Publishers' Binding Thursday
It's time for another Publishers' Binding Thursday! This book was found by Max when it was pulled to have a barcode assigned to it. It is The Nürnberg Stove by Ouida, which is a pen name for English novelist Maria Louise Ramé (also called Maria Louise de la Rameé)(1839-1908). It was first published in 1895, but we suspect this is a later edition because the end sheets are dated 1902.
The novel is a strange one, in which a young boy named August who loves his family's stove (which was designed by a man named Hirschvogel) so much that he decides to stow away in it when his father has to sell it because the family is poor. August wants to stay with his dear "Hirschvogel" (as he calls the stove) and travels with it across Germany to the King's palace, where he is ultimately allowed to stay with the stove and will be sent to art school so he can become an artist like the man who designed his beloved stove. Weird.
The binding is quite nice, with thinly ribbed grey bookcloth with the title stamped in gold and white blossoms on green branches. I personally am disappointed that there isn't an ornate stove on the cover! The end sheets were designed by W.E.B. Starkweather and include an inscription with my name on it! It is signed "To Alice, with a Merry Christmas from Hilda & Elsa, 1908."
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-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager