Bright and Matte Gold

One of the most beautiful techniques employed on publishers' bindings was stamping in bright and matte gold. This could be accomplished with a single impression of a specially engraved die. Microscopic textures were added to parts of the image by various processes. Physical methods would be to engrave a stipple or cross-hatch pattern with a burin, or to roll or press a pattern with a mezzotint rocker or similar tool. A chemical method such as aquatint can also be used to texture the die.

The effect is to make the gold reflect bright and dark in different parts of the image as the light hits it at different angles. This would draw attention to the book in a bookstore window or store display as someone walked past it, and also creates dramatic shifts in light as the book is held and turned at different angles. 

The First Violin
by Jessie Fothergill
Illustrated by G.W. Brenneman
New York: Brentano’s, n.d., ©1896
two volumes 21 x 13.8
[unsigned, Lee and Henry Thayer?]
Two-tone gold stamped black cloth
with original cloth dust wrappers and slipcase.  

Above is a scan. Below is a flash photo, with the light at a different angle. The vines on the front cover that are light above are dark below. The texturing on the back cover is symmetrical with that of the front cover. The curved spine in the photo is not that much darker than the covers, but the covers are flat on to the flash and the reflection of the light in the gold is too much for the camera. 

The enlarged scan detail below makes it easier to see the technique.

The above design is attributed to Lee Thayer (of The Decorative Designers firm) by John Lehner in TBR #4, March 1992 [Trade Binding Research Newsletter]. Charles Gullans felt that the release date of this design was a few months too early to be a DD production, and the 1840’s derivation of the style indicated late work by an older designer. He suggested (in a letter to John Lehner) that it might be by H. L. Parkhurst, who is known to have designed the signed binding below for this edition.

The First Violin
by Jessie Fothergill
Illustrated by G.W. Brenneman
New York: Brentano’s, n.d., ©1896
two volumes 20.9 x 14.1
[signed HLP, H. L. Parkhurst]

Lehner’s points are more compelling. In an e-mail to me, he wrote “The lettering is the best overall example of the early DD work...dingbats, a flamed L, the cross bars pushed to the top, dingbatted o’s, the graceful R, the diagonal part of the N intersecting RHS above the bottom corner. Just wonderful. Not to mention the Lee Thayer repeat design using one of her favorite leaf forms.. a gothicky leaf based on the thistle, used on other works such as Red Cap Tales, and the T Y Crowell reprint of Kenilworth by Scott ca. 1900 and finally, The Strathmore Quality Book Paper sample book where she uses them on the cover, tp, and borders to introduce each type of paper, changing the two colors.” He notes the “trumpet E” in his TBR article.

I agree with Gullans about the 1840’s reference, but the reinterpretation like this of earlier motifs was not uncommon among the younger designers. The repeat design is reminiscent of Will Bradley’s work, as in Lucile (1897).

Lucileby Owen Meredith (Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton)
Illustrated by Madeleine Lemaire and C. McCormick Rogers
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., n.d., ©1897
23 x 14.4
[signed B, Will Bradley, Bambace A28]

There is similarity in movement to the vines above on The First Violin in the DD design on The Epic of Hades (1897?), and also a similarity to the Bradley design above. Artists paid attention to what others were doing and freely copied what they liked. This often makes the attribution of unsigned cover art difficult.

The Epic of Hades
by Lewis Morris
New York and Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell and Company, n.d.
17.3 x 11.7
[DD]

The Rosary
by Florence L Barclay
Illustrated by Blendon Cambell
Decorations by Margaret Armstrong
New York and London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons:
The Knickerbocker Press, 1910, “June”
22.5 x 15.5 cm.
[MA, GE 17]

Poems

by Josephine Daskam

New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903, October

An unread copy with uncut pages

19.8 x 13.3

[Lee Thayer, signed DD]
 

The Art of American Book Covers: 1875-1930

I am pleased to announce that George Braziller is publishing a trade edition of my work on American Publishers' Bindings titled The Art of American Book Covers, 1875-1930.  It will be in full color and have about 150 images.

It will have a stamped full cloth cover, in keeping with the content. Above is a scan of the sample from the bindery. It is a practical demonstration that the effects created during the Golden Age can be revived on trade books using modern technology.

I have also designed a full cloth slipcase that will have a stamped spine, and am wrapping the book in it with a clear archival 3 mil polyester (as in "Mylar") dust jacket.  There will only be 100 signed and numbered copies of the First Edition in this slipcase. A pre-publication discount subscription to it is available today at
http://minsky.com/art-american-book-covers.htm

There is a link on the web page to a downloadable PDF with some sample pages.

I am so thrilled that George wanted to do this book--there is no other publisher I can think of that would have done this at the quality level this will be.  He is featuring it as the opening double page spread in his 2010 catalog.

