#cedric chivers

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Esther Forbes - A Mirror for Witches - Cedric Chivers - 1973 (cover illustration by Don Bowman)

[gliklofhameln]

BEARDSLEY, Aubrey (illus.); MALORY, Sir Thomas

The Birth, Life, and Acts of King Arthur, of his noble knights of the round table, their marvellous enquests and adventures, the achieving of the San Greal and in the end Le Morte Darthur, with the dolorous death and departing out of this world of them all. The text as written by Sir Thomas Malory and imprinted by William Caxton... now spelled in modern style. With an introduction by Professor Rhys and embellished with many original designs by Aubrey Beardsley.

London: J. M. Dent, 1893

2 volumes, large square octavo (240 × 192 mm)

First Beardsley edition of Malory's Arthurian epic in a stunning example of Cedric Chivers's "vellucent" bindings, hand-painted after Beardsley's own artwork within. This copy presents Beardsley's decadent version of Malory's Chivalric romance, noted for illustrations "shockingly overt in their sexuality and eroticism", as a thoroughly luxurious whole. Only a handful of sets were bound in this manner. This is one of the 1,500 copies of Beardsley's edition printed on ordinary paper, aside from 300 produced on handmade paper.

Chivers's binding style is produced by hand-painting the backing sheet of the binding, which is subsequently covered in vellum that has been shaved to transparency, and then tooled in gilt. Chivers patented his vellucent method in 1898 and used it to create some of the most beautiful books of the turn of the century. This style influenced, and became closely associated with, the arts and crafts movement.

[asfaltics]

the qualities of which, with some remarks

Fig. VII. Transverse section of a paper folded once. Fig. VIII. Transverse section of paper after once folding.

cropped from border ex Cedric Chivers (1854-1929). The paper of lending library books, with some remarks on their bindings, illustrated by diagrams and photomicrographs. / A summary of two lectures... (Bath and London, 1909) U Michigan copy, via hathitrust : link

other/more about Chivers : link  

[muspec]

This beautiful 1901 Book of Common Prayer is an example of what’s called a vellucent binding.  The method involves painting a design on vellum (and, in this case, adding mother of pearl inlays to the painting), then stretching a very thin, transparent layer of vellum over the painting to protect it.  Gold tooling was then added to this outer layer.

The method was developed by a man named Cedric Chivers sometime around 1898, when he first began exhibiting his bindings.  Chivers is known to have employed women to create the paintings themselves.

Although vellucent bindings are beautiful, it seems they were not especially profitable for Chivers; eventually, he gave up the endeavor, and instead pursued a career in commercial library binding.

[books0977]

The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Superb "Vellucent" Binding by Cedric Chivers. Hand-Painted By Dorothy Carleton Smyth. London: Macmillan and Co., 1899.

Inserted engraved frontispiece of Tennyson by G. J. Stodart. Chivers invented the "vellucent" binding. Full transparent vellum over paper boards with two fine pen-and-ink and watercolor designed panels by Smyth. The front cover with gilt title "King Arthur Pendragon" depicts King Arthur in armor kneeling, holding his sword. The back cover with gilt title "Guinevere His Queen" depicts Guinevere kneeling, praying and leaning on a Book of Hours.

[book-aesthete-blog]

The Faerie Queene, vol. one and 2 only Edmund Spenser. Mixed edition, edited by Thomas J. Wise, illustrations and decorations by Walter Crane, crushed blue morocco gilt by Cedric Chivers of Bath, the first with inset "Vellucent" panel depicting St. George holding a lance and sword (of mother-of-pearl) on upper cover, the second with all-over design of English roses in red morocco onlays and gilt, both t.e.g., preserved in drop-back boxes.

[book-aesthete-blog]

The Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson Macmillan, 1926. Red levant morocco gilt by Cedric Chivers of Bath, with gilt-blocked "Art Nouveau" decoration on upper cover and spine, the upper cover with inset "Vellucent" panel with watercolour design of Sir Galahad on horseback holding a jousting lance, g.e., 8vo, ; together with another edition of Tennyson (1898) in a "Vellucent" binding by Chivers, with decorations in gilt and watercolour (2)