookbinder

by Stephen J. Gertz

Modernist poster madness continues on Booktryst; the goodies at Swann Galleries' recent sale keep piling up. 

TH. H. Molkenboer (1871-1920) designed this poster for Amsterdam bookbinder Elias P. Van Bommel in 1897.

After completing his studies in Amsterdam, Molkenboer worked in various fields of the Applied Arts including pottery and book ornamentation. This  poster, portraying a bookbinder in profile absorbed in his work, is a very rare example of woodblock technique applied to poster art.

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Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries, with our thanks.

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Two Doves Bindings To Drool Over

by Stephen J. Gertz

Two Doves Press books bound at the Doves Bindery recently passed through my hands. In a swoon, I almost passed out.

"In 1893, when T.J. Cobden-Sanderson decided to give up bookbinding after a short career of less than ten years, he was already the most famous binder in England. The beauty and originality of his designs ensured that his bindings were sought after by collectors and and booksellers in both Britain and the United States" (Tidcombe, The Doves Bindery, p. 1).

Bookbindings personally bound by Cobden-Sanderson now fetch up to $50,000.

 

 Cobden-Sanderson did not, however, entirely give up bookbinding. In the same year as his "retirement," he established the Doves Bindery to carry out, under his personal supervision to his exacting standards, the physical binding of his designs.
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They are no less sought after by collectors than those bound by C-S himself. Why?

"From the beginning Cobden-Sanderson questioned every stage and aspect of bookbinding, and sought to improve on whatever he discovered to be shoddy in the way of materials and design, both structural and decorative" (ibid.).

Cobden-Sanderson not only designed all the bindings of The Doves Bindery (a total of 837), he designed the tools used to execute them, each unique and proprietary.

He disdained overly gilt bindings. "Some of the top trade binderies such as Riviere, Zaehnedorf or Fazakerley produced more lavish bindings, with onlays, tooling, and lettering covering not only the back, covers and doublures, but also the flyleaves. Cobden-Sanderson was opposed to such gratuitous excess, calling such bindings 'deplorable miracles of misapplied skill,' because the amazing ability of the finisher was wasted on such poor design" (Tidcombe, p. 84).

In contrast, Doves Bindings are without peer for their handsome sophistication, graceful elegance, stylish restraint, classically clean lines, and deceptive simplicity. It took an enormous amount of effort to make them seem effortless.

"The output of the Doves Bindery cannot be compared to other 'trade' binderies, because there was no other bindery quite like it...No bindery other than the Doves designed its own tools, produced all its own patterns, and worked to such a high standard, while also being so selective in the books it bound" (Tidcombe, p. 84).

 

The books of the Doves Press were routinely case-bound in limp vellum. Clients of the Press, however, were advised that they could have their copies specially bound at the Doves Bindery. Not many Doves Press books were thus bound, however, but those that were were unique; the Doves Press Shelley, for instance, was bound in brick red/terracotta leather for one customer. For another client, the Shelley was later bound in blue morocco with a completely different design.

The leather used for these two Doves bindings was not the usual morocco goatskin or calf. "Cobden-Sanderson ordered sealskins from Richardson's in Newcastles. He apparently liked it, as seal was used s an alternative to goatskin for binding many other Doves Press books. The sealskin used ranges in colour from orange to brick-red or terracotta, and some of the skins were probably specially selected by Cobden Sanderson for their attractive blotchy appearance" (Tidcombe, p. 94)

The Doves Bindery was and remains the finest and most respected bindery of its era, the evolutionary link between the Victorian Age in which it was born and the early Modern Age in which it thrived with the highest possible respect and admiration of collectors then and to this day.

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[DOVES BINDERY]. KEATS. John. Keats. [Poems Selected, Arranged and Printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson]. Hammersmith, The Doves Press, 1914.

First Doves Press edition, one of a limited edition of 200 copies on paper. Octavo (9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in; 232 x 162 mm). [11], 12-203, [1, blank] pp.  

Designed by Cobden Sanderson and bound at The Doves Bindery (stamp-signed "Doves Bindery 19 C-S 16") in full brick red sealskin with both sides by master finisher Charles McLeish featuring a three-line panel interlaced with a three-line strapwork lozenge with concave curves at sides, with a central wreath of rose leaves and stars with a sprig of three rose leaves above and below the wreath. Spine compartments with gilt panels. Gilt decorated turn-ins. All edged gilt with dotted fillet gauffering  Printed in black and white, and red.

Tidcombe, Doves Press 36. Tidcombe, Doves Bindery 791.

[DOVES BINDERY]. SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe, Shelley. [Poems Selected, Arranged, and Printed by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson at The Doves Press]. Hammersmith: The Doves Press, 1914.

First Doves Press edition, one of 200 copies on paper of a total edition of 212. Octavo (9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in; 232 x 162 mm). [6], 7-181, [1, blank] pp. Text in back and white, and red.

Designed by Cobden Sanderson and bound at The Doves Bindery (stamp-signed "Doves Bindery 19 C-S 14") in full brick red sealskin elegantly gilt paneled on both sides by master finisher Charles McLeish with a line panel with large open dot at each corner, and a smaller two-line panel extended inwards at the sides to form a lozenge, with a wavy lozenge inside, tooled in the center with a wreath composed of close-set narrow leaves, and a cloverleaf of three hearts on a stem at each corner of the panel and lozenge. Gilt decorated turn-ins. All edges gilt and with dotted fillet gauffering. Spine gilt in compartments.

Tidcombe, Doves Press 35. Tidcombe, Doves Bindery 792.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Of related interest:

A Doves Binding To Die For.
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A Doves Binding To Die For

By Stephen J Gertz

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 

So Keats declares in the first line of Endymion (1818), and never has a poem so succinctly expressed the exquisite loveliness of  the binding it is found within, here an eleven on the 1-10 Drool Scale.

Bound by The Doves Bindery in 1894, this binding is a masterpiece of Arts & Crafts hand-work.

In full prussian blue morocco with a single gilt fillet frame and corner design of carnations,  three-pointed leaves, solid triangular tools, and gougework  enclosing a field of tiny gilt stars, its design is handsomely elegant, an aristocratic nature walk under a starlit dusk. The compartments possess massed stars and alternating carnation and leaf centerpieces. "1818" is tooled in gilt at the spine foot. The turn-ins feature leaf corner-pieces and triple fillets. All edges are gilt, with gauffered borders.

Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (1840 – 1922) was an English artist and bookbinder closely associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. A friend of William Morris, Cobden-Sanderson was passionate about the movement, and once, during a dinner party with the Morrises, he was persuaded by Morris's wife, Jane Burden, to pursue bookbinding. He was a natural. He was an artist. He wildly succeeded. Ten years later he gave it up but in 1894 he opened a workshop, The Doves Bindery, at the urging of Morris. In 1900, he established the Doves Press, one of the most celebrated of the era's private press movement.

The  hand-work  is  breathtaking. The field  of  stars, for instance, is  tooled with a degree of  precision   usually  seen only with block-stamping. Each star  is delicate but not weak. Charles McLeish was the fiinsher at The Doves Bindery, carefully following Cobden-Sanderson's instructions and patterns. Cobden-Sanderson's artistic attention to detail is obsessive: he designed gauffered borders to each of the gilt edges. It's a very subtle touch, easily overlooked. George William Gwynne performed the bindery's edge gilding, either on the premises or at his own shop.

It should be noted that these gauffered edge-borders were not recorded in Tidcombe's descriptions; space precluded full details.

The Doves Bindery produced 828 bindings before closing to outside work in 1909. This binding, number 123 in Tidcombe's chronological catalog, was bound on October 9, 1894 for acclaimed New York art dealer, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), who paid £18 for it.

With original pull-off box by Doves Bindery.

The book next passed into the hands of author, lecturer, bibliophile, political activist, etc. Louise Ward Watkins  (1890-1975) of Pasadena, California, who, amongst her many accomplishments, was the first California woman to run for United States Senate on a major party's ticket. A married woman of means, she was an avid and discerning book collector, her  collection second. perhaps, in quality (if not quantity) only to the library of her neighbor to the southwest in Los Angeles, Estelle Doheny (1875-1958).

