Bookbindings Old and New, Book-Lover Notes

This book
is
DUE
on the
last date
stamped below
JAN 1
"^
1958
RN BRANCH,
UNWti
F
CALIFORNIA,
LIBRARY,
BOOKBINDINGS OLD AND NEW
4l4
^^<m.
LIBRO LLAMADO RELOX DE PRINCIPES.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY BINDING WITH THE
ARMS OF FRANCIS
I.
Bookbindings Old and

Notes of a Book-Lover
New
IVitb an Account of the Grolier Club
of
New
York
By Brander Matthews
38^4Illustiâted
New York
Macmillan and Co.
London
Mdcccxcv
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1895,
By
MACMILLAN AND
CO.
J. S.
Cushing & Co.
- Berwick & Smith. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
AA 4-S b
I
v5
f^
THESE STRAY NOTES OF A WANDERING
BOOK-LOVER
ARE INSCRIBED TO
THAT COMPACT BODY OF AMERICAN
BIBLIOPHILES
THE GROLIER CLUB
CONTENTS.
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PAST.
CHAP.
I.
PAGE
Grolier and the Renascence
II.
De Thou and
"
Le Gascon"
47 68
III.
Padeloup and Derome
^
i
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PRESENT.

I.
The Technic of the Craft

The Binders of To-day The Outlook for the Future
oi:
II.
119
151''
III.
COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING.
I.
The Antiquity of Edition Binding
171
II.
The Merits of Machine Binding

The Search for Novelty
Stamped Leather
o
.
182
III.
209
IV.
216
BOOKS
I.
IN
PAPER-COVERS.
Fiction
. . .
The Summer Clothes of
233
II.
The Influence of the Pictorial Poster

British and American Paper-covers
vii
246 264
III.
viii
Contents.
THE
CHAP.
I.
CxROLIER CLUB OF
its
MEW
YORK.
PAGE
291
New York and
Clubs
II.
Grolier himself
296
III.
The Aims of the Club
...........
....
302
IV.
The Publications of the Grolier Club
314
INDEX
337
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE PLATES.
PAGE
LiBRO Llamado Relox de Principes.

I
Binding of the
.
6th Century with Arms of Francis L

Binding, "
Frontispiece
7
11
.
Grolier
Heliodori
"
Grolier Binding, "Bessarioni" Grolier Binding, "II Cortegiano"

"Benedetti's Anatomy," 1537
<-
15
19
Colloquies of Erasmus," Basel, 1537

Discorso
23
"Erizzo,
Sopra
le
Modaglie
Antiche,"
27
31
Venice, 1559
Binding executed for Tho. Maioli, 1536

Italian, i6th
Century
. .
35
Binding executed by Clovis Eve for Louis XI IL

<'
39
Pandectarum Juris Florentini."
Binding with the

II.
Arms of France and the Cipher of Henry

Diana of Poitiers
"Valerii Maximi Dictorum."
Binding of the i6th Century Binding executed by Nicolas Eve, 1578
and
41
Bound by Nicolas Eve
45
49
51
.
French, i6th Century.
Attributed to Clovis Eve

1644.
55
"Arianus, de Venatione," Paris,
Bound by Eve
"
59
French, 17TH Century.
Attributed to
Le Gascon"
63
List of I11list rat ions.

PAGE
"Office de la Semaine Sainte."
Bound by Padeloup
Binding
73
"Ariosto, Orlando Furioso," Venice, 1584.
OF Derome the Younger
']]
French, i8th Century.

English, i8th Century.
By Derome
81
Roger Payne
91
"History, Theory, and Practice of Illuminating."
By Digby Wyatt.
Bound by Zaehnsdorf
bound by ruban
...
99
i09
113
123
"aucassin and nicolete.''

Inside Cover of Preceding
....
Binding by Francisque Cuzin
"In Memoriam.''
Bound by Cobden-Sanderson
133
A Binding by Cobden-Sanderson New Testament. Bound by William Matthews Irving"s " Knickerbocker's History of New York."
. .
139
141
Bound by William Matthews

Inside Cover of Preceding
145
149
185
"Pride and Prejudice."'

"Selections from
E. A.
Designed by Hugh Thomson

Designed by
Robert Herrick."
,
Abbey
195
"Goblin Market."'
Designed
"by L.
Housman
197
"Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." Designed by E. Vedder
201 205
"Half Hours with an Old Golfer"'
"A Book
of the Tile Club."'
Designed by Stanford
213
White
"Century Dictionary."
Hovv'ARD Pyle
Designed by Stanford White
217
"Merry Adventures of Robin Hood." "fHE Quiet
Designed by
221
Life."
225
List of 1 1hist rat ions.

''The Oregon Trail."
xi
PAGE
Designed by
J.
A. Schweinfurth
'
229
Facsimile of the Cover to
Dickens'
Mystery of
235
Edwin Drood"
"Little Dinner."
Designed by M. N. Armstrong
243
"contes pour les bibliophiles."

AURIOL
designed by m.
253
"UEnfant Prodigue."
"
Designed by Willette
257
261
Le Reve."
Designed by Carloz Schwabe Designed by Walter Crane
....
.
.
"Baby's Opera."
273
275
"Foes
"
in
Ambush."
Designed by R.
L.
M.
Camden
John Gilpin."
Designed by Randolph Caldecott

Oueene."
279
Spenser's "Faerie
Designed by Walter
281
Crane
"Under the Window." Designed by Kate Greenaway

Grolier Club Book Plate
285
299
303
Grolier Club Building
Reduced Facsimile of Title-page of Grolier Club

Edition of "
A Decree
of Starre-Chamber, con315
cerning Printing"
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

Aldine Tools
29
A "Powder"
Tools used
with the Device of the Dauphin
37 43
Curved Gouges
in
the
"
Fanfares "
54 54
Little Branches
Tools of
"
Le Gascon
"
65
Three
17TI1
Century Borders
69
xii
List of Illiistnitions.
PAGE
85
86, 87
A Uerome Border
Eighteenth Century Tools
Binding by Cobden-S Anderson

Sigurd."
105
"The Story OF
"Atalanta
"HoJiERi
in
Bound by Cobden-Sanderson Bound by Cobden-Sanderson

.
. .
127
128
Calydon."
Ilias."'
Bound by Cobden-Sanderson
130
Shelley's "Revolt of Islam."
Bound by Cobden-San131
derson
"Life and Death of Jason."
Bound by Cobden-San.
derson
" Les Chatiments."
136
155 173
Bound by Petit
"
"Art Out-of-Doors
"An
Island
Garden"
174
188
"Many
Inventions"
"Evening Tales"
189 190
193
"Greek Vase Pa:ntings"
"The Chatelaine of La Trinite" "The Ballad of Beau Brocade"

Panel from Back and Cover of "Old Italian Masters"
194
207
211
"A
Girl's Life 80
Years Ago"
"Thumb-nail Sketches"
220
"Proofs from Scribner's Monthly."
Designed by
F.
Lathrop
"Selected Proofs."
" Bric-a-Brac."
"
239
240
Designed by Caran d'Ache
....
. .
.
260
263
Le Petit Chien."
Designed by Louis Morin
"The Century Illustrated

signed BY Elihu
]\Ionthly Magazine."
De264
Vedder
List of Illustrations.
"The Century."
"
xiii
PAGE
265
English Illustrated Magazine."'
Designed by Wal266
ter Crane
'Harper's 'Harper's
Monthly
"
(English)
267
268
Monthly " (American)

Designed by Will H. Low
"Bookbuyer."
269
270
Harvard Graduates' Magazine

u
pexite Poucette."
Designed by Boutet de Monvel
284
295
The Grolier Arms

Grolier Club Card Invitation
Head-piece from Grolier Club Edition of "Knickerbocker's 'History of
306
New
York.'"
Drawn by
318
W.
Noah's
H.
Drake
from Grolier Club
Another drawn by Howard Pyle

Log-book Head-piece
319
Edition of "Knickerbocker's "History of
New
320
.
York.'"
Drawn by W. H. Drake
Reduced Facsimile of Title-page of "Philobiblon"
326
327
Reduced Facsimile of Last Page of "Philobiblon"
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PAST
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PAST
begin
to
set
clown
here
these
rambling impressions and stray suggestions
about
the
I
great
bookbindof a
ers of the past,
am reminded
Burton's
"
pleasant
saying recorded
in
Book-
Hunter," that storehouse of merry jests against

those
who
love books not wisely but too well.
Burton
tells
us that in the hearing of a certain
dealer in old tomes and rare volumes a remark
was ventured that such an one was
"
said
to
know something about

forth the fatal answer:
books," which
brought
"He know
all,
I
about books?
Nothing
nothing
at
assure you; unless,
perhaps, about their insides."
The
now,
I
pertinence of this retort to myself, just
cannot but confess
at
once.
know
yet,
best about
it is
books
is
their
What I And insides.
perhaps,
not an unpardonable sin for an

3
Bookbindings Old and New.
author to concern himself also with the outside

of
tall
books
if if
so be he love them,
if
he care for
copies,
he be capable of cherishing the
good
is
edition, the
I
one with the misprint.

to
risk
This
a
why
am emboldened
in
myself in
voyage of retrospection
ters
search of the mas-
and the masterpieces
of the bibliopegic art.
I.
GROLIER AND THE RENASCENCE.

In a letter written to a friend in April, 15 18,
Erasmus highly praised the

added, "
civility,
the modesty,
the integrity, and the munificence of his corre-
spondent, and
You owe nothing
to
books, but in the future books will give you an

eternal glory."
The man
Viscount
the
of
of
to
whom
this
was written was a
Aguisy, for a while treasurer of

Italy,
army
then French ambassador to

treasurer of France under
Rome, and afterward

Francis
I.,
Henry
II,,
Francis
II.,
and Charles IX.
"Born
six
in
1479, dying in
1565, he lived eighty-
years,"
so
M. Le
Roux de
Lincy,
his
biographer,
tells us,
"
during which he showed
himself always a zealous protector of the learned,

a lover of the Q:ood and beautiful books issued
by the Giunti and the Aldi, or by the other publishers of the time,
and also an ardent collector

5
of

of
coins and
of of
antiquities."
far
Yet the prediction

true that the
of
Erasmus has so
the
come
and
it
name
ambassador
treasurer
France
would be forgotten were

the
not that the fame of
book-lover has
lingered,
and spread,
until
now, more than three centuries after the death

of
Jean Grolier
of
Lyons,
there
is
a flourish-
ing club called by his
name here
in
New
York,
the chief city of a continent undiscovered
when
he was born.
Grolier had the good fortune to live through
the glorious years of the Renascence, the arts were reviving at once
when
all
and flourishing
together;
aid
in
and he had the good

development
lie
judgment
art
to
the
of
the
of
bookinsep-
binding to which
arably.
attached his
name
The
art
was not new when he began
to collect
the best works of the best printers,

to
but
it
it
was about
have a new birth
and when
was born again, he helped

Perhaps the
first
to guide its steps.
bookbinder was the humcollected
ble
tiles
workman
who
the
baked
clay
on which the Assyrians wrote their laws
and he was a bookbinder also who prepared a
gJg.^-^t,vr.t^!a,l.,yKU.'-.,.-,..rl!.a>-..5.t.,.^^.i.,^
I^.^,
7rf.AlS -.M.
i tl
i
-^toLrMrf^t.
Ill
'l.f .ntlMlnl'iSa
tli rfi .ii
ija
fflli
protecting cylinder to guard the scrolls of papyrus
on which Vergil, and Horace, and Martial
had written their verses.

