Journal of the Pilgrim Fathers a Reason to Give Thanks

by Cokie Anderson

Title page and frontispiece of the Golden Cockerel Press Pilgrim Fathers (1939)

In Pertelote, the bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press from October 1936 - April 1943, the partners of the press express their surprise that this account of the Pilgrims' journey to America and their subsequent travails there, "printed from an exceedingly rare volume [from 1622] in the British Museum, did not attract more attention among our American patrons. We know them to be interested in history: must it only be history other than their own?"

The text here was edited by Theodore Besterman (1904-76), an interesting character described by the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) as a "psychical researcher and bibliographer," not a combination one sees every day. Born in Poland, he grew up in Britain, and claimed to have educated himself at the British Museum Library. He was interested in psychic phenomena, and from 1927-35 he served as the investigating officer for the Society for Psychical Research, where his sometimes critical writings on the subject of mediums and spiritualism caused the Society's most prominent adherent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to resign in protest. In the 1930s, he devoted himself more wholeheartedly to bibliography, lecturing on the subject at the London School of Librarianship and penning the classic The Beginnings of Systematic Bibliography (1935).


Besterman's interest in American history, familiarity with the collections of the British Library, and participation in the private press movement (he had a short-lived press of his own, the Guyon House Press, which was destroyed in the air raids of 1940) made him a ideal choice to edit this 140th publication by the Golden Cockerel Press. Founded in 1920 with the intention to print fine editions of important well-known books as well as new literary works of merit from young authors, the Golden Cockerel Press was purchased in 1924 by the illustrator and wood-engraver Robert Gibbings. "Under his direction," says press historian Roderick Cave, the press was "transformed into the principal vehicle for the renaissance of wood-engraved book illustration that took place in the years between the wars."

One of Geoffrey Wales' striking illustrations

The wood engravings in Pilgrim Fathers are by Geoffrey Wales, an art teacher pleased to accept a low fee in order to have his illustrations published. Cave describes them as very much in keeping with the subject matter and the typeface (Poliphilus) chosen for the book, being "deliberately 'rough' and chapbook-like." Gibbings and his partners felt that this was "one of the nicest books we have ever made--agreeable in its proportions, tasteful binding, beautiful paper, elegant typography, and exceptionally pleasant and dextrous engravings, all harmonizing with the charming content."

Denise Lubett's cartographic binding for Pilgrim Fathers

In the copy shown here, the original black morocco-backed paper baords have been replaced by a striking binding that at first glance does not seem to be pictorial; however, upon closer inspection, the clever tan-on-gray-green design presents a clear, if stylized, resemblance to the coastline of Massachusetts, at least as it was understood by the Dutch mapmakers of the first half of the 17th century. The area depicted comprises the coastline from Cape Cod northward through Boston into the southern portion of Maine, and the cartographical delineation corresponds to Blaeu's "Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova," which first appeared in 1635. It is the work of Denise Lubett, who studied bookbinding under John Corderoy at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and at the London College of Printing. She set up her own binderies in England and France in 1966. More restrained that Lubett's usual colorful and flamboyant work, this unusual cartographic binding is an excellent match to the design and spirit of the contents.

This book represents some of the things I am most thankful for in this season of gratitude: fine printing, private presses that preserve that art and craft, beautiful bindings and the artisans who create them, people who love books, and last but far from least, the country that emerged from those pilgrims' original quest for freedom.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Besterman, Theodore. The Pilgrim Fathers. (Golden Cockerel Press, 1939) 254 x 165 mm. (10 x 6 1/2").3 p.l. (including the frontispiece), 7-87, [1] pp., [1] leaf (blank). One of 300 copies. With eight woodcuts by Geoffrey Wales. Pertelote 140; Cave & Manson 140 and pp. 147-49.
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All images courtesy of Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts.
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The Feminists and the Financier: The Ladies Who Built J. P. Morgan's Library

Belle Da Costa Greene, 1911.
Image courtesy of the Morgan Library

In the 1890s, financier J. Pierpont Morgan began building a collection of art, rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts that would surpass anything previously known in the United States. In 1902, he commissioned Charles McKim, the nation's most prominent architect, to build a library to house his treasures. There remained, however, the problem of organizing his grwoing acquisitions, which had until that time been stored in the basement of his Madison Avenue mansion. Enter his nephew, Junius, a student at Princeton and an aesthete much interested in art and books.