 The binding recently returned to Southern California.

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[DOVES BINDERY]. KEATS, John. Endymion: A Poetic Romance.  London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 1818.

First edition, earliest issue, with only one line of errata and "Printed by T. Miller, Noble street, Cheapside" on verso to half-title. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 7/16 in; 215 x 139 mm). [12], 207, [1, blank] pp. With the bookplate of Louise Ward Watkins,

MacGillvray 2. Tidcombe 123.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.

Accurate color reproduction is always a challenge, and the actual hue of the binding is that seen in the double-spread image of the spine foot.

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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.

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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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Gaskin's Hans Christian Andersen and the Kelmscott Press

by Stephen J. Gertz

Extra illustrated title page.

"Mr. Gaskin's pictures ... of the tales are precisely what they should be, not because they belong to the manner of the Birmingham Art School and symbolize past all patience and affect the absence of aerial perspective shown in the very old wood cuts, but because, in spite of their mannerisms, they give life to the text and express it somehow or other in their long, lank Thumbelinas and Helgas and their young babes. They catch the attention and fix it upon the expression, arbitrary perhaps, yet adequate, of a persoality. Once seen, Mr. Gaskin's Thumbelina will always be the Thumbelina of the story..."

So said the New York Times book review in 1895 of a new edition of The Stories and Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Arthur J. Gaskin's illustrations to this edition would serve as his calling card to William Morris and lead to assignments for the Kelmscott Press, the most celebrated private press of them all.

The Philosopher's Stone.

Arthur Joseph Gaskin (1862 – 1928) was an English illustrator, painter, teacher and designer of jewellery and enamelwork. Gaskin was a member of the Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen, which sought to apply the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement across the decorative arts. Like many of the group, Gaskin studied at the Birmingham School of Art under Edward R. Taylor and later taught there.

What the Moon Saw.

Gaskin worked as a decorative artist from 1890, and within a few years attracted the  attention of William Morris.

The Marsh King's Daughter.

"...Where in England was Morris to find the artists who could satisfactorily illustrate the Kelmscott books? The answer, surprisingly, was Birmingham, where the arts-and-crafts movement flourished more vigorously than anywhere else in the provinces, mainly through the influence of the municipal School of Art. 

She Was Good For Nothing.

"Three youthful artists associated with the School - Artur J. Gaskin, Charles M. Gere, and Edmund New - were doing attractive book illustrating during the 1890s, and Morris was aware of them and their work. 'Gaskin, a young Birmingham artist, called in the afternoon [at Kelmscott House] with a number of very pretty drawings for an edition of Hans Andersen which Geo Allen is going to publish,' [Sydney] Cockerell noted in his diary...

The Old House.

"...Morris's attitude towards Gaskin and Gere was ambivalent: he was grateful for their loyalty to the arts-and-crafts ideals, yet his praise for their work was often cautious and qualified. In an interview in the Daily Chronicle (9 Oct. 1893), he was quoted as saying that 'there is a great quantity of excellent art, but the only thing that is new, strictly speaking, is the rise of the Birmingham school of book decorators...these young men of the Birmingham School of Art - Mr. Gaskin [et al] - have given a new start to the art of book decorating.'

The Wild Swans.

"In another interview...two years later, however, Morris remarked: 'I think they have, in Gaskin and New, two very good men, who have ideas and originality. For the most part, however, they follow too slavishly the opposition to conventionality...but you must remember that the Birmingham people have not yet found their feet. They will do good work yet, I am sure.' This was faint praise indeed...

The Sleep of Holger Danske.

"Gaskin's relationship with Morris was, if anything, even more turbulent than Gere's. Subsequently known as a designer of jewelry, Gaskin was scheduled to illustrate a Kelmscott Press edition of The Roots of the Mountains that never materialized; Morris also arranged for him to design the pictures for The Well at the World's End and The Shepheard's Calendar (1896).

Illustration by Gaskin to The Shepheard's Calender (1896).