Again, the web page for this is:
http://minsky.com/art-american-book-covers.htm

This cover is stamped with a single die in one stamping, using the technique I developed for the cover of the first volume of A.merican Decorated Publishers' Bindings, 1872-1929.

The Great Unknown Cover Artist 1879-81

 [This was originally posted Friday, October 9, but had a technical problem and had to be reposted.]


The first post on this blog showed the 1881 cover of Mr. Bodley Abroad, a design decades ahead of its time. Here are four more covers that are clearly by the same artist:

The Bodleys on Wheels

by Horace E. Scudder

Houghton, Osgood and Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1879
Printed paper wrapped boards and over spine cloth

Aboard The Mavis
by Richard Markham
New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1880

Printed paper wrapped boards and over spine cloth


Brother, Sister and I 
Frontispiece, title page, and other Illustrations by Kate Greenaway
(monogrammed K.G., engraved by John Greenaway, monogrammed J.G.)
several other illustrators and engravers
New York, London and Paris: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.
n.d., ©1881 by O.M. Dunham
Green cloth spine, blank. Paper wrapped boards

Captain John Smith

by Charles Dudley Warner

Henry Holt and Company, 1881

Greenish tan cloth stamped in black, gold
and orangewith design wrapping to spine
and the orange stampingof the front
repeated in blind on the back cover 

Who could possibly have done these? My thoughts keep returning to the painter and stained glass artist John La Farge.  The authority on La Farge has advised me that there are no records of his having done any book covers.  If they are not by his hand, it looks to me like it may have been his influence.  We know that he taught several of the earliest and best  book cover artists--Sarah Wyman Whitman and Alice Cordelia Morse learned from him, and Margaret Armstrong grew up with La Farge as a neighbor and family friend.

To my way of thinking, the lack of evidence that he did book cover commissions does not rule him out.  It was several years later that artists monograms began to appear regularly on covers. La Farge illustrated many books,  knew the publishers and their art directors, and would be a likely artist for a cover commission.

If you have any other notions about who may have done these covers, or any other opinion, please do not hesitate to post a comment. 

comments:

[ unfortunately an early comment from BIBLIOMAVEN was deleted in a technical glitch. It had a link to the excellent blog, where there are images of another cover by this artist:

Salmagundi Booktopia:
By far these have become some of my favorite book covers on your site. They look a little pre-Dada to me. To find one of these would be a dream. Thanks for posting them.
January 17, 2010

Sarah Wyman Whitman

Among the first of the artists who transformed commercial binding design, Sarah de St. Prix Wyman Whitman was a hard working visionary who in many ways represented the modern woman. She was a successful portrait painter, had a stained glass workshop, and designed hundreds of books for Houghton, many with simple lettering, like Timothy’s Quest below.

 

Timothy’s Quest
by Kate Douglas Wiggin
Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin and Company,
Cambridge: The Riverside Press, n.d., © 1890
18 x 12
[unsigned, Sarah Wyman Whitman]

Whitman's pictorial designs for better editions were generally decorative stamped forms with Arts and Crafts elements and Art Nouveau motifs. Her distinct use of lettering, floral decoration and hearts was adopted by other designers.

Dorothy Q
by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Illustrated by Howard Pyle
Boston and New York:
Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1893
20.1 x 13.1
[unsigned, Sarah Wyman Whitman]

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan
by Lafcadio Hearn
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
n.d., ©1894
21 x 13.7
[unsigned, Sarah Wyman Whitman]

 The Country of the Pointed Firs
by Sarah Orne Jewett
Boston and New York:
Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1897
17.5 x 13.2
[unsigned, Sarah Wyman Whitman]

 

 The Marble Faun
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1899
17.1 x 11.9
[signed SW in a flaming heart on back cover, Sarah Wyman Whitman]

The earliest known binding by SWW is from 1880, a variation of a Rossetti design that was posted here in August, along with some biographical information--see When did we leave the Victorian era?

There are many resources you can view online to see more of  her work and read about her life. Knowing the work of this important artist is essential to understanding the development of American publishers' bindings.

Sarah Whitman bindings at the Boston Public Library
Sarah Whitman in PBO
PBO database: bindings by Sarah Whitman
Sarah Whitman bindings at the University of Rochester
Sarah Wyman Whitman by Betty S. Smith (Harvard Magazine)
Reflections on a Design by Sarah Wyman Whitman by David Gehring, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Francis G. Hutchins' essay on the Sarah Whitman's Lowell window at the First Parish in Brookline, MA

Te comment below was posted January 17, before I had to delete and re-post this article due to a problem with the system.

Rebecca Rego Barry said...