Before the invention of printing, the choicer
manuscripts, books of hours, and missals, were
made even more

ivory,
valuable
by sides
of
carved
often
or
of
delicately
wrought
after
silver
studded with gems.

invented,
stitch
Even
printing
was
the
binder was called upon only to

all
the leaves of the book,
further deco-
ration
being the
Cellini
privilege
of
the silversmith.
Benvenuto
for the
was paid
six
thousand crowns
golden cover, carved and enriched with
precious stones, which he
made
for a
book that
Cardinal
de'
Medici wished to give Charles V.
In France the silversmiths claimed the

oly of binding,
stuffs
monop-
and
also of dealing in the finer

in cloth-of-gold, but
not
merely
even in
velvet.
Certain of the books bound in the monasteries
were incased in boards

actual
veritable
that
boards, of
wood
so
thick
now and
again
they were hollowed out to hold a crucifix or a

pair
of
spectacles,
although sometimes
it
was
10
only to

make room
that
fell
for
an almanac.
thus
It
is
no
wonder
begirt
when
tome
it
ponderously
upon Petrarch
so bruised his leg
that for a while

tion.
there was danger of amputareal
Even when these

thick
all
boards were thin,

conceal
a
they were
that
enough
the
to
worm,
;
worst of
enemies of books
the
and
thus real
in
boards, like
Italian
German
condottierl
many an
city,
destroyed what
In a
they
were meant to protect.

board
time the genuine

pasteboard,
was given up
for
which
of
was then made by pasting together sheets

paper
in
;
and myriads
of
pages of books no longer

stiffen
fashion were
of
thus destroyed to
In
the
covers
newer volumes.
our day
many
and
interesting fragments of forgotten authors,
not a few curious
and instructive engravings,

from
oblivion,
have
been
rescued
when
the
decay of old book-covers has led to the picking

apart of the pasteboards beneath the crumbling
leather.
With
an
the
invention
of
printing,
and
the
immediate multiplication
urgent
of books,
there
came
of
demand
for
workmen capable

covering a volume in seemly fashion.
In
13
many
in-
a monastery the binderies must have been
creased
hastily
to
meet the demand

of
and we
monastic
on
can
trace
the
handiwork
designs
these
craftsmen
by the
they
imprinted
the covers of
the books they

of
bound designs
the
made up mainly
script missals,
of
'
motives from
manu-
from the typographic ornaments

printers,
the
early
and from the transcripts
of those carvings in
wood and stone with which

time
the
churches
of
that
were
abundantly
enriched.
But
not
the
workshops
in
the
monasteries did
of
all
suffice,
and leather-workers and
sorts
saddlers,
harness-makers,
those
who put
together the elaborate boots and shoes of the

times
were
and
the
impressed into the service, taking

trade of bookbinding, not only
over to the
new
their skill in dealing with leather, but also the

tools
designs
with
the
which
boots,
they
had
been wont
to decorate
the
saddles,
the harness, and the caskets of fair ladies and

lords of high degree.
For the most part these

even in the rudi-
were humble
artisans, lacking
14
Bookbindings Old mid New.

of
ments
learning.
The
authorities in
to
France
preferred
the
workman
books
in
be
ignorant
who
was called
in to
bind the records of the State

of
and
the
royal
account.
The
"
late
Edouard Fournier,
de
of
la
his
essay
on the
the
Art
Reliure
en France," cites
contract
as
one
Guillaume
Ogier
in
Italy,
1492,
binder of the registers of the treasury, in which

the
artisan
"
declared and
made oath
that
he
knew
the
of
not
how
one
to read nor to write."
Perhaps
early
reason
for
the
superiorit}^
of
Italian
bindings
over
that
the
French
the
same period was

in
the
workmen
employed
Italy
were more intelligent and

a
better educated.
in
In
book printed by Aldus

is
15 13, the notice to the binder
in
Greek!
Ambroise Firmin-Didot explained the anomaly

of this
apparently extraordinary culture on the
part of the handicraftsmen of that era by sug-
gesting that the
workmen employed by Aldus
who
many
the
of
was binder as well as printer
were
to
"
them Greeks who had been driven

after
Venice
the
taking of
Constantinople by
of
"
Turks.
Every reader
Romola
will

remember the influence exercised on
renascence
the Italian
of
by the
in
personal
art
presence
the
Greeks
and
no
was
this influence
more
immediate, more permanent, or more beneficial,
than in the art of bookbinding.
We
know
that Grolier
still
was
in
Italy in
in
15 12,
and that he was
at
Milan
of
1525.
"
was a friend and a patron

book
left
Aldus.
He No
the Aldine
"
press,"
M. Le Roux de
Lincy declares,
without several copies, some
on vellum," some on white or coloured paper,

being specially printed for the library of the
French
acts
collector.
Voltaire says that

citizen
"
a reader
toward
books as a
live
toward
men
he does not
with
all
his
contemporaries,
he chooses a few friends."

his friends the best
ful
;
Grolier chose for
books and the most beautiless

tells
he was fond of a good author no
than
us,
of
a wide margin.
is
As
and
Dr.
Holmes
library "
a looking-glass in which the owner's

;
mind
of
is
reflected "
it
is
a noble portrait
at
the
man which we
of
get
when we look
the
books
Jean
Grolier.
He was
lover
of the
New
c
Learning.
His praises are repeated
8
1
in
tlie
many
dedication
from the scholars and

of
publisher-printers
the
period.
Many
book was brought out wholly, or

expense.
often
partly, at his
The managers
of
the
Aldine press
borrowed
money from him, and never
applied in vain.
He
quarrelled once with Ben-
venuto
Cellini,
but he was a close friend of
Geoff roy Tory.

tested
He was He was
'*
a scholar,
of
as
is
at-
by the elegant Latinitv

an
his
of
extant
correspondence.
little
artist
not
skill
with the pencil, as a sketch in his

"
copy
of the
Maxims
of
Erasmus proves.
perhaps Grolier him-
Fournier thought
self
that
designed the graceful arabesques and intercharacterize the covers of
woven bands which

his books.
of
"
Compared with
time,
the other bindings the
the
same
of
and of
same country,
by an unare closely
in
those
Grolier
are
distinguished
equalled and unfailing taste,"

akin
to
,
They
then
in
the
bindings
to
executed for Aldus
Venice,
the
and
the
bindings
made by
Italy,
Italian
workmen
in
;
elsewhere
in
France,
and even
superior
England
but
they
of
are
their
somehow
they have a note
BENKDF.TTl'S
ANATOMY," 1537. OCTAVO, 4X634 INCHES; BROWN CALK, (FROM SAUVAGE COLLECTION. OWNED BY MR. SAMUEL P. AVERY.)
19
1;

own
;
2
artistic
they are
;
the
result
I
of
finer
sense
and the longer
study the books bound

I
during the Italian renascence, the more

inclined
asserts
to
am
he
agree
with
"
Fournier
Italian
when
he gave
that
Grolier,
art."
with
methods,
to
created
French
Certainly
his library so definite
an individuality that the

it
volumes which composed
three hundred years

of art
ago are now treated as veritable works

they have
their
catalogue, like the pictures of
a great painter,
or
the
plates
of
great
en-
graver;
they
are
for
numbered.
its
Every existing
pedigree,
to
book bound
is
Grolier has
and
traced lovingly from catalogue

collectors.
of
catalogue
of the great
The beauty
the
lavish
the
Grolier
bindings
is
in
and
tasteful
ornamentation
of
the
sides.
In the early days of printing, and

of
when
still
the
traditions
the days of manuscripts
were dominant, the shelves

like a
of a library inclined
reading-desk, and the

sides,
handsome volumes
their ease.
lay
on their
taking
Books
then were not packed together on level shelves

as
they
are
now, shoulder
to
shoulder,
like
22

soldiers
;
common
forward
but each stately tome stood

singly,
like
by
itself
an
officer.
So
the broad sides of

invite
the ample folios seemed to
decoration.
first
The
Italy
books which Grolier had bound

in
in
are
similar
their
style
of
decoration
to those then sent forth
from the Aldine press

setting
off
few have
elegant
arabesques,
central
shield,
but most of them
have simple
geometrical designs in which interlacing bands,
formed by by
the
solid
parallel lines gilt-tooled,
are relieved
ornaments very
like those with
which
of
Aldus family then
adorned the pages
the books they were printing, and which were
suggested some, no doubt, by the illuminations

of the
old missals, but more, beyond

of the
question,
by the Oriental traditions men.
Greek workof
The
distinguishing quality
all
these
or-
naments, familiar enough to
who know
to boldness.
the
Aldine
style,
was grace united

specimen
Look
bindings.
at a
of the earlier of Grolier's
Note the simplicity

sharp
strength
of the interlaced
bands,
the
of
the
enriching
arabesques, the
skill
with which they are com-
"
COLLO(^)UiF.s
oi-'
I'.KASMrs,"
i;asI':i,,
1537.
ijiAKio,
4;;
iiMiiKS; i;ko\VN
IVES.)
CALF.
(FROM BLENHKIM COLLECTION.

23
OWNED
13Y
MR. BRAYTON

billed
;
25
and then remember that
this,
hke every
bit,
other design, was laboriously tooled bit by
and
line
by
line,
each separate ornament being

at
stamped on the cover

impress the
gold.
It
is
least
twice,
to
once to
the
leather,
and again
attach
only some understanding of the technic

art
of
an
which enables us
to
appreciate
is
its
triumphs.
ited
The
"
art
of
the
bookbinder
lim-
by the
of
tools "
he uses.
is
A
the
" tool,"
in
the
parlance
at
the trade,
of
the cut
brass
implement
device,
is
the
end
which
is
little
ornament, or part of an ornament, that

arately to be transferred to the leather.
figure,
sep-
Every
part of
tools.
every
leaf,
is
every
of
branch, every
the
desio^n,
made
one
or
more
The
binder
conceives
his
general
;
scheme
it
of
decoration, a
knowing
and
his
tools
and
of
is
by
Combination
repetition
these
tools
that
he forms his design.

that tools are style
tools
;
One might
it
almost
obvious
say
certainly
is
that the
changed form concurrently with

;
every modification of taste in bookbinding
and
a study of the tools, as they have been modified
26
during
Bookbindings Old and New. ii

tlic
past three centuries,
is
essential
of
to
any
real
understanding
of
the
art
book-
binding.
Thus we
his
library,
see that
when Grolier
becran to Qrather
the
binder used
tools copied
from
Aldine typographic devices, and impressed in

gold on the cover of a book that figure which
on the printed page was a

the finer
taste of the
solid
black.
But
Renascence soon discovthe
ered
that,
although
broad
black
of
the
Aldine devices was pleasing on a white page,
an excess
of solid
gold was less satisfactory on
the side of a book.
So they made
these tools
sometimes hollowed,
that
is,
is,
in outline merely,
which
times
lightened
them
instantly,
and
some-
azured that
the
crossed
by horizontal
lines, as in
manner
of indicating " azure " in
heraldrv.
Then,
havino-
the
same
before
device
in
three
different
values
where
thev had
but one, the adroit binder was able to vary and
combine them
easy lightness.
as
he needed solid strength
or
The
next
step
was
to
of
increase
the
the
variety
and the complication
interlacing
bands
"
IN ERIZZO, DISCORSO SOPRA LE MOUAGLIE ANTICHE," VENICE, 1559. 8VO (IMPRIMIS EXPOSITION, NO. 526. PLAT RECTO). KOUND EOR GROLIER IN THE STYLE OF THOSE OF GEOFFROY TORY.
example known of work of this class bearing the name of (From " Lcs Reliures d'Art A la Bibliois on the vorso. thtque Nationale." By permission of Edouard Rouvcyrc.)
It
is
the only
Grolier.
The device
27
29
and
fine
it
is
these interlacing bands which are
perhaps the chief characteristic of the Grolier

bindings.
Instead
of
being
indicated
by two
Hnes of gold, the bands were marked out

lines.
by three
plain
Finally,
the
bands traced by
gold
tooling
were
enriched
by
paint.
fill
Adroitly contrasted colours were chosen to
ALUINE TOOLS, HOLLOW.
ALDINE TOOLS, AZURED.
up the hollow bands which twisted above and

below
the
one
another
all
over
the
cover
of
book.
To-day these painted
ribbons
and
the gilding of the design are sadly dulled by the
years; but
when they were
fresh,
nothing could
have been more magnificently resplendent than

this
polychromatic decoration.
30
Booldiiiidings
Old and New.