"The twelves designs for the latter book are impressive - Gordon Ray has called them 'perhaps the most successful of Kelmscott Press illustrations,' a judgment in which Colin Franklin concurs" (Peterson, The Kelmscott Press, pp. 157-8).

Big Claus and Little Claus.

The Rose Elf.

"Mr. George Allen issues  also a really excellent edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales. The translation is by Dr. H.O. Sommer, and there are 100 drawings by Mr. Arthur J. Gaskin, under whose direction the 'Book of Pictured Carols' was produced. It will be a pleasure to many to renew acquaintance with Big Claus and Little Claus, and all the other friends of our childhood, in this excellent edition" (Literary World, December 1, 1893).

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[GASKIN, Arthur J., illus.]. ANDERSEN, Hans Christian. Stories and Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Translated by H. Oskar Sommer. With 100 Pictures by Arthur J. Gaskin. London: George Allen, 1893.

One of 300 Large Paper Copies printed on hand-made paper. Two quarto volumes (9 3/4 x 7 5/16 in; 248 x 186 mm). [2], xi, [1, blank], 398, [2]; [2, blank], xii, 426, [2, blank] pp. Initials. One hundred black and white illustrations, many full page, including frontispieces and extra illustrated title pages.
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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.

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"Men Are Wicked But Their Books Are Good"

By Cokie Anderson

The magnum opus of the Ashendene Press, Dante's Tutte le Opere

The three great English private presses are considered to be the Kelmscott Press of the bohemian and socialist William Morris, the Doves Press of the eccentric and volatile T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, and The Ashendene Press of the astonishingly normal Charles Harry St. John Hornby (1867-1946).

The press was founded by Hornby as a hobby and named after the location of his family home in Hertfordshire. It issued 40 books, plus additional ephemeral pieces, from 1895-1935, pausing production only during the years of the Great War. Originally the work was done by Hornby, his sisters and, upon his marriage, his wife, Cicely Barclay - truly a family affair.

The Ashendene printer's device motto reads "Les hommes sont meschants mais leurs livres sont bons"
(“Men are wicked but their books are good”).

Less elaborate in appearance and design than William Morris' Kelmscott volumes, but more ornamental than the products of Cobden-Sanderson's Doves Press, the Ashendene books have long been considered the most satisfying of English private press books. Hornby’s considerable achievement in design and printing is all the more impressive when one considers that he had a full-time, demanding, and successful career with the bookseller W. H. Smith, then as now one of the largest chains of booksellers in the U. K.

It was Hornby who changed the focus of the Smith’s retail operations from stalls within the railway stations to shops, conveniently located very close to the stations. The railroad companies had demanded an outrageous increase in rent, which Hornby refused to accept. According to the DNB, “Hornby, anticipating the possible loss of the contracts, had set men scouting for possible shop sites, but it was still a considerable challenge to transfer so many of the firm's outlets while keeping the daily business of newspaper distribution running smoothly. Hornby relished a challenge: in ten weeks, 144 new shops were opened on the territory of the two railway companies. This most dramatic episode in the firm's history pointed the way to the future structure of its business, centred on shops rather than stalls, and established Hornby's position as the strategist of the firm.”

The Divine Comedy, in Subiaco type. Woodcut of the Gates of Hell.

In his spare time, as a form of relaxation, Hornby was creating some of the loveliest books of the 20th century. He sought the assistance of his friends Sydney Cockerell and Emery Walker, who created two memorable typefaces for his: Subiaco, based on the first roman typeface, the famous font used by Sweynheym and Pannartz at the press they established in 1465 in Subiaco, about 30 miles north of Rome, and Ptolemy, derived from the font used for the 1482 Ptolemy printed in Ulm.

The Ninth Circle of Hell, from Inferno

The books Hornby chose to print included excerpts from the Bible, essays by Francis Bacon, works by classical authors, and Italian literature, much beloved by Hornby. Two of the highlights of the press were the three-volume edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the folio-sized complete works of the Italian poet (“Tutte le Opere), both in Italian. The former was illustrated with delicate woodcuts here were drawn by R. Catterson Smith and cut by Charles Keates (with some assistance from W. H. Hooper) after the Venetian Dante of Petrus de Quarengiis of 1497. Fellow printer Emily Daniel of the Daniel Press wrote to Hornby, "I think it is the most beautiful modern book I have ever seen."

