Herman Scheffauer

One of the stranger American literary figures was Herman Scheffauer (1878-1927), the San Francisco poet and protégé of Ambrose Bierce who moved to Germany and became a propagandist during WWI, was indicted in abstentia for treason by a Federal Grand Jury in 1919, and committed suicide eight years later, jumping out the window after murdering a woman in his apartment.

He is of interest to us because, according to a query response from  Thomas A Goldwasser Rare Books, Scheffauer is the HS of the monogram on the Shapes of Clay cover. That information led me to acquire a copy of Scheffauer's The Masque of the Elements (London: Dent; NY: Dutton, 1912). Although unsigned, it has so many elements in common with the Shapes of Clay cover art that it appears to be the same hand, refined by a decade.

John Ship, Mariner

Cover art by George Wharton Edwards, with GWE monogram.

John Ship, Mariner
by Knarf Elivas [pseud. Frank (Mackenzie) Savile]
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company,  ©1898

Filling the Empty Shelves

Now that the Third Exhibition has been delivered to its permanent home at the Boston Athenaeum, I have cabinets and shelf space for 350 books that have been piling up and stored in boxes. I still have to finish binding the Deluxe Edition of the Catalog of the Third Exhibition, and then will start documenting the next group.

There are many fabulous designs that have been waiting their turn.  Without any details, here are some snapshots to preview what will be coming. This cabinet includes cover art by Brennan, Bradley, Appel, Kimbrough and Parrish.

Click on the images to see them larger.

Below: Detail of the monogram on Shapes of Clay.

 

The reflections are from the flash on the Mylar dust jackets

Below: variants--title in cream on left, gold on right, slightly different cloth

Boston Athenaeum is New Home for Third Exhibition

The entire collection of books in the Third Exhibition of American Decorated Publishers' Bindings, 1872-1929 has been acquired by the Boston Athenaeum. Once it has been integrated into their catalog the books will be available for researchers in the Special Collections Reading Room.

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/45

Two More Balls

This week a Ball arrived that I have been after a decent copy of for several years:

 Thomas Watson Ball

A Romance of Summer Seas

by Varina Anne Jefferson-Davis

Harper & Brothers, New York, 1898

The book is scarce for several reasons. Besides the beautiful cover and any literary merit, the author was the daughter of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and lived a short and tumultuous life.  

The spine is simply stamped in gold lettering. The nautical art on the cover is in light blue, off-white, and creamy light yellow, with lettering, shell motif, and border in the creamy color.

How do we know that this unsigned design is a Ball, besides that it looks like his work? The cover panel is in Ball's portfolio, which is in the rare book collection of the University of Rochester.  While in Rochester for The Future of Reading Symposium at RIT last year I went to the UR Special Collections, which has a strong interest in American book covers and a nice website on the subject, and went through the actual Ball portfolio. One revelation was the discovery of a Ball monnogram I had never seen. He rarely signed his covers, and the only two monograms I have had were T.W.B. in simple lettering. Fortunately I was able to find a decent copy of this book

Thomas Watson Ball

Robin Brilliant

by Mrs. Henry Dudeny

Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1903

Detail:  Monogram of T. W. Ball

If it were not in the portfolio, this device, or logo, would not likely be interpreted as TB or TWB--it looks like AB. Perhaps he was trying to blend it into the Art Nouveau styling of the design and lettering.

 

An Award for The Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930

Very pleased to let you know that the 2011 Worldwide Books Award for Publications was awarded for The Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930 by The Art Libraries Society of North America. Here's a webcam snapshot:

If you are in Holland, you might enjoy the review of The Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930 in Boeken over Boeken (Books about Books).

If you are near Den Haag, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek has the three Limited Edition volumes the reviewer describes as "Van de boeken die hij daarvoor heeft verzameld heeft hij drie catalogi gemaakt in gelimiteerde edities, die nogal kostbaar zijn."

If you are elsewhere and your local bookstore does not have a copy of The Art of American Book Covers, amazon.com offers a substantial discount. 

Meanwhile, you may have noticed that I have not been updating this blog recently.  Don't worry, in the future it will become much more active.  I have been busy getting out Volume 3 of American Decorated Publishers' Bindings 1872-1929.  It has 300 designs that were not in the first two volumes, bringing the total to 1,100 cataloged designs + variants. The cover features an adaptation of a Thomas Watson Ball design from 1899:

A Beautiful Gift for Book Lovers

If you are looking for something beautiful and inexpensive for someone who loves books, The Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930 is perfect. It was designed in gift book format, is exceptionally well produced in full color with images of about 150 gorgeous books, has a top quality gold-stamped cloth binding, and rave reviews of the content.

If you tried to get a copy earlier this year and discovered that none were available in stores or online, that's because the first printing of 2,000 copies sold out in three weeks. The second printing finally arrived, and it is again in your local bookstore and in stock at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Click for a  free PDF preview