of Grolier's
On
one or the other side

" lo.
books
was the leoend
Grolierii et amicorurn," a
form which M. Le Roux de Lincy thinks he
may have borrowed from

an
is
his
friend
Mai'oH,
ItaHan collector,
of
whom
of
almost nothing
known, although
his
books are greatly sought

them.
after
Grolier
"
had
several
M.
Cle-
ment de
on the
Ris, the author of a pleasant
volume
Amateurs
d'Autrefois," doubts whether
Grolier ever lent his books, despite this altruistic
declaration.
But
M. Le
not
Roux de Lincy
a few
has been able to
trace
duplicates
and
triplicates
from Grolier's
five
collection,
he
conto
in
has even found

edition
copies of the
it
same Aldine
fair
of Vergil,
whence
the
is
to
clude
that the book-lover
meant the legend

liberal
be
that
interpreted in
most
to
manner,
he stood ready
give
his
books to his
friends,
even though he was not willing to lend

Indeed,
to
them.
the last
lend
beloved
volume
is
thing a true bibliophile can be coaxed
to do, althousih the lendino; of

of charity of
books was a form
specially
recommended by a Council
as
12 12.
Paris so far back
We
know
that
BINDING EXECUTED FOR THO. MAlOLI, 1536. (FROM " MANUEL HISTORIQUE ET BII3LIOGRAPHIQUE DE L'AMATEUR DE RELIURE." BY PERMISSION OF L0N GRUEL.)
31

Grolier gave
the father of
33
to
four of
J.
the best of
his
books
A.
cle
Thou.
The books bound

as
for
Maioh
are
almost as
beautiful as the books
bound
for
Grolier, but,
M.
Marius-Michel
remarks,
Maioli
had
none.
of
some
poor
it
bindings,
and
due
Grolier
to
had
Perhaps
Maioli
"
was
also
the
example
that
Grolier chose a motto, which ran,

sit
Portio mea, Domine,
in
terra
viventium,"
modified from
mici
Psalm
cxli.
Maioli's was, " Ini-
mea
michi, non
me
michi."
Marc Laurin
and
of Maioli,
of Watervliet, a friend of Grolier
and a book-lover
"
like
them, had for his motto

In
as
Virtus
in
arduo."
the
marked
contrast
as
may
be with
is
friendly legend
on
Gro-
lier's
books
the
motto which
the
*'
learned
Ite
Scaliger borrowed
from the Vulgate,

rather to
ad
vendentes
"
"Go ye
9).
them
that sell"
__
(Matthew
xxv.
Prefixed
tion of
at
to
the
"
Catalogue of an
Exhibi-
Recent Bookbindings, i860- 1890," held

Grolier
the
Club
in
New York
styles,
in
Decem-
ber,
1890,
was a note on
in
which there
34
Bookbindings Old and

of
A'Cio.
of
was a dixision
the best
known work
rather
Italian," "
the
Renascence into three

rily
classes,
arbitra-
designated as
"
"
Aldine or
Maioli,"
to
and
Grolier."
of
The Aldine was

solid
said
have
ornaments
face
without
any shading
Arabic
whatever, and these ornaments were of

origin,
and such as were used by Aldus and

;
the other early Italian printers

said
to
the Maioli was

"
be
composed generally
of
frame-
work
of shields or medallions, with a design of

it "
;
scrollwork flowing through
and the Grolier
was said
to
be
"
an interlaced framework of geo-
metrical figures, circles, squares, and diamonds,
with
scrollwork
of
running through
of
it,
the
orna-
ments
which are
Moresque character, and
often azured."
Of
course,
classification
of
this
sort
all
is
lacking in
of
scientific
precision,
at
since
three
these
to
styles
existed
the
same
time,
and
are
be found on books bound for

is
Grolier,
although there
affected
no doubt that he most often

geometrical
patterns.
the
interlacing
That three
tinct
styles different
enough
to bear disis
names should
flourish side
by side
evi-
ITALIAN, i6TH century.
35

dence, were
artistic
37
any needed,
of
the
extraordinary
richness of the Itahan renascence.

is
Nor
this the
whole
story.
While Grolier and

art
his fellow-collectors
in
Italy,
were developing a French

Italian
and with
in
workmen, the
flourishing
art
was
taking root
France, and
lustily.
Born
in the reign of
Louis XII., Grolier died in
the reign of Charles IX., and he was a witness of
the sturdy development of art in France under
Francis
I.
and Henry
in
II.
While he was having

of the three con-
books bound
one or another
temporary
styles of Italian origin,
two
styles
were
in process of evolution
a ^5
JIL
in
France, without his
assistance,
and perhaps
approval.
is
^^Bl
JIj^
without
his
^ ^^ ^
Certainly there
now
Growith
JjL
<W
Irm,
<^
extant no volume
j
known
to
to
j
have belonged
lier decorated either
a seme (as the

call
it),
French
freI.,
^
I'OWDER WITH THE DEVICE "f the dauphin.
"
powder,"
quently used by Francis
or with the elaborately
enriched central rectangle, surrounded by a frame
38

such as we find Henr)^
II.
of rolling arabesques,
to have
been fond
"
of.
"'
In tooled
the
powder
there
is,
perhaps, a lightly
of
fillet
around the side
the book, and
perhaps a coat of arms, or some other vignette,

in
the
centre,
and
even
its
at
each
corner,
but
the binding derives the

of
decorative richness from

of
sowing broadcast
the royal
lily,
the
kings
initial,
or
or of
some other
single tool,
repeated regularly in horizontal and

ular lines.
perpendic-
Sometimes
it
contains but one device
thus repeated geometrically, and sometimes two

or
three devices
are
alternated,
and agreeably
contrasted.
"
In the hands of a feeble binder the
powder
"
degenerates easily into

;
stiff
and barren
adroitly
skil-
monotony
varied,
fully,
it
but
when
to
of
the
devices
are
and
is
made
capable
sustain
each
other
indisputable dignity and
streno^th.
A
tion
kindred
artful
employment
it
of
monogram
distinc-
and personal emblem

to the
is
which gives
beautiful
bindins^s
II.,
which bear the

triple crescent
double
of
of
Henry
and the
Diana
of Poitiers.
The famous Henri Deux
^*t.
rvc^
,f^
.r.%
si'h, ^
\\\
rri^^s
r:^:\
<c;'r:.,
,
^T^
"t*^
^'T-^
~T'
"t
1'
.-,r
^^T"
>-,-%
"rv*
.T^-'X'i
.'i^.
Ct'.^;",
/-^fri
^:-.
^'^
BINDING EXECUTED BY CLOVIS feVE FOR LOUIS XIII. (FROM " MANUEL HISTORIQUE ET BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE DE L'AMATEUR DE RELIURE." BY PERMISSION OF LEON GRUEL.) 39
" PANDECTARUxM JURIS FLORENTINI, VOL. II." BINDING WITH THE ARMS OF FRANCE SURROUNDED WITH SCROLLS, AND WITH THE CIPHER OF HENRY II. AND LMANA OF POITIERS. IN THE MAZARIN LIBRARY. (FROM " LA RELIURE FRANCAISE," BY M. MARIUS-MICHEL. BY PERMISSION OF
DAMASCENE MORGAND.)

ware, for which the
in vain, of the
43
lover of ceramic art longs
has not a rarer charm than that of some

bindings executed at the same time and
under the same inspiration.

bringing to
the
M. Marius-Michel,
under-
study a highly trained

art,
standing of the technic of bibliopegic

that there were in France under
declares
three,
Henry
and
II.
and perhaps
four, binders of extraordinary merit.

this day,
is
Their work survives to
more and
more admired, but

forever.
It
is
their
names have perished
a pity that
of
we cannot do honour
to the
memory
some
of
the
noble craftsman
who executed
the
most splendid bindings with no
other implements than the straight

fillet
^^*^
and curved gouge, disdaining

of
^^^WV
^\^
Florentini,"
aid
ever.
any engraved tools whatso-
To him we owe
folio
"
the
trans- curved gouges.
cendent
Pandectarum
Juris
now
such
in
the Mazarin Library at Paris.

asserts
of
M. Mahad
ever
rius-Michel
skill
that
"
no
binder
is
hand.
As
clay
transformed
under the fingers
of the clever sculptor, so the
44
Bookhindiiigs Old
and New.
learned arabesques, the graceful volutes, seemed

to be
born under his instruments
no one has
ever carried to such a degree the exquisite sen-
timent of form."
"VALERII MAXIMI DICTORUM FACTORUMQUE MEMORABILIUM, LIBRI IX." BOUND BY NICOLAS EVE. FROM THE LIBRARY OF DE THOU. (FROM "REMARKABLE BINDINGS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM," BY HENRY B. WHEATLEY.)
45
II.
DE THOU AND
In
the
of
"
LE GASCON."
history
of
the
bibhopegic
of
art
the
names
book-lovers
and
bookbinders are
the
inextricably entangled.
At one moment
dom-
inant individuality
is
seen to be a collector like

it
Grolier or Mai'oli, and at the next

artisan
like
"
is
an
artist-
Le Gascon"
II.,
or
Derome.
After
the death of
Henry
the great binders of his

is
reign disappear absolutely; there

their
no trace
of
handiwork or
of their tools.
Perhaps they
of
were
art
Huguenots, as
French historians
the
have surmised, and were done to death, or

the
fled
country,
before
in
the
1598.
promulgation
of
the Edict of
fate,
Nantes
Whatever
their
art
the
tradition
was broken, and the

on
other
lines
of
bookbinding
theirs
;
developed
than
and the personality which next comes

is
into
view
that
of
collector
Jacques
Auguste De Thou.
47
48
Boo/dujidings Old
Grolier was
in
and New.
his
When
elder
clanger of
Hfe
De
his
old,
Thou's father saved him, and Grolier gave the
De Thou four of the best books of library. The son was then only nine years
for
but perhaps this was the beginning of his love
books
sacred
to
fire
which
thus
passed
from Grolierius
tolic
Thuanus by
Born
in
a sort of apos-"
succession.
1553,
De Thou
visit
trav-
elled
from 1573
In
to 1582,
paying a
in
1576
to Plantin.
1593 he was appointed to the
custody of the books of the king, Henry IV.,
succeeding
Plutarch's
"
Jacques
Lives,"
Amyot, the
and
of
translator
"
of
the
Daphnis
et
Chloe
"
of
Longus.
to
In his
new
post
De Thou
was able
save for
the nation the library of
Catherine de' Medici.