From Tutte le Opere

"Tutte le Opere" is considered not only the most impressive and important of Ashendene publications, but also one of the outstanding works of 20th century printing. In fact, the Ashendene Dante, the Doves Press Bible, and the Kelmscott Press Chaucer have been called the "triple crown of fine press printing." Franklin writes that "this first major folio from the Ashendene Press has always occupied the summit," and Charles M. Gere's illustrations, inspired by works of the early Renaissance, suit the spirit of Dante perfectly.

Typical Ashendene bindings, vellum with silk ties

Most Ashendene books were bound very simply in flexible vellum, with gilt titling on the spine and silk ribbons (usually green) that could be used to keep them tied shut. Occasionally the vellum would be dyed green or orange. A few works, among the the Cervantes and the Thucydides, were issued in white pigskin.

Deluxe Ashendene bindings

St. John (pronounced "Sinjin", in marvelously British fashion) Hornby proved that it is possible to create great art while still working full time in the mundane world of commerce, that it is possible to create great art while having a normal family life, that it is not necessary to be a tortured soul languishing in an attic or one's parents' basement. The soul of the artist does not have to be crushed by the routine of 9 to 5; creativity can soar in spite of that. I like to think of him as the patron saint of every artist, writer, and artisan who does what is necessary to provide for themselves and their families while never losing sight of their vision and remaining true to their art. So if you're sitting at your desk thinking of the novel you'd rather be writing, the painting or scupture you'd like to be working on, or the hand-crafted book you want to print, take heart. You can do that, too. St. John has shown us the way.

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Images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts
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Radical Pre-Raphaelites Invade Delaware

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Lady Lilith, 1866-68 (altered 1872-73)
Oil on canvas. Delaware Art Museum,
Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.
Lilith, the subject of this painting, is described in Judaic literature as the first wife of Adam.
She is associated with the seduction of men and the murder of children.
Note opium poppy in lower right corner.
(All Images Courtesy Of The University of Delaware.)

Before you hear about it on Fox News, we're breaking this story on Booktryst: The University of Delaware is holding a major conference about a bunch of free thinking, free loving, socialist-feminist radicals who wanted to end capitalism, imperialism, and racism. One more attempt on the part of effete, intellectual snobs to hijack American culture. This revolutionary bunch may even have invaded the sanctity of your own home. Their leader, one William Morris, said this: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." If that isn't code for "Quit shopping at Wal-Mart," I don't know what is. And the loose confederation of Delaware museums, libraries, and social (socialist?) organizations sponsoring this figures nobody will make a stink about it just because these ultra-liberals got together a few years ago. Well I'm giving you the straight dope here. Draw your own conclusions.

William Morris (1834-1896)
Design for Cover of "The Earthly Paradise," 1890.
Pen and ink drawing, Delaware Art Musuem.
Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.
Twenty -four tales in verse tell of Scandinavian wanderers
who seek everlasting life with a group of Pagan Greeks.

Useful & Beautiful: The Transatlantic Arts of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites, focuses on the British poet, designer and socialist William Morris and on the Pre-Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements of the late 19th century. It examines the philosophical and artistic connections between American and British artists in two radical (italics mine) movements, Pre-Raphaelitism and Aestheticism. So right off the top we've got the University using that "r-word."

The Anglo-Saxon Review: A Quarterly Miscellany,
edited by Lady Randolph Spencer Churchill, March 1900.
This short-lived magazine of literature, art, and politics,
was conceived by American-born Jennie Jerome,
who married a member of the British aristocracy and acquired a title.
She perfectly embodied the English stereotype of an American Girl:
willful, glamorous, and free-living.
(One of her lovers was no less a personage than
the future king, Edward VII.)