J. P. Morgan, 1902. Image courtesy of the Morgan Library

Junius had made the acquaintance of a young librarian at Princeton, Belle Da Costa Greene, who was a knowledgeable cataloguer with a particular interest in old and rare books. He brought the young woman, then barely 20, to meet his formidable uncle on a fateful day in 1905. The senoir Morgan, impressed by the young woman's intelligence--and no doubt attracted by her beauty--hired her to put his collection in order. Belle accepted his offer, and spent the next three years cataloguing treasures that would make any librarian weak with envy.

Portrait of Belle by Paul-Cesar Helleu.
Image from Wikicommons

Bellle Da Costa Greene was very much a self-made woman. Raised in Washington, D.C., in an educated, middle class family, she had not attended college but hadreceived all of her library training on the job at Princeton University. She was, by all account, extremely intelligent, shrewd, vivacious, socially adept, independent, charming, and beautiful. She also had a secret: she was an African-American who was "passing" as white. Her father was Richard Greener, the first African-American to graduate from Harvard and the dean of the law school at Howard University. Greener and Belle's mother, Genevieve, has separated when she was a child. The very light-skinned Genevieve dropped the "r" from her prominent husband's last name and began to pass herself and her children as white, not because she was ashamed--she herself was a daughter of Washington's black bourgeoisie--but because she pragmatically realized they would have far more opportunities open to them if they were believed to be white. Belle added "Da Costa" to her name (her original middle name was Marion) and put it about that she was of Portuguese descent, accounting for her olive complexion and curly dark hair.

By 1908, Belle had won Morgan's confidence in her knowledge and abilities, and he began sending her to Europe to purchase books, and especially illuminated manuscripts, for his collection. Belle became a major figure in the international art scene: already strikingly beautiful, she dressed fashionably, declaring famously, "Just because I am a librarian doesn't mean I have to dress like one." She sought to learn from prominent scholars, including Sidney Cockerell and Bernard Berenson, the latter of whom she counted mong her lovers.

The Da Costa Hours. Image courtesy of the Morgan Library.

When J. P. Morgan died in 1913, he left Belle $50,000--the equivalent of $800,000 in today's money--effectively making her financially independent for life. Fortunately his son, Jack, recognized Belle's worth to the Morgan collection and asked her to stay on and to continue acquiring treasures. In 1924, Jack Morgan established the Morgan Library as a public reference library and art collection, and named Belle as its director. She held that position for the next 24 years, until her reitrement in 1948.

Given the depth, breadth, and stature of the Morgan Collection, it is difficult to overstate Belle's influence on American art and antiquarian book world. Her acquisitions and stewardship continue to benefit us today, as seen in the recent manuscript exhibitions at the Morgan.

She was not the only woman in a prominent position at the Morgan. Bookbinder Marguerite Duprez Lahey kept a much lower profile, but was responsible for the luxurious bindings and solander cases that housed many of Morgan's finest books and manuscripts. A friend of Belle Greene, she first began working for Morgan in 1911, and continued to do so, nearly excelusively for over 30 years. A graduate of Brooklyn and Adelphi College, she served a two-year apprenticeship in at New York's Old Chelsea Bindery and went on to study bookbinding with Paris masters, particularly Jules Domont. Little seems to be known of her life outside her work: She was fron Virginia, and a 1937 article in Time magazine describes her as "a slender blonde." It was noted with interest that she was left handed, often considered an impediment among artisans of her trade. Quietly toiling in her studio, she did all the work of binding herself, selecting an preparing the finest levant morocco, sewing the pages, pasting, mounting, pressing, tooling, and finishing the bindings. A 1937 exhibition at the Morgan showcased 150 of her creations for the library's manuscripts.