Swift
characteristically
as they
tells
;
us
that
"
some
"
;
know books
exactly,
do lords
of
learn their titles
and then brag

always
their
acquaintance
of
and there are

sort.
book-collectors
this
But
;
De Thou was
them
a book-lover of another
well,
kind
he knew his books, he used them

;
he lived with
and
to-day
he
lives
by
the fame they have given him, since he died in
BINDING EXECUTED BY NICOLAS EVE, I578. (FROM " MANUEL lUSTORIQUE ET BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE DE L'AMATEUR DE RELIURE." BY PERMISSION OF LEON GRUEL.)
51

161
his
7.
53
It
is
the love of books which has saved

oblivion, as
name from
in
M. Clement de Ris
gossip
declares
"
his
pleasant
"
about
the
Amateurs
d'Autrefois."
Distinguished
mag-
istrate,
remarkable writer, historian of rare merit,
statesman of exceptional
common
is
sense and of
great foresight, what survives
the bibliophile.
in
Who
remembers
that
he took part
the ab-
juring of
Henry
IV., or that
he was one of the

Edict of Nantes
t
most active negotiators
of the
'
No
'
one.
that
it.
Who
reads the
History of his
as
Time
'
grand and
faithful history,'
Bossuet
called
Again, no one.
But ask any petty
dealer
in
second-hand books what the emblem

his books.
of
was with which he marked
He
letter.
will
answer you without the error

collector,
if
A
is
he have but an elevated

respect
for
taste,
moved by
driftwood
the
past
he seeks the
of
time which the present despises.

the debt
of
The
future pays
the past
"
and
hands the
collector's
name down
to posterity.
It
was towards the end
of the reign of Charles
IX., after the death of Grolier (1565),
that
we
54

specimens of a new
style.
find the first

of a
The
side
of
book was now covered by a framework
small compartments formed by doublefilleted
bands.
At
first
these
comIII.
partments were empty, and Henry
added
to the barren severity of the de-
sign by filling the central space with a
stamp representing the
crucifixion.
As
Henry H. put
the
bow and arrows and

^>:ij^
triple crescents of the
i4r4^
unchaste
Diana
on -^^î^^W^
'^ "^''"^ branches.
life
the royal bindings, so
the sombre
Henry
HI., taking
sadly
because of his lost love, Mary of Cleves,
was fond
of death's
lilies
also of a
powder
of tears
and
heads scattered through the
of
France.
So solemn
a style of
sister,
decoration did not tempt his

earet
TOOLS USED
iN THE " FAN-
Maras
of
Valois,
afterward
known
Queen Margot, and she

J
preferred a pow-
ii-jarcTuerites,
each flower being ^
FARES."
framed
her,
also,
in
an oblong wreath.
For
the cold austerity of the geo-
metrically
distributed
compartments was done
F;<KNCH, 16TII CENTURY.
ATTRIBUTED TO CLOVIS EVE; liELONIÊD TO MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.

55

away
with,
57
and while the same regular frameretained,

all
work was
the hollow spaces within
and without the

fillets,
figures,
formed by the double

little
were
filled
with
branches,
with
spiral vines,
light, airy,
and with a multitude
of tiny tools,
and graceful.
These are the bindings

of the
which we find on the best Thou.
books
of
De
are
These
are
the
bindings
which
Clovis,
credited to the
Eves,
Nicolas and
royal binders
two
brothers
to
who were the Whether or 1627.

credit
for
from 1578
not they are entitled to

beautiful
the
the
many
in
bindings
rather
rashly attributed to
them
is
one
of
of the
art.
"
many moot
points
the
history
the
These are the bindings now known
as
"
fanfares
title
(because that was the chief word in the
of
an old book which

style for
Thou^?enin
bound
in
this
Charles Nodier during the Restoration),
These are the bindings which served as models

to that greatest of binders,
who
so
is
known
to us
as
"
Le Gascon," and who,
M. Marius-Michel
surmises,
tice of
may have been a pupil or an apprenthe binders who worked for De Thou.

58

Grolier, perhaps
"
After
Le Gascon
"
is
the
foremost personality in the history of bookbinding

;
GroHer was not
a binder himself
he was a
collector,
an art-patron, and when applied to him
the term has no taint of the offensiveness which
may
attach to
it
nowadays
the
and, as
of
it
happens,
we do not know
artisans
names
for
any
of the artist-
who worked
the
Grolier,
and
of
to
whom
most
" all
we owe
Gascon
"
many
masterpieces
the
magnificent collection ever yet attempted.
Le
was himself a binder, but

him.
not
it
this
is
we
the
know about
whether or
immortal
"
We
was
do not know
for
sure
he who covered
Guirlande de Julie"; we do not even

"
know whether
recalling his
Le Gascon
"
was
his patronymic,
it
or a mere nickname.
Probably
origin.
is
a sobriquet
Gascon
M. Leon Gruel,
"
in his
most interesting
1'
"
Man-
uel Historique et Bibliographique de
Amateur
1887),
de Reliure
(Paris
Gruel
&
Engelmann.
of
one
the
of
the most valuable

writer
many volumes
under
these
contri-
present
in
has
placed
of
bution
the
a
preparation
pages,
reproduces
binding
signed
by
Florimond
"iRIANUS,
)
DE VENATIONE."
PARIS, 1644.
IN QUAKiw. FLAT RECTO.)

This piece
^,.ii iî.viKS
EXPOSITION, NO.
619.
Bound by Eve
with the arms of Gaston of Orleans, often attributed to the mysterious

is
G;con," but which

hjisition
(
Eve's, nevertheless.
is
curious in this respect, that
it
" Le marks the
between the flowered decoration of Eve and the pointed foliages of

la
|om
"
Les Reliures d'Art k
BibliothSque Nationale."
By permission
of
" Le Gascon." Edouard Rouveyre.)
59
6i
Badier (now in the National Library in Paris),
and
draws
attention
in
to
the
extraordinary
re-
semblance
style
which
this
binding
bears
to the bindings generally ascribed to "
Le Gas-
con."
M. Gruel ventured the hypothesis that

real
Florimond Badier might be the
name
of the
man whose nickname was

Gruel), in his (Paris:
iSSo),
"
Le Gascon."
But M.
(as is
Marius- Michel, a practical binder himself
M.
book about "La Reliure Fran9aise"

et
Damascene Morgand
book
to
Charles Fatout.
another
which the writer owes

confess,
more than he can here

Michel had declared
Badier's to be the
itator of "
this
M.
Marius-
binding of Florimond
of
handiwork
some clumsy im-
Le Gascon," who had copied even the
dotted outline of a
human head which some have

decide
taken to be in some sort the trade-mark of the

master.
Who
?
shall
when
decorators
disagree
If
layman may hazard an opinion,
it
would
be to the effect that although Florimond Badier
might well be the true name of

yet the binding in question
is
"
Le Gascon,"
not equal to the
best of those accredited to the
supreme
artist of
62

and splendoiir
is
bibliopegy, those marvels of taste
wherein the utmost luxury of gilding

allowed
glaring.
to
never
become
vulgar,
tawdry,
or
even
That
artists
"
Le Gascon
"
is
the foremost of
a
all
the
is
who have embellished

of
his
book-cover
the
verdict
fellow-craftsmen.
M. Gruel
does not yield to M. Marius-Michel in admiration of the magnificent masterpieces
which came
all
from the hands
of "
Le Gascon."
In
"
that
M.
Marius-Michel has written about

there
is
Le Gascon"
Mr.
;
a glow
of
devoted
is
enthusiasm.
in
William
Matthews
as
swift
I
praise
and
Mr. Cobden-Sanderson, when
asked him
all
whom
posi-
he held to be the greatest

not hesitate, but answered
tively, "
of
binders, did
promptly and
Le Gascon."
is
As Keats
"
has been called

"
the poets' poet, so

binders' bookbinder.
Le Gascon
it
the book-
But
does not need the
trained eye of the expert to discover his surpass-
ing charm, the richness of his gilding, and the

unfailing delicacy and distinction of his design.
Yet
the
most
little
characteristic
of
of
his
bindins^s
differs
but
from those
his
immediate
FRENCH, 17TH CENTURY.
ATTRIBUTED TO " LE GASCON.'

63
Bookbindm^s Old and New.

predecessors
65
mere
in
so
far
at
least
as
the
structure and outline of the decoration are con-
cerned.
It
was only by slow degrees that he

individuality,
developed his own

to the
and
end
of his career
he employed
the formal framework of the fanfares
whenever he had
to
do a binding
of
exceptional importance.
Now
and again, however, he
pre-
ferred a less complicated design,
and
he used a
lace-like
border and a broad
rectangular framework, boldly tooled,
cf
and
almost
filled
with
dazzling
array of coruscating spirals, which set

off the red leather of the smaller central
space,
containing generally
of
the
coat-of-arms
It
the
fortunate
owner.
in-
%
)
was only by degrees that he

his
troduced what was almost

innovation
line
only
tools
in
which a dotted
fillet.
replaced
the simple
of
The
^K
TOOLS OF LE GASCON.'
full-face
inirs
device
first
the
Aldine bindto
lif^hten
it
was
azured,
little,
and then hollowed
out,
leavint^
it
in
"
66

;
outline only
and now
it
was made
still
airier,
when
points.
of
it
appeared only as a string
of
tiny gilt
This dotted
line
it
is
the
characteristic
"Le Gascon," and
gives their incomparable

his
brilliancy to
is
the best of
bindings.
But
it
merely one of the implements

of
at the
com-
mand
almost
his
skill
and
an
taste,
artist
and he would be
if
as
great
he
had
not
happened on
this particular
improvement.
that
"
M. Marius-Michel thinks
in his
Le Gascon
youth must have been familiar with the

in
best
his
bindings
the library of
for
De Thou.
a
In
manhood he worked
it
Cardinal IMazarin,
as
and
is
worthy
France
of
in
note,
proof
of
the
mastery
Italy,
of
an
art
borrowed
from
an
to
that
when Cardinal Mazarin

in
(himself
Italian)
was
Rome
a
in
1643,
he
sent
Paris
for
workmen
to bind his
books.
Barely
I.
century and
quarter
earlier,
Francis
and Grolier had been forced

binders into France.
the
cardinal
to import
"
Italian
"
Perhaps
of his
is
Le Gascon
lent
some
own
apprentices.
That he had
assistants
obvious.
of
No one
the
man
could
satisfy
the
demands
book-

lovers
that
of
67
thinks
his
time.
M.
Marius- Michel
certain
he can pick out

of
bindings
four
now
he
the
tools
volumes
in the
Thomas Aquinas,
as
for example,
Mazarin Library
apprentices,
which
he
were the work

that
of
of
these
believes
can discern in these books the tools

master,
of "
but not
"
his
skill
of touch.
The
Le Gascon
them
qui veut.
are graceful in themselves, but
to
use
as
he
used
them
ne
faict ce
totir
III.
PADELOUP AND DEROME.
When
of
Louis XIV. succeeded to the throne
France,
in
"
and began the

splendour and
long
reign
in
which
sadness,
opened
probably
king;
ended
still
Le Gascon
the
"
was
binder to the
greatest
of
but
influence
of
the
bibliopegic artists diminished as the years went

on,
and as the proud king sought

art,
to
dominate
in himself
every
as the
lio-ht.
and
to centre
all
all
things
sun from which
things were to draw
The
over-gilt
reio:n
of
Louis
XIV.
;
was
the
golden age of
the
French
age
of
art
literature
it
was but
French
binding.
The
of the
characteristic of the
toward the end
long rule of the Grand

luxury
of
Monarch was a
brutal
heavy
gilding.
in
The
fashion
king's
as
own
books were bound

the
sive
leaden as
as
architecture
of
of
Versailles,
pride.
68
and
expres-
the
royal
The
royal
arms,
Bookbindmgs Old and New.

exaggerated
out
of
all
69
were
proportion,
stamped on the centre

and they were
equally
girt
of the side
of a book,
about by a broad border,

equally
dull.
emphatic
often
and
These
borders were
imprinted by a roulette^ a
in
wheel on which a pattern was incised
the
same way
tians
that the cylinder-rings
of
the
Egyp-
were engraved.
The
as
use
of the roll, repeating the
same
it
motive
indefinitely
is
rolled over the
leather,
is
in-
defensible
of art;
it
is
the negation
the
is
it
destroys
free
play
of
hand
which
the
very essence of handicraft.
THREE SEVENTEENTHCENTURY BORDERS.
The
fashion
set
;
by the king
was
of
copied
by the courtiers
and on most
the
little
books
bound under Louis XIV. we
find
more
than a border around the margin, and a coatof-arms

.was
in
the
centre.
Sometimes enough
in
wheel
a
prepared
broad
to
;
imprint
heavy wreath three inches

there
width
sometimes
one
them-
would
the
be
two or
the
three
borders
within
other,
corners
forming
70
selves

as
best
they
could,
haphazard
and
heavy
happy-go-lucky.
Sometimes huge
and
corner-pieces were employed.
Sometimes even
the whole side of a book was engraved in the
same heavy
task
style,
thus
reducing
of
the
binder's
almost
the
to
the
level
day-laborer's.
When
lifeless
public
accepts
for
mechanical and
substitute
artistic
is
and
individual
of
handicraft,
artistic
the
result
deadening
the the
impulse,
and
decadence
into
inertia of
commonplace.
Possibly
to
we may
fairly
charge
of
this
decline
the
inexorable
there
self-assertion
the
king;
in
certainly
was no great
bookbinder
France while Louis XIV. was on the throne,
and no
great
book-lover.
His reign
is
not
of
distinguished
Grolier or of a
by the development either

"
Le Gascon."
under
the
"
Yet
it
was while
of
he
ruled
that,
influence
the
traditions bequeathed
by
Le Gascon,"
the
the tools
known
to
book-lovers
the
as
fers
du
dixtools,
septieme
siecle,
seventeenth-century
;
were brought into use

continue
in
and these lovely

day,
tools
use
to
this
and
form
the

basis of the stock In
trade of the best binders
of the nineteenth century.
And
also,
it
was
in
the
reign
of
Louis
XIV.,
by sheer reaction against the leaden showof
iness
the
fashion
set
by
of
the
king,
that
there
arose
the simple
style
binding called
of
after Jansen,
and adopted by the sect

Jansenists
Port-
Royal.
soberly,
sides,
The
with
relying
in
bound
their
books
no
on
gilding
the
whatsoever
beauty
on
of
the
the
clad,
simple
leather
which
their
volumes
inside
were
border
its
and
decorating
as
to
it
only
the
the
resemunderin
dentelle,
was
called,
from
blance
delicate
lacework.
better
These
bound,
decorated
books
were
technical sense,
than those of
an
earlier day,
however much more beautiful the older books

were to the eye.
for example,
The books bound by

more
solidly
Boyet,
toward the end of the seventeenth

prepared,
century,
carefully
were
sewn,
more
more cautiously covered, than

from the
those
sent forth
workshops
of
his
of
immediate
predecessors.
The
Boyets,
the
one
whom
in
1733 was binder to
king,
kept
72

Le Gascon," and although
and
sustained
their
in
alive the traditions of "
they
their
were
not
encouraged
more
skill
artistic
endeavours, as
indis-
putable
deserved, yet they are the bridge

of
"
from the days
Le Gascon
"
to those of the
Padeloups and the Deromes.

Shortly
after the
death of Louis
the
XIV. was
"
produced
one
of
most remarkable bindthe art

is
ings in the history of

et
the
Daphnis
the
Chloe"
of
of
1715,
which
adorned with
arms
the
the regent, and which was recently in

collection.
it
Quentin-Bauchard
is
Its
chief
characteristic
it
that
is
mosaic
that
has
polychromatic decoration formed by
inlaid leathers of various colours.
The
coloured
varied
there
bindings
tints
of
Grolier's
of
time owed
their
to
bands
paint,
and
although
had been now and again attempts

there
"
at inlaying,
had been
et
no
such
bold
effort
as
this
Daphnis
Chloe," attributed
generally
to
of
Nicolas
Padeloup,
one
of
long family
binders, existing for
more than a century and

regency,
to
a half.
or
of
binding in mosaic of the
Louis
XV.,
is
generally
credited
"OFFICE DE LA SEMAINE SAINTE." KUUNl) liY N. I'AUEI.OUr. (FROM "REMARKABLE BINDINGS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM," BY HENRY B.
WHEATLEY.)
73
75
Padeloup, just as a picture with a white horse

is
often
ascribed
to
Wouwerman
without
"
further warrant.
nis
et
The
was
decoration of the
Daph-
Chloe
"
obviously inspired
by the
designs of the contemporary potters.
And
here
occasion
all
serves
to
say
that
the
interdependence of
the decorative arts, their
varying influence one

seen
in
upon the
of
other,
can be
the
history
bookbinding,
else.
perhaps
more
art
clearly than
of
anywhere
The modern
in
bookbinding
century
in
began
Venice,
boldly
the
fifteenth
which had close which many

attracted,
relations with
the Orient, and to
Greek and Arab workmen had been

bringing with them their
of decoration.
theories
desio-ns O
and habits
of
Geometric
all
Arabic
origin
are
abundant on
the
at
objects
this
made
es-
by Venetian
pecially
city of
handicraftsmen
time,
on the
islands
fragile glassware
is
still
for
which the
famous
and M. Marius-
Michel
reproduced
tiles
decorative the
band
taken
of
from the
a mosque
the
which adorned
Constantinople,
embroideries,
interior
in
and applied also

then
given
as
Venetian
76
model
Bookbiiidhigs Old
in
and New.
volume
of
Andrea Guadagnino,
Italian
promptly
copied
by the
bookbinders,
and soon borrowed
by their French brethren.
At
first,
very naturally, the decoration of the
outside
of
books was influenced by the

their insides,
deco-
ration of
and
we
find
bindings
the
design of which
the
rich
was obviously suggested

lavish
by
and
embellishment
of
mediaeval manuscripts, and others adorned with

patterns
rate
ters.
modified
but slightly from the elabothe

early
as
typographic ornaments of
prin-
The
Aldi
were
binders
well
as
printers,
and the same devices decorated

both
the
their
noble folios
frey
within
and without.
of of
"
GeofFleury,"
Tory,
author
the the
art
Champ
of
who
reformed
type-founding
and
brought
letter,
about
a
abandonment
blackbinder.
was
printer
who was
also
He
is
supposed to have wôrked for his conMr. Story makes
temporary, Grolier.
declare
:
Raphael
It
seems to
all
me
tree,
All
arts are
one
it
branches on one
All fingers, as
were,
upon one hand.
" ARIOSTO,
ORLANDO
FURIOSO."
YOUNGER. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. MORGAND.)
VENICE, 1584. BINDING OF DEROME THE (BY PERMISSION OF DAMASCENE

77

The
least,
is
79
arts,
solidarity
of
the
decorative
the
hints
at
indisputable.
Even
the
casual
of
ob-
server
cannot but
note
design with
borrowed
interest,
and and
lent,
and
paid
back
borrowed
again.
Under
Louis
flour-
XIII.,
ished,
of the suit
for
example,
when
lace-making
over
not
the
bookbinders
took
a few
to
art.
lace-makers' designs, modifying
them
the
conditions
it
of
the
to
bibliopegic
see
Perhaps
of
is
not
fanciful
of in
something
of
the
formal grace
reflected
the stately gardens
Le Notre
the covers of the sump-
tuous tomes of Louis XIV., influenced for the

worse,
as
these
were,
by the
heavy
hand
of
Lebrun.
As we
"
turn the pages of M. Marius- Michel's
instructive
and interesting essay, we note that

tools
Le Gascon " used
one design
of
which
;
w*
that
suggested by contemporary embroideries

Padeloup,
with a duller sense of
fitness,
;
found
models
in
ecclesiastical stained-glass
and that
Derome
varied
was
influenced
by
of
the
the
remarkably
master
iron-
and
skilful
work
workers
of the day.
8o

close
The
is
interaction of
the decorative
find
arts
made obvious again when we

certain
experts
Hke M. Marius-Michel seeking

of of in
for
the
source
to
re-
the the
in
florid
designs
pottery
attributed
of
Padeloup
gency,
painted
the
the
and
symmetrically
of
disposed
parterres of the
great gardens
Louis XIV.
of
and Louis XV.

loup
tion
(or
Perhaps the mosaics
Pade-
at
any rate the turning

are
of his atten-
to
mosaic)
due
to
the
example
of
Boule,
who
died only in 1732, and

art
who
carried
to the highest perfection the

in
of
incrusting
wood designs
of ivory.
of
gold and of brass, of shell
and
The main
sufficient sense
defect
of
of
Padeloup
was an
in-
form.
are
Some
as
of these
floral
designs
in
mosiac
the
unrelated
as
to
the
shape
of
book they decorate
though
they had been cut out of an embroidered silk

or
printed
calico.
Some
the
of
them have
monotonous
as
repetition of
same framework,
roll
though they were torn from a
of wall-
paper.
Form and symmetry, composition and
balance
these
are essentials of decorative art.
FRENCH, i8TH CENTURY.

8i
liY
DEROME.

Most
of
'^2)
Padeloup's
designs
;
are
fragmentary
they lack unity of motive

to
they have no centre dtdy sub-
which the
rest of the decoration is
ordinate.
others,
Some
of
them, less pretentious than
have a quality of their own.
Beyond
all
question they are characteristic of their period.

In the
style,
main they are heavy, and they lack

grace.
skill,
Style
they lack most plentifully,
for
Padeloup was as eclectic as a quack-doctor.
He
would mingle
in
the
cover of
any
one
unfortunate
book
tools
and methods borrowed

of the art.
from the whole history

I
confess
to
having fallen
into
popular
terror here, in speaking of Padeloup as though he
were a single
were,
first
entity, despite
last,
the fact that there

of
and
twelve
the
Padeloups.
And
of the
Derome
were
dynasty, which for a while

less
was contemporaneous, there were no

fourteen
binders.
than
as
who
more or
greatest
less
known
these
Perhaps the
of
was
Nicolas Denis Derome,

in
1
who was
generally
received master
76 1,
and who
is
known
as
the
Younger Derome.
The Younger Derome was who
a rapid binder, a merit most rare in those
84

;
practise this craft
and he was an honest workof his
man, loyally following the mandates

tomers.
stance.
cus-
His
bindings
have solidity
and sub-
But he was too fond
of the knife, and,
like a cruel surgeon, too careless in its use.
He
cut to the c|uick, and
many
a beautiful book has
died under his treatment.
Margins and edges

;
were shorn away with merciless persistence

tall
no
copies ever
left his
shop.
Dibdin
cries out
against
Derome
again and again, and
we cannot
but feel that the cutting-iron of the binder had

pierced
the soul of
that
travelling
book-lover.
" Pris-
The Englishman
cianus," printed
lost a
declares that a folio of

of
by John
Spires in 1470, had

half
head and shoulders, and that a good
of the miniatures are cut into at the top.

is
This
is
a crime for which the guillotine

fit
itself
the
only
punishment.
is
As
all
it
the custom to attribute to Padeloup
the mosaics of the period, so to

all
Derome
are
credited
the
bindings whereon we see the

tool wherein a
life
fer a V oiscau, a gracefully cut
tiny bird with outstretched wings gives

vivacity
to
and
In
the
decoration
of
the
cover.

Derome's hands
erally
of
this
85
decoration consisted gena
dentelle,
lacework
border
obvi-
ously
varied
modelled
on the marvellously easy and

of
wrought-iron
the
French
smiths of
the middle of the eighteenth century.
Nothing
its
could be at once lighter and firmer, and of
kind more charming, than the best of the open-
work borders
tooled
of
Derome,
solidly
|^
^'^^''^ ^'^^^^-
on broad morocco. borrowed from
And ^wC^L^L^
the ^
the
motives,
artist-artisans
who were
of
forging the gates and
makino- the locks
the
French connoisseurs
of that century, are capable of infinite variation.
Probably there are no two bindings of Derome's

exactly alike.
A UEKUME UOliDEK.
86
I
Boo/cbindings Old
confess that
I
and New.
have here praised Derome

the
more warmly than do

whose
feet
I
French
critics
I
at
sit,
and whose learned
taste
envy,
to be
Derome's work seems

preferable
loup's
;
to
me
to
at
all
points
Pade-
easier,
more
in a
graceful,
more
appropriate
orative.
in
word, more dec-
After
Padelonp and
De-
rome the eighteenth century had

no
binder
France over whose
work we need dwell now.
The
art
was getting clumsy- and sluggish.