I'm thrilled to see SWW on your blog. Her work is beautiful! Coincidentally, I posted a blog entry about her on the Fine Books Magazine Blog recently after acquiring an edition of Thoreau's Cape Cod designed by her. http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2009/12/thoreau-for-christmas.phtml

January 17, 2010 7:51 PM

More Variants

Continuing yesterday's topic, here is an example of a series of books issued by L. C. Page with the related design format for each title available in red, white or blue cloth.  It appears that all three colors were available simultaneously for each title. One interesting aspect is the use of a white cloth panel glued onto the red and blue books instead of white stamping.  White stamping was notorious for flaking, and several publishers used the white cloth onlay alternative. Another reason the white cloth was used may have been so all the covers could be stamped at the same time simply with blue and gold, without adding a white stamping die and setup to the cost.

Clement, Clara Erskine. Angels in Art. Ilustrated. Boston: L.C. Page and Company, 1898. Dark blue and gold stamping on white cloth. A second copy with the same design on red cloth stamped in dark blue and gold on a white cloth onlay panel. Also issued on blue cloth. 19.2 x 13 cm [signed AMS, Amy M. Sacker]

 

Potter, Mary Knight. Love in Art. Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1898. Dark blue and gold stamping on blue cloth with cream-white rectangular onlay panel. Also issued on red and on white cloth. 19.6 x 13.6 cm [signed AMS, Amy M. Sacker]. Variant with blind-stamped line border and no author name on cover, n.d., 7th impression, 1906.

The panel on the 1906 variant is unusual. The white has a blue-ish cast, and blue is showing through the white where it is rubbed; white is showing through the blue where that is rubbed, and white is showing through the gold where rubbed. It appears as though a white cloth onlay was applied to the cover, which was then stamped with blue, then white, and finally with gold. The details below show that the cloth for the panel was applied before the stamping, since the blue and gold both overlap the onlay on both variants. 

Why would the stamping be done in white if the cloth were white?  One possible answer is that by 1906 opaque white inks were available for the stamping that were not prone to flaking and produced a brighter white than the cloth color. That fails to explain why blue would be stamped under the white. Click on the detail images to see them larger.

Clement, Clara Erskine. Saints in Art. Ilustrated. Boston: L.C. Page and Company, 1899. Dark blue and gold stamping on red cloth over white cloth onlay panel.. Also issued on white and on blue cloth. 19.1 x 13 cm [unsigned, Amy M. Sacker?] 


French, Joseph Lewis. Christ in Art. Boston: L.C. Page & Company, n.d., ©1899, seventh impression, June, 1907. Red cloth with dark blue and gold stamping on white cloth panel. First issued in 1900, also in white and blue cloth. 19.5 x 13.5 cm [signed AB, Alfred Brennan] 

A feature of this design is the engraving of the gold disk behind the cross. It is not stamped flat, as are the other gold elements in the design, but is composed of extremely fine radiant lines that cause the disk to shimmer. The enlarged detail below shows this. Click it for a bigger image.

Variants

Many books were issued in several variants of the same design. Some are on well defined subsequent printings or editions, or from the same dies used by a different publisher, while others are on copies that appear bibliographically identical. There are many possible reasons for this, as a related current discussion on the Exlibris listserv indicates. Books were issued in several colors to appeal to different tastes, or to fit in with home decor. One Exlibris member noted an entire private library where all the books were in blue cloth.

Reprints were sometimes done from the same type or plates with no stated print run. On a large run, more than one bookbinder may have been used. Cloth of one color or dye lot may have been insufficient for the quantity needed. Errors in stamping may have occurred and been corrected when discovered, allowing the copies with errors to be sold if the copies were still usable. If you read the various Exlibris postings there are many other possibilities as well.

Here are a few examples with different reasons for the variation. They are small to fit side-by-side. Click to see them a bit larger.

Mitchell, J. A. The Last American. Illustrations by F. W. Read and the author, decorations by Albert D. Blashfield. New York: Frederick A. Stoles Company, n.d., ©1902. Blue cloth stamped in red, white, yellow and gold with a Persian motif, animals  and cartoony characters being bitten on the nose by mosquitoes, a ship in the center, gold title on cover and spine. 19.6 x 14.4. Also a variant, apparently identical, except the stamping has pink instead of white. [Blashfield, Albert D., unsigned (in the style of the decorations)]

Harben, Will N. The Redemption of Kenneth Galt. Frontispiece. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1909, September. Dark teal gray cloth stamped in black and split fountain (blue to yellow) pictorial of a man in a suit at sunrise (?), yellow title on cover; gold title on spine with winged heart and star emblem printed in split fountain colors. [lib, R with some waterstaining to top outside corners of pages] 19.3 x 12.7. Also a copy of the undated A. L. Burt Company edition in blue cloth with the same pictorial, lighter, black title on spine. 19.2 x 13.2 [The Decorative Designers (?, unsigned)]

Biart, Lucien, trans. by Mrs. Cashel Hoey and John Lillie. An Involuntary Voyage. Illustrated by H. Meyer. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880. Blue cloth on beveled boards stamped with gold mast, title in maroon and gold pennant. HB logo in maroon and gold on back cover. A second copy in green cloth, otherwise identical. 19.8 x 13.

