#cloth bindings

[hdslibrary]

We're Serious. It's Publisher's Binding Thursday!

We came across this striking publisher's cloth binding on an 1895 book on theosophy. The front is decorated with eye-catching symbols of theosophy, but the back cover also bears a serious looking fellow with a serious sort of message.

Sinclair, Marie, Countess of Caithness. Serious letters to serious friends. 2nd ed. London, C.L.H. Wallace, 1888.

[swemspecialcollections]

Do Judge Me By My Cover!

A publisher’s cloth binding decorated by John Feely (circa 1819-1878), will undoubtedly ensure a book’s long-term preservation on any library shelf. John Feely, who engraved stamps and dies for a number of publishers, signed about half of his work, and our copy of Francis Asbury Roe’s Naval duties and discipline, with policy and principles of naval organization, Rare Book VA10 .R68 1865, is a beautiful example of his art. 

Close-up of Francis Asbury Roe, Naval duties and discipline, with policy and principles of naval organization, Rare Book VA10 .R68 1865. Feely’s signature can be seen in the center, near the bottom of the ship.

For more examples on decorated publishers’ bindings, check out the searchable database of Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO), hosted by the University of Alabama and the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries.

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[libralthinking]

Dorothy Wordsworth’s decorative cloth bindings for William Wordsworth’s books. (via Mrs. Wordsworth’s ‘Cottonian Bindings’ - The Fine Books Blog)