Strangely enough,
the
vignettists,
even
at the
height of their vogue,
did not inspire those
who
decorated
the outsides of the volumes, the insides of
which they had
illustrated
with such dainty and delicious fan-
,iKMm
tasy.
Risen was a friend of a binder

the
friend-
tîy*^
named Dubuisson, but
'''TooLr''' ship had no appreciable effect upon Dubuisson's handiwork. Gravelot designed the
tools to be used
on the sides and back

Contes
" of
of the
volumes
of his
"
La Fontaine
(1762),

of
87
his
Racine
(1768),
and
of to
his
Corneille
lost
(1771); but his
hand seems
have
some-
what
for
of
its
it
cunning when
it
undertook a task
which
had no
training.
At
his
is
least so
M.
Marius-Michel
taste
thinks,
and
trained
which a layman may wisely
follow.
Co-
chin did not suggest a chaste disorder to those
who bound
his
the
plates
books he had adorned with

;
delicate
nor did
Moreau
and
if
a French decorative artist of the
last
century
could not be stimulated

effort
by Moreau, then the
was hopeless.
<>
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TOOLS.
SS
It
is

not a treatise on bookbinding that
art,
I
have
here attempted, or a history of the

a set and
or even
formal essay.
All
have sought to
do
is
to jot
down
a few stray notes

to
to gossip
about those
Beautiful.
who have helped
make
the
the
Book
in
What
have tried to show
my
of
rambling
paragraphs,
and
in
is
illustrations
chosen to accompany them,

styles,
the sequence
and the way one
style
was evolved from

one to the other.
another, and their
relations
At
first
we
find
almost
simultaneously
Grolier
the
the
Aldine and
the
styles.
Mai'oli,
the
and the
Henry
II.,
Then
followed
powder
(which probably suggested the wreaths), the fanfares

of "
of
the
Eves,
and the
Finally
brilliant
fantasies
Le Gascon."
came Padeloup with

from
his
polychromatic mosaics (some of them derivtheir
ing
monotonous
framework
the
wreaths and the powder), and Derome with his

vigorous borders.
history
of
And
as
I
wandered down the

have tried
to
bookbinding,
show
suc-
that the key to any understanding of
the
ceeding styles
tools of
is
to be
found in a study
of the
each epoch.

That the names
of the gifted bookbinders
89
and
devoted book-lovers which came to the end of
my
ful
pen
in the course of
my
stroll
down
is
the vista
of bibliopegy
were nearly
all
French
not wil-
on
my
part,
but inevitable.
The
art of
if
bookit
binding was cradled in
France, even
it
was
born elsewhere, and in France

rity.
grew
to
matu-
Italy shared the struggle with

fell
France in
the beginning, but soon
behind exhausted.
Germany invented
the book-plate to paste inside
a volume, in default of the skill so to adorn the
volume externally that no man should doubt

its
ownership.
England has had but one binder
Roger
Payne
that
of the
even the insular enthu-
siasm of his compatriots would dare to set beside

the galaxy of bibliopegic stars of France.
The supremacy
this art is
French
in the history of
shown
in the catalogues of every great

;
book-sale and of every great library

of the collection are sure to
the
gems
be the work of one

to
or another of the
Frenchmen
whose unrivalled
attainments
have once more called attention

It
is
in these pages.
revealed
yet again
by a
his-
comparison of the
illustrations in the
many
90
torical

accounts of the
art,
;
French and German,

nearly
nine-tenths
of
British
and
American
the bindings chosen for reproduction are French.
And,
after enjoying these,
we
are often
led
to
wonder why
enough
to
misplaced patriotism was blind
expose the other tenth to a damaging
comparison.
These
remarks,
of
course,
apply
only to the binders whose work was done before

the
beginning
of
the
nineteenth century.
Of
late years the superiority of
French binders has

has not been
in
been undisputable, but

whelming.
Britain
it
over-
There
in the
are
at
present
Great
and
United States binders
whom
and
vol-
no one has a right

about
to pass over in silence,
whom
shall
gossip again
it
in
this
first
ume
but in the past
was France
and
the rest nowhere.
ENGLISH, iSTH CENTURY.

91
ROGER PAYNE.
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE
PRESENT.
BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PRESENT.
I.
THE TECHNIC OF THE CRAFT.
As
there
is
unfortunately
no word
in
the
EngHsh language
dignified,
to describe those familiar, yet

in
poems which
France are known as

far
is
vers dc societe,
"
and which are and as there
above ordinary
society verse,"
no single term
to
in
denote the short-story, the form of fiction
which we Americans have been most abunis
dant and successful, so also
there need
in
English of a recognized phrase for the defining

each of the two halves of bibliopegic
art.
Book-
binding consists of two wholly distinct operations,

"
known
to the expert as
"forwarding" and
finishing."
Forwarding
for
its
is
the proper prepara-
tion of a
book
cover and the putting on

95
96

;
of that cover
finishing
of
is
the decoration of the

it
sides
and back
the book after

is
has been
of
of
covered.
Forwarding, therefore,
the task
an an
artisan, while finishing

artist.
must be the work
Mr.
WilHam Matthews, than whom

to express
there
is
no one more competent

has declared
that
is
an opinion,
neatly
"
book,
when
and
cleanly covered,
tion without
in a
very satisfactory condi-
any finishing or decorating."
Many
vol-
book-lovers agree wdth the foremost of Ameri-
can bookbinders, and order their precious
umes
to be soberly clad in plain

it is
morocco.
The
maxi-
Jansenist binding, as
called after the leader
of the recluses of Port-Royal, calls for the
mum mum
of of
care in the forwarding, and the mini-
gilding
or
other
decoration
'
of
the
finisher.
Mr. Matthews went even further,
quote
from his lecture on

Considered,"
of in
"
Bookbinding Practically
delivered before the Grolier Club

in
New York
1889, steps
1885, and by the club printed
and
having
described
is
the
succes-
sive
by which a book
prepared, for-

warded,
97
:
and
covered
with
leather,
said
is
" I
now
declare the book in this condition

skilfully
bound,
and he w4io has
mastered these various

passed
called
processes through which a volume has

deserves the
name
of binder;
it,
he
who
is
upon
to
is
decorate
finisher.
:
At
present
the
custom
is
the reverse
the finisher or decorator
credited with
being the binder, whereas he
has done none of the binding."
Now,
of this
there
is
no
doubt
that
is
the
protest
accomplished craftsman
is
well founded.
is
But the error

uprooting
of a
it
so old that there
no hope
of
at this late day.
When we
we
speak
book
as beautifully bound,
of
are praising
the
work
the
man who
designed and exe-
cuted the decoration of the cover, not the labour

of the
man who clothed the book with leather, and who bbviously enough was really its binder. Of course, in a great many instances forwarder
and finisher are one and the same person.
Per-
haps this was the case with the books which are
catalogued as
it is
"
bound by Le Gascon," although

"Le Gascon
the
" is
as a finisher that
unrivalled,
and
certainly
it
is
case
with
the
books
98
bound by Mr. Cobden-Sanderson, who himself

attends
to
every detail
of
preparing and
for-
warding, aided only by his wife.
The French
and,
in
term
for
"finisher"
of
is
"gilder,"
his
account
French
bookbinding,
is
M.
Marius-
Michel, a dorciw himself,

credit for a delicate
artist
very careful to give

to
it.
decoration
gilded
is
the
It
is
special
who designed and
greatly
to be regretted that there
in
popular use only
one word to designate the two distinct operations.
Although these notes on the

binding as
it
art
of
bookto
is
practised
to-day
have
do
with the work of the
finisher the
artist
who
adorns the exterior of a volume, and not with

the
of for
more humble, but not

the forwarder
decoration,
less important,
labour
it
the
may
artisan
who
prepares
it
not
be amiss to begin
by setting forth the

undergoes
at
series of operations a
first
;
book
the hands
the finisher
of
the forwarder,
and then
tion
of
of
and
I
in this
explana-
technical
of
processes
bibliopegic
shall
art,
follow two
masters
the
Mr. William
Matthews, from whose lecture before the Gro-
"HISTORY, THEORY, AND PRACTICE OF ILLUMINATING." LONDON, 1861.
DIGKY WYATT,
inlaid with varie-
Bound by Zaehnsdorf.
Crimson morocco, wide borders,

in
gated leathers in a scroll pattern, bold
design
lined with dark green
morocco
with red border, the whole ornamented with vines
and
flowers.
Owned by Mr.
Samuel
P.
Avery.
99

lier
loi
Club
have already quoted, and Mr. Joseph

"
W.
of
in
Zaehnsdorf, whose handbook of
The Art
Bookbinding
1S90.
"
came
forth in a second edition
Every book-lover should understand
the principles of the art of the bookbinder, and

the practices of the craft
;
appreciation
is
best
founded on knowledge.
Often a volume comes into the hands of the
binder already bound.
The books
of
American
publishers are issued in substantial cloth covers
intended to
British
rary,
be permament.
are
is
The bindings
of
publishers
frequently
more tempo-
and the book
loosely cased in the cloth

to
cover, the
owner being expected
rebind in
of
leather an}^
preservation.
volume which he deems worthy
The books
of
French publishers
are issued in paper covers, merely stitched,

so are
as
and
most
of those of the-
German
publishers
of his early
Lord Houghton recorded on one

Jn
visits, "
Germany
all
the books are in sheets
and
all
the beds without."

first
The
book
cover,
is
thing the binder has to do
if
the
already
bound
is
to
remove the cloth

the
and
then very carefully to collate
I02
\'olume
table
of

page by page,
contents,
list
to
of
see
if
title,
preface,
notes,
illustrations,
index,
fect
maps,
in
plates,
If
are
each
be,
and
all
per-
and
place.
to
need
the sheets are

true
;
refolded
the}^
so as
make
the pages
rolled
then
are
is
beaten
a
by hand, or
in a press,
far
which
less
more hurried method, and by

;
workmanlike
the
beating being to comthe
pact the pages, and
to give
book
solidity
and strength.
After the beating, the loose maps
and
illustrations,
mounted on
proper
to
linen guards, are
inserted
in
their
places.
Then
the
sheets
are
sewn
the
bands,
and
generally
there should be no saw-cuts in the back of the
book,
and the
it it
sewing
called,
should
"
not be
"
sunk-
band," as
flexible as
is
but
raised-band," and as
is
firm.
is
The volume
warder,
now prepared
on the work
the
for
to
the
for-
who
it
carries
the point
where
is
ready for
finisher.
;
The
for-
warder attaches the end-papers

back of the book, and rounds
niill
it
;
he glues the
he squares the
boards which are to serve as the sides of
the book, and he laces
them
in
by means
of
the

bands
to
103
which the sheets have been sewn.

eye
The
all
forwarder needs a steady hand, and, above

things,
to
true
"
the
important principle
is
be observed in forwarding
triteness.
The
form and shape of the book

forwarder" (Matthews,
p. 35).
depend on the
The volume thus

a press
;
far
advanced
is
clamped
in
and
it
is
allowed to repose for a while
and
to gain strength.
Then
is
the edges are cut,
or at least the top edge
cut, the
other margins
being better
eye
;
left
intact,
to
delight the owner's
as
it
is
only on top that a volume standit
ing on a shelf can accumulate dust,

the
is
only
so
top
edge that
needs to be smoothed
be blown
off or
it
that the dust can

at will.
wiped away
The
cut edges, be
the top only, or
top,
bottom, and fore edge, are then marbled or

;
gilded
sometimes
they are
gilded
of
over mar-
bling, to the
added richness
the work.
is
The
conto
back
is
then lined, and,
when
the binder
joint
is
scientious, a
narrow leather
for the
affixed,
act as a hinge
is
covers.
The headband
woven
or
in.
After that the leather
morocco,
tightly
calf,
what
not
is
stretched
and
04

fast.
snugly over the book, and glued
When
is
the end-papers are pasted to the covers, the task

of the forwarder
is
done, and the book

is
ready
for the finisher
who
sides
to decorate
is
it.
What
which
to
its
is
the finisher
the
has to do
to invent
design for
and back
of
the volume
its
appropriate to the book, to

its
it
subject,
owner, to
size,
is
and
to
the
kind
of
leather with which
covered.
This design
must be one which can be worked out with the

implements
at his
command.
Every
artist
must
consider the physical limitations of the art he

practises,
and the chief limitation

a
of the artist
who
decorates
it
book
is
that
of
the
desio-n
he
invents for
must be capable
accomplishment
line,
by the
fillets,
which make a straight
by the
gouges, which
various
make curved
tools,
lines,
and by the
termed.
is
other
as
they are
In
the
the proper cutting and selection of tools

secret of book-decoration.
Mr. Matthews notes

tool-cutters over
the superiority of the

the
French
;
American and
told
British
and
Mr.
Cobdenhe has
Sanderson once
me
of the difficulty
had
in getting cut such tools as
he needed.