These movements, which championed the cause of "Beauty," flourished in both the fine arts and decorative arts. A conference and related exhibitions will be held October 7 to 9, 2010, at the University of Delaware and at the Delaware Art Museum and the Winterthur Museum & Country Estate. Organized with the assistance of the William Morris Society of the United States, the conference will highlight the strengths of the University of Delaware Library's rare books, art, and manuscripts collections; Winterthur’s important holdings in American decorative arts; and the Delaware Art Museum’s superlative Pre-Raphaelite collection, the largest outside Britain. It doesn't sound so subversive, until you dig a bit deeper.

Elbert Green Hubbard (1856-1915)
Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors: William Morris.
East Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, 1900.
Elbert Hubbard, an Indiana-born socialist,
founded an upstate New York state commune based on Morris's ideals.

Pre-Raphaelites and Aesthetes to be featured here include: John Ruskin, art critic, poet and sexual deviant; Dante Gabriel Rossetti painter, poet, and chloral hydrate addict; Oscar Wilde author, playwright, and homosexual; and William Morris, designer, book artist, and socialist. Their art was linked thematically and stylistically, and they have been called the first avant-garde movement in art. So essentially these guys started the whole leftist culture war on family values about 120 years ago. And they managed to infiltrate even the works of some All-American good eggs like Mark Twain and Bret Harte. (See the University of Delaware Library's exhibit: London Bound: American Writers in Britain, 1870-1916.)

Bret Harte (1836-1902) The Queen of the Pirate Isle:
Illustrated by Kate Greenaway,
Engraved and Printed by Edmund Evans.
London: Chatto and Windus, [1886].
John Ruskin told artist Kate Greenaway her illustrations
for this All-American work were "the best thing you've ever done."

There's even an exhibit focusing on the way in which the designs of William Morris and his partners in crime have invaded our everyday culture. The Morris Kitsch Archive is an installation created by British artist David Mabb that contains over 720 images of commercially produced objects decorated with the textile and wallpaper designs of William Morris. According to the collection's website: "Morris was the founder of the Socialist League and a standard-bearer of Socialism; he maintained a fierce hatred of capitalism and likely would be shocked to see the many money-making projects that his designs have inspired since his death." Says David Mabb, "The archive illustrates how Morris’ designs have been appropriated for a mass consumer society. The designs have become widely available at the expense of the qualities and values inherent to Morris’ original Utopian project, which offered in its vision of the fecundity of nature the hope of alternative ways of living in the world." So some us of probably have these things in our homes, and don't even know it...

Daisy Print Wellington Boot
Detail from The Morris Kitsch Archive,
2009 Laminated digital print.
(Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Tamara Henriques.)

Is a pair of these hiding in YOUR daughter's closet?

Joann Browning, associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware, says the conference "provides a wonderful opportunity to draw upon the rich array of resources within the arts, humanities and social sciences at the University and to engage with our community partners" in multidisciplinary discussions. "From poster art of the 1890s to bookmaking to stained glass to fashion and Oscar Wilde, the menu of events, presentations, exhibits and live performances offers something to pique everyone's interest," Browning said. "We're also thrilled that the conference will include an exhibition and gallery talk in the newly renovated Old College Gallery, as well as a live performance of Wilde's classic comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest." Clearly, the idea is to spread these revolutionary ideas to as many of the ordinary folk of Delaware as possible.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882.
La Bella Mano, 1875, Oil on canvas.
Delaware Art Museum,
Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935
The painting represents Venus assisted by her winged attendants.
The effect of a halo(!) is created by the convex mirror showing the bed,
which entices a present or future lover.

Ann Ardis, senior associate dean for the humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center at the University of Delaware, said the conference will bring worldwide attention to Delaware. Maybe she just never anticipated getting negative attention from everyday, God-fearing Americans who've had enough of this sort of thing. But here at Booktryst we always do our best to be fair and balanced, so you can be the judge. Do your homework, feel free to leave your comments here, and when you see it on the O'Reilly Factor or Glenn Beck, remember we had it here first.

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Previously On Booktryst: Down With Industrialism! William Morris And The Private Press Revolt.