Publishers' Binding Thursday
For this week's Publishers' Binding Thursday book, I went searching in the catalog to see if we had any books designed by well-known designer Margaret Armstrong. There were several that came up and I went to the stacks to investigate. I found this lovely book and was excited to see how vibrant the colors are and what good shape the cover is in! However, upon a closer look, the cover is clearly signed "ELF" and not with Margaret Armstrong's characteristic overlapping "MA."
Try though I might, I cannot find any information about who E.L.F. may be, because searching in Google just turns up results about elves! I've also searched several digital collections to no avail, so if anyone has information about who E.L.F. might be I would greatly appreciate it!
The book is The Man Behind the Book by American author, professor of English Literature, Presbyterian clergyman, and diplomat Henry Van Dyke, Jr. (1852-1933). It was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1929. Van Dyke taught English Literature at Princeton, his alma mater, and was Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg, mainly on the strength of his friendship with fellow Princetonian Woodrow Wilson. Van Dyke was also friends with Helen Keller and officiated Mark Twain's funeral.
The cover is just lovely, with gold, purple, and teal decorations featuring grapes and grape vines alongside some tulips. The cloth is a deep navy, which really allows the shiny gold and the bright purple and teal stand out. The spine is a bit worn, but repeats the same motifs used on the cover of grapes and grape vines stamped in gold along with the title and author's name.
We believe this copy may have belonged to American poet, editor, and critic Louis Untermeyer because it contains a letter from Henry Van Dyke to Untermeyer. The letter and the envelope in which it was sent are pasted into the front cover of the book. The address on the envelope is vague, just "Mr. Louis Untermeyer, Elizabethtown, Adirondack Mountain, New York." The envelope is dated and time stamped September 12, 1931 at 7:00 p.m.
View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