Having
determined
05
his
on
the
scheme
of
design, the finisher selects the tools with

to
which
even
execute
it.
Mr.
of
Cobden-Sanderson
makes a habit
using the actual tools in the

pattern, blackening
sketching out of his

in
them
be
the flame of a candle
so that
they can
A BINDING BY COBDEN-SANDERSON.
transferred to paper.
will
Often professional binders
have tools especially prepared for a special
work.
The more accomplished

more elementary
the
workman,
the smaller and
his tools will
be; he will decline to use a spray of leaves or
io6
BookbindiJio-s i>
cut
all
Old and
New
preferring
a festoon
to
in
a single
piece,
impress
is
every leaf separately.
M.
Marius-
Michel
loud in the praises of a finisher
who
worked
intricate
for
Henry
II.,
and who accomplished
and lovely decorations with no other

fillet
implement than a
for
the
straight
lines,
and
a set of o'ouges for the curves

all
and
circles
and these were

ing of
the
that Gilson used in the finish-
most elaborate
Hispano-Moresque
cover and lining of the copy of

"
Owen
Jones's
for
Alhambra," which
Mr.
Matthews
1853,
bound
the
New York
exhibition of
and which
took six months to complete, and cost $500.
The
manner
tifies,
process of working a design in the best

is
very tedious, so Mr. Matthews
tes-
"
more so than even connoisseurs imagdesign

is
ine.
First the
made on
paper, then
impressed with the tools through the paper on

to the leather
;
then the paper
is
removed, and
the tools to
the
design again gone over with

the
make
impression
sharp and clear"
the
tools
leather being slightly moistened
and the
after
being moderately heated.

ing,
sizing,
"
Then,
the
washthe
and
laying on
gold
leaf,

design
is
107
gone over
of the
for the fourth time before

is
one side
ing to
cover
completed.
This, havof
be
repeated
the
on the other side

will
the
volume, and
back also tooled,
afford
some idea
of the
labour in executing the finest
hand-tooling."
Often the inside of the covers
is
also lined
with leather, and as carefully ornamented.

certain figures in the pattern
filled
Often
are excised, and

of
the
spaces
with
leathers
a different
is
colour;
and
as
this
polychromatic
or
decoration
known
isher
inlaying,
to
;
illuminating.
The
taste
fin-
needs
of
have he
delicacy
of
and
to to
nicety
touch
must
and
have
a
fancy
invent
beautiful
desio^ns,
firm
hand
execute
fame,
is
them
and he must not expect wide

appreciation, or high pay.
therefore,
It
much
are
of
real
no
wonder,
that
accomplished
in
finishers
very few.
Mr.
Quaritch,
his
late
catalogue
bookbindings, speaks of the
Francis
lived.
Bedford as the best binder
who
ever
been,
The
best forwarder, he
may have
employ.
but he was not a finisher himself, and he never
had a
first-class
finisher
in
his
Mr.
io8

that
tliere
Matthews asserted
than
six
were not more

can even
In
finishers in
New York "who

if
work any
intricate pattern with fair abiHty.

I
London
in
question
to the
the
number
;
is
greater
Paris,
proportion
population
and
in
where the
age
is
art flourishes most,
where the patron-
encouraoîno",
and
I
the
workmen
if
have
superior
advantages,
doubt
the
number
designs
of finishers quaHfied
to
work
intricate
in first-ckiss
manner exceeds twenty."

Bookbindings, 1860in the last
Any
18S0,
one who was fortunate enougli to see
the Exhibition of
at
Recent
the
GroHer Ckib
will
days of
1890, or
who
take the trouble to turn the
pages
of
M. Octave
Uzanne's
"
La
Reliure
Moderne," must confess that there are very few

finishers
of
our time
who have
originality
of
invention, freshness of composition, or individuality of taste.
But a comparison
of this
of
the
best
bound books
century with those of the
seventeenth and sixteenth centuries

the golden ages of bibliopegy, for
lived
in
"
which are
Le Gascon
"
one,
and Grolier
in
the other
is
will
show
that the
work
of our
time
technically
tJ-77
%,!
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^)
-^
) ^^ d
'it
.^
:>jl
-^y^/^/;
<f7';-^:7
.^;/'
^'7
.>-
^7 ^f
#rJ''
^'J^
-^f
'?:/
J7
:4
"
4 S 4 4 4
Garnet morocco.
4^'
^
B,
AUCASSIN
Bound by Ruban.
AND NICOLETE." LONDON, 1886. Owned by Mr. George

109
De
Forest.

far
1 1
better than
any which has come clown

Tliere
is
to
us from our ancestors.

ins:
better forward-
^ncl
better
finishino:.
In
the
is
sold-toohno-
especially the
modern workman
more
:
incomparably
neater, cleaner,
exact,
more conscientious,
tooling
of the
than
his predecessor
the
is
men
who bound
careless
;
for Grolier
to
our eye inexcusably
clumsy
irregularities
mar
the
symme-
try of the
most beautifully designed arabesques,

and ends
ill-balanced lines overrun their limits,
are
left
hanging out with reckless slovenliness.

of the of
The
superiority
elder
binders
in
their
incomparable
blind us
ness,
to
in
fertility
conception
must not
the fact that in
care, in thorough-
and
other workman-like qualities, they

inferiority to
bear a
most obvious
binders of
later years
who have
not a tithe of their ability.

affairs exists
Probably the same state of

other
arts.
I
in
I
remember
I
that
in
in
1867,
when
was but a boy,
had a chat
Naples with
Signor Castellani, the antiquary and goldsmith

about the fluctuations of the art of the
smith.
silver-
He
told
me
that he
had more than one

than
workman then
in his
shop
of greater skill
1 1

Cellini, of a
Benvenuto
more
certain handicraft.
of Cellini's
These workmen could reproduce any

legacies to posterity,
little
masterpieces of gold-
smithery and enamelling, and they would

a better
make
;
job of
it
than
the great Italian
for
the
modern
imitations would
show
a finer tech-
nical skill than Cellini's,
and reveal fewer defects
and blunders and accidents than the marvellous

originals.
But copy
as accurately as they might,

of
the
modern workmen were wholly incapable

anything.
In
Cellini
originating
there
was a
artist
union of the head and the hand, of the
and
the
lost
of
the
artisan,
while
in
Castellani's
men
hand had gained

its
skill,
but the head had
force.
art
The
handicraft
had improved,
and the
had declined.
There were now

no
indis-
very expert artisans, but there was
putably gifted
artist.
In solidity of
workmanship and
in
dexterity
of handicraft, the art of the
binder has advanced
in this centurv
but not in desisfn.
The
finish-
ers
of our time
past,
can repeat
all
the great artists
of the
but they cannot rival them in in-
vention, in fantasv, in freshness, and in charm.
"3
To
its
say this
is
not to assert that the art

it is
is
in
decadence, or even that

;
in
any way going
backward
mio^ht
but that
to
its
it
is
not going forward one
venture
hint.
last
The
its
nineteenth
it
cen-
tury
is
now
in
decade, and
has not
yet developed a style of
own
in
bookbinding
arts.
II.
"
if
it
has in any other of the decorative

for Grolier
;
The men who bound

lived in
and Henry
the
;
the
"
sixteenth century
Eves and
Le Gascon
the
lived in the seventeenth
and even
in
eighteenth century
there
was Derome,
with his lacework borders borrowed from, or at

least inspired by, the graceful
wrought-iron work
of
the contemporary
French smiths.
of the
But the
most beautiful bindings
nineteenth cen-
tury are in the main imitations of those of the

centuries preceding.
ful
Often the style
is
a doubt-
and
be
tasteless
eclectic,
perhaps not unfairly
to
stigmatized
is
as
bastard
and
mongrel.
There
effort
hardly to be detected even a vague
after
style.
Sometimes imitation
and
a
deis
velops
into
adaptation,
new
style
evolved slowly out of combinations and modifications; but in the art of binding
we have not
1 1
seen
on.
many
signs of any such process
now going
Almost the only external influence which
has been allowed to affect the accepted formulas

is
the Japanese; and the example of these sur-
passingly adroit decorative artists has not been

sufficient
to
destroy
the
is
sterility
from which
Its
the art of bookbinding

at most,
suffering.
effect,
has
been to increase the freedom

to
of
drawing, and
encourage
more
realistic
treatment of natural objects.
The
art
of
bookbinding
has
always
been
claimed by the French as peculiarly

it
theirs,
and
is
not easy to deny the justice of the demand.

in
Perhaps the position

itself
which the
this
art
has found
is
during the most of
century
due to
the French Revolution, in the course of which,
and
for
of the
long wars that ensued, the demand

abruptly.
fine
work ceased
died
tools
off,
The
trained
workmen
and the
the
the
shops were broken up,

lost.
were scattered and

art
Even
in
traditions of the
is
disappeared
and
every art which

represent
the
also a trade the traditions

force,
acquired
the
the
impetus.
Consulate,
When
the
Empire came
after

and Napoleon wished
to
pose as the patron of

" I
the arts, bookbinding was dead in France.
doubt
than
if
you
could
find
anything more ugly

for
the
books
bound
Louis
Napoleon
I.,
for
Louis
clared
"
XVIII,, for
Philippe,"
once de-
M. Auguste Laugel,
in a letter to the
Nation."
As
it
happened, the
art
which
had
been
lowest,
at
its
highest in
France, and had then sunk

its
had kept
the
humble
last
level
in
England, and
end
of the
century had even had
only successful effort at originality there.

greatest
The
name
is
in
the history of bookbinding in
Great Britain
that of
Roger Payne, an honest

of
and thorouoh workman

a
"
some
taste,
and with
design.
certain
elementary
appreciation
original,
of
His
efforts
were always
never copied,"
and
this is a
very rare compliment to pay to a

it
British
as
bookbinder; and
is
to this originality, to
Mr. Matthews suggests, rather than

excellence
in
any
great
his
designs,
that
is
he owes
held in
to
the exaggerated esteem in which he
England.
When Matthew
that
Arnold once said
Sainte-Beuve
he did not think Lamartine
1 1

important
as
very
poet,
the
French
critic
it
replied,
"He
If
is
important to us"; and so
is
with
Roger
he
Payne
is
he
is
important
at
all
to
the
British.
mentioned
is
in
French
books, his
name
usually given incorrectly.
Lewis was the leading English binder early

in this
it
century,
in
Dr. Dibdin's day.
Perhaps
was owing
to the influence of Dibdin,
some
into
of
whose rhapsodical writing was translated
French, that the Parisian book-lovers began to
send their precious volumes across the Channel

to of
be
bound
in
London.
Thus
the
tradition
Roger Payne, the most

had ever had, helped
original
binder the
British
to revive the tradi-
tions of the
French binders, who soon surpassed

rivals,
again their British
just as
it
was a
fol-
lower of Bewick
the
in
possibilities
who
of the
revealed
art
to
the
French
of
wood-engraving,
which the French have also become superior