Cullum, Ridgwell. In the Brooding Wild. Frontispiece by Charles Livingston Bull. Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1905, May. Blue cloth stamped in black, white, orange and gray winter treescape with skier and mountains, white title on cover and spine. 19.7 x 13.5. Also a reprint with a variant of this design, Boston: A. L. Burt Company, n.d., Third impression, April, 1909. Gray-green cloth stamped in black, yellow and light gray, yellow title on cover and spine. 19.3 x 12.8 [Bull, Charles Livingston, signed C.L.B.]

Duncan, Norman. The Cruise of the Shining Light. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1907, April. Green pebble-grain cloth with gold and blind stamping. 19.1 x 12.7 Also a copy of the Toronto: Henry Frowde, 1907 edition, with the same design, here the water is stamped in light and dark turquoise. [possibly Ball, Thomas Watson ? unsigned]

Gordon, Julien. World's People. New York: J. F. Taylor & Company, 1902, June. Green smooth-grained cloth stamped with white stylized tree, white title on cover and spine.. 16 pp. of publishers' ads in the back. Another copy with the same pages except no ads in the back, in vertically ribbed green cloth stamped with the same design in dark green. 19.8 x 13.7 [Evelyn W. Clark, signed EWC] 

Holmes, Prescott. The Story of Exploration and Adventure in the Frozen Seas. Illustrated. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, n.d., ©1896.  Green cloth stamped in brown, dark green, olive-tan, blue-gray and white pictorial of a person kayaking amid ice floes, red title on cover reads "Exploration and Discovery in the Frozen Seas" and spine reads "The Frozen Seas". 20 pp of ads in the back, the latest title being 1902. Also, a reference copy on darker green cloth with silver (white metal) title, warmer gray, different spine decoration, 4 pp of ads in back, latest is 1897 (R, spine tail gone, some rubbing). 17.1 x 14.6

Huch, Ricarda, trans. by Lorna Dietz. The Deruga Trial. New York: The Macaulay Company, n.d., ©1929. Black cloth with red Art Deco lettering and stylized courtroom scene. Red title on spine. The author's name is spelled "HUCH" on the title page and cover, but "HUGH" on the spine. No ads in back, endpapers with repeat pattern of owl silhouetted against moon and phrase "A Macaulay Mystery." Also a copy in gray cloth with the same stamping and plain endpapers, nine pages of ads at the back, the newest title of which is The Man of a Hundred Faces (1930). 19.5 x 13.4

Roberts, Charles G. D. Earth's Enigmas. Boston and New York: Lamson Wolffe and Company, 1896. Straw-color cloth stamped with black and brown image of a raptor. Extensive author's inscription on ffep: "First edition. / C.G.D.R. // This collection contains two stories--"Do Seek Their Meat from God" and "Strayed"--which may fairly claim to be the forerunners of the modern animal or nature story, which takes into account the psychology of the animal world. / Charles G. D. Roberts / Nov. 1928". Also a later edition using the same cover image, stamped in black and beige, with gold title, black single line border, on green cloth in larger format. Blind stamped leaf on back cover. L.C. Page & Company, Boston, 1903, May. Illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull. And a third edition, also from Page, 1923, April, with a variation of the 1903 design, the raptor in very light turquoise and dark green and no border. 17.5 x 11.5 [Bull, Charles Livingston ?, unsigned] 

Warman, Cy. Tales of an Engineer with Rhymes of the Rail. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895 (first edition). Gray cloth stamped with maroon modernist abstract design on front cover and spine of smoke coming from a smokestack, gold titles. This copy has a diamond-shaped logo "The Q and C Co." stamped on the front and back covers. A second copy is the 1896 printing, identical except the cloth is pinkish, and the "Q and C Co." logo is stamped in the same place on the front cover and on the spine, but not on the back cover. 18.3 x 12.5 

Porter, Gene Stratton. Song of the Cardinal. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1912. Press of Braunworth and Co., Brooklyn. Compare the spine on the copy on the left to the one on the right (a reference copy with the spine flowers rubbed or flaked off). Clearly the decoration was designed to enclose the title, but it was issued both ways, with the contents inside being identical. [unsigned MA, GE 198, variant not noted]