At a time when few women worked outside the home, and far fewer attained professional prominence, Belle and Marguerite rose to the heights of their chosen fields, gaining the respect of their collegaues, competitors, and patrons. It is a pity so few know of them today. I was frankly appalled that I had never heard of Belle Da Costa Greene when I was in library school--talk about an inspiring role model. A recent biography, An Illuminated Life, will perhaps raise awareness of her story, I highly recommend it.

Binding Women

Women have worked in book binderies for centuries—wives and daughters assisting husbands, fathers, and sons, and sometimes taking over the bindery when the patriarch died—but not until the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 19th century did women come into their own as independent bookbinders who signed their own work. 

Many members of that movement were supporters of equal rights and opportunities for women, especially those involved in the private presses of the day. The Kelmscott, Eragny, and Ashendene Presses all had women on staff, and binder T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, who added his wife's name to his own when they married, trained a number of women in the art and craft of bookbinding.

Binding by S. T. Prideaux

One of the first women to gain notice was Sarah Treverbian Prideaux (1853-1933). She began binding when she was 31, training in London under Zaehnsdorf and in Paris under Gruel, and worked independently for 20 years. The Maggs Bros. Catalogue of Bindings #966 says that Prideaux "was by far the best of the women binders of the period, . . . she wrote several books on the history of bookbinding, and [she] also taught the craft, one of her best students [being] Katharine Adams." Marianne Tidcombe, whose Women Bookbinders is an essential reference, says that Prideaux bindings "all have a restrained beauty about them that continues to appeal to book collectors. Anything pictorial or gimmicky would have been anathema to her, and she leaned instead towards clean, crisp floral motifs . . . , avoiding over-intricate tooling which hides the beauty of the leather." Adams says that Prideaux was a particularly "good judge of leather, using only skins of very high quality, for hers was a counsel of perfection in all things."

Adams binding from SMU Library online exhibit Highlights from Six Centuries of Master Bookbinding

Katharine Adams (1862-1952) was another woman binder who achieved acclaim. She grew up near William Morris' family and was friends with his daughters May and Jennie. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "The connection with the Morris family proved useful when she began binding professionally during the 1890s. After a short period of training with Sarah Prideaux (1853–1933) and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson (1840–1922) in London in 1897, she set up a workshop in Lechlade, where her first commission came from Janey Morris. In 1901 she established the Eadburgh Bindery in Broadway, Gloucestershire. Adams initially worked alone, but was later able to employ two women assistants, whom she herself trained. For several years during this period she taught binding to the nuns at Stanbrook Abbey, although she was never quite reconciled either to the restrictions imposed upon the nuns or to the practical difficulty of teaching through a grille. . . . She took first prize in bookbinding at the Oxford arts and crafts exhibition of 1898, and was soon receiving regular commissions from the engraver and typographer Emery Walker [of the Doves Press], St John Hornby [of the Ashendene Press], and the bibliophile Sydney Cockerell."

The advent of independent women binders was not restricted to England. The lovely binding above is the work of Countess Eva Mannerheim Sparre (1870-1957), who received a degree in wood sculpting and leatherwork from the Stockholm Technical School in 1891, and became the first person to teach leathercraft in Finland. With her husband, the Swedish artist Count Louis Sparre, she had a profound impact on applied art and design in Finland. One of the few Scandinavian binders to receive any attention in Tidcombe's "Women Bookbinders, 1880-1920," Sparre is described in that work as being "responsible for some very restrained and tasteful designs for modelled leather bindings." Tidcombe mentions three examples of her work--one in the Huntington Library and two others illustrated in Sunny Frykholm's article "Bookbinding in Sweden, Norway, and Finland," in "The Studio" (Winter Number 1899-1900, pp. 78-82).

This binding for George Eliot's Jubal is one of 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. The bookseller Frank Karslake established the Guild in 1898 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 (a pencilled note at the front here attributes the design of our volume to her, but we have not been able to verify that). As Tidcombe notes, "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."

Next week: modern women book binders.

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All images, except where otherwise noted, courtesy Phillip J. Pirages Fins Books & Manuscripts