British.
to the
II.
THE BINDERS OF TO-DAY.
Whether
from Great
the
vivifying spark
was borrowed
it
Britain, or
whether
was brought
from Germany by
Traiitz, the
French binders
Trautz
the
his
in
soon recovered their former supremacy.

is
still
the
strongest
individuality
of
this
among
and
French bookbinders
influence
1879.
is
still
century,
perceptible,
though he died
He
is
the foremost binder of
the nineper-
teenth century, and in his influence
we can
haps detect the foundation of a school, or at

least of
solitary,
something more than merely individual,

unaided struggle toward the unknown.
forwarder
of
At once
every
and
his
finisher,
overseeing
the
operation
craft,
Trautz led
reform of bookbindino^ in France.
He
frowned
upon
all
haste and on
all
labour-saving devices.
He He
never stinted time or care or hard work.

did
his
best always.
119
He
gave to the
vol-
120

which
left
umes
his
hands greater firmness,

than
flexibility,
and
solidity
any other binder
had ever before attempted.

of
"
He
caused a host
new
tools
"
to
be cut, modelled on those of
Le Gascon
and Derome and Padeloup.

of these
He
studied
the works
masters
reverently
and unceasingly, seeking

of
to
spy out the secrets

in
their
art.
He
followed
their
footsteps,
but although
he modelled himself upon them,
he never copied, trying rather to imbue himself

with
their
spirit,
and
to
carry forward
their
methods
" I
to a finer perfection,
do not think that Trautz ever made the

;
same binding twice
there
is
on every book
coming out
something
"
of
his
hands something personal,
original,"
M. Laugel wrote
in
1S79.
This man, who could make any amount of

his
money by merely putting

is
name on
books,
so conscientious that he only turns out every

;
year about two hundred volumes

three
he has only he does the
workmen
of
or
workwomen
drawing
those
ornaments and gilding himself.
For
who have
not seen Trautz or Thibaron

it
(the pupil of Trautz) at work,
is
almost impos-

sible to
imagine how
much
pains must be taken
for
one volume."
Nothing that Trautz under;
took cost more pains than his mosaics
in
the
two-score years from 1838 to 1878 he attempted
only twenty-two of them, and of these four are
now owned by New York

his bindings,
collectors.
They
show, perhaps, the most originality of any of
and they reveal
his characteristics
most abundantly.
of design
They have
the pure beauty
which we look
art,
for in
every work of
deft-
decorative
wrought with the utmost
ness and delicacy of handicraft.
Of the supremacy
of
of the
French
in
the
art
bookbinding since Trautz led them back into
the true path,
no better evidence can there be
than the index of binders represented prefixed

to the catalogue of the Grolier
of
Club Exhibition
is
Recent Bookbindings.
New York
perhaps
the
most cosmopolitan
of all the great cities of

all
the nineteenth century, especially in
matters
pertaining to art; and the taste of

is
its
collectors
eclectic in the best sense of that
much-abused
handi-
term.
Of the
fifty-one
at
binders
the
whose
work was exhibited
Grolier,
thirty-six
22
in
Bookbindmgs Old and New.

Paris,
lived
six
one
at
Lyons, one at Brussels,
in
London,
five in
New
York, one in Phila-
delphia, and one in Quebec.

riority
The
artistic
supethe
of the
French
bindings shown
at
Grolier was almost as

of
marked
as the numerical
in at
the
in
score
of
bindings
finest
conception
least
and
the
execution,
of
three-fourths
were
product
not
a
Parisian
workshops.
There
from
were
these
few also which
had come
as
same shops, which were
bad as the
worst which had been turned out in

or
New York
of
London
borrow
misbegotten
a
scriptural
horrors
if
leather,
"whom
to
Satan hath bound,"
it
is
permissible
quotation
late
from
that
of
learned book-lover,
the
Henry Stevens
Vermont.
But
the
very
best
of
M M.
Cape,
Cuzin,
Chambolle-Duru,
De
Samblancx,
Gruel
and
Nied-
Engelmann,
ree,
Joly,
Lortic,
Marius-Michel,
attains
Quinet,
of
and
Ruban,
very high
again,
standard
doubt,
rificed
excellence.
Now
finishing,
and
no
sac-
we
find a
French binder who has

to
forwarding
solid
having
that
made
it
his
book so
and
so
stiff
can
A BINDING BY FRANCISQUE
123
CUZIN.

scarcely be opened, and so
is
25
it
compacted that
is
if
opened unwarily the back
broken beyond
repair.
Books
Parisian
have seen fresh from the hands

as
brilliant
of
binder
to
as
jewel-
casket,
and as hard
open as a safe-deposit vault

the combination.
position
when you have forgotten
The
and
relatively
high
held
by
the
only,
binders of
at best
Great
it
Britain
to
was momentary
was due
the temporary deca-
dence
least,
of the craft in France.
Of
late years, at
bookbinding has shared the misfortune

of
of
most
the
other
fine
arts
in
England, and
lament-
has lingered
in a condition
only less
able than that of sculpture

it
and painting because

with dull and
contented
itself chiefly
honest
imitation of the dead-and-gone masters.

artist
Every
and
must needs serve
his apprenticeship
follow in the footsteps of
a teacher, but where

inspiration
only,
Trautz,
for
example, sought
Bedford and the other
British
binders
found
models which they copied slavishly.
The worktheir
manship
of
the bindings
that
left
shops
was honest and thorough, but the decoration
was
lifeless
and colourless.
The
British artisan
26
forwarded conscientiously, but the finishing of

the British artist was sadly to seek.
How
inert
the
art
of
bookbinding was
in
England during nearly
four-score years can

"
be
Fif-
seen by glancing over the

teen
Catalogue of
for
Hundred
Books
of
remarkable
their
the
Beauty or the Age
Bindings" issued
by Mr.
Quaritch in
1888.
Here the curious

1
inquirer will find, under
numbers
by
325-1 345, a
Bedford,
the
score
of
books
bound
Francis
to
whom
binder
doubt,
these
Mr.
Quaritch
declares
be
best
who
the
ever lived
best
is
meaning
and
in
thereby, no
of
forwarder;
finished
every one
of
books
imitation
some
French binder.
in imitation of
Nos. 1325 and 1326 are "bound
Derome
in
le
jeune," the catalogue
declares
of
frankly,
apparent
unconsciousness
to
the
hopelessly
inartistic
position
British
which
this
confession
is
assigns
the
craftsman.
No. 1327
1328
is
"in
imitation of
in
Padeloup."
of
No.
of
"bound
imitation
the
work
of
Hardy-Dumennil," a French binder not

highest esteem
^l3^-> ^ZZ^-i
'^^cl
the
among
book-lovers.
Nos. 1329,
Trautz.
1339 are copied from
127
Nos. 1334, 1335, and 1345 are "bound in imitation of
Chambolle-Duru."
artistic
This
sterility
was probably due
to
XSSOESBBSPi
ilx*.'.-.-:
"
THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS." Size, 7% in. X sJ^ in. Bound by Cobden-Sanderson.
the lack of intelligent patronage, and the slug-
gishness
this
of
the
book-lover
is
responsible
for
disheartening result.
But the custom seems
28
Bookbmdings Old and New.

even
in
to obtain
the present
the
day,
if
one may
accept as
evidence
"
second edition of Mr.

of
Zaehnsdorf s
The Art
Bookbindinor."
In
"ATALANTA
Size, ^Vi in.
IN CALYDOX."
dVt in.
Bound by Cobdeu-Sanderson.
this
practical
guide
to
his
art,
the author, a
bookbinder himself and the son
of a
bookbinder,
gives plates of typiceJ covers of the chief styles;
129
and these are not genuine specimens bound for

Grolier or by
ently
"
Le Gascon."
Gascon
They
" {sic)
are appar;
Mr.
Zaehnsdorf's
own handiwork
cer-
tainly the plate called "
cannot be
the
work
is
of the great
Frenchman, because the
book
one
first
published perhaps two hun-
dred years after his death.
Here we discover a
conscientious craftsman not only content to be

a
humble
imitator,
of
but
so
deficient
in
any
no
appreciation
difference
originality
that
of
he
his
sees
between
the
model
copy.
master
and
his
own second-hand
yet
And
dignity
Francis
Bedford
was
capable
of
original work, simple

of
its
always, but with a quiet
own.
Mr.
Zaehnsdorf
is
an
accomplished workman, able to send from his
shop
books
dressed
with
propriety,
and,
at
times, not without individuality.
Mr. Roger de
Coverly
are
is
another British binder whose labours

book-lovers.
liked by
The
most
original
figure
among
in
fact,
the
English binders of this cenonly

original
tury
the
is
figure
since
Roger Payne
Mr.
Mr. Cobden-Sanderson.
is
Cobden-Sanderson
one
of
the
most
130
characteristic personalities in the strange strug-
gle for artistic freedom
now going on
in
Eng-
"
HOMERI
ILIAS."
Size, 514 in.
x 3%
in.
Bound by Cobden-Sanderson.
land.
He
is
a friend and fellow-labourer of Mr.

of
William Morris and
Mr. Walter Crane with

is
whose
socialistic
propaganda he
in
sympa-

thy,
131
and with
takes
whom
the
he manifests and parades.
He
much
same view
of Hfe that they
SHKLLF.V.
Size, ZVi in.
"THK
Kl'A'Ol.r
)1'
ISLAM.
5V4 in.
have; he holds the
same creed
as
it
;
to
society,
and as to each man's duty toward
he has the
132

in
art
;
same aim
httle
of
and he
is
gifted with not a

instinct.
the
same decorative
Believ-
ing in handicraft as the salvation of humanity,
and that a man should labour with
his
hands,
he abandoned the bar, and studied the trade of

the binder.
Perhaps
it
is
hardly unfair to
call
him an amateur
teur
so
at
Mr. Hunt was an amathose
when he
desio:ned
most beautiful
IMr.
wrought-iron
gates
Newport.
Cobden-
Sanderson's forwarding has not yet attained to

the
are
highest professional
standard.
But
believe
there
not
lacking book-lovers
who
him
to be the
most
orio-inal
and the most
effective
finisher
who
has yet appeared in England.

is
His tooling
vigorous.
admirably firm and dazzlingly

the
Whatever
in
inadequacy
of
his
workmanship
the gilding,
the
processes
which precede
and
in these his
hand
is
steadily
gaining
strength,
there
is
no
disputing his
to
decorative
endowarient.
He brought
alert
the
a
study of
trained
bookbinding an
intelligence,
to
mind, and a determination

of
master
his
the
secrets
beins:
the
art.
He
does
all
own
un-
work,
both forwarder
and
finisher,
"IN MEMORIAM."
Size,
6%
in.
^Vi in.
133
135
aided even by an apprentice, although his wife

(a
daughter
of
of
Richard
sewing.
Cobden)
has
his for for
taken
charge
tools,
the
He
designs
own
him.
having
them
cut
especially
Even
the letters he uses were
drawn
him
by Miss
May
Morris
and he makes a most

initials,
artful use of lettering,

titles,
working
essential
names,
and mottos into

an
of
his design,
and making
part
of
them
integral
and
the
scheme
decoration.
He
of " of
has
studied
most
lovingly the
methods
Le Gascon," and he
the
"
has
assimilated
some
it
taste
of
that
master of the art;

doubt, that
is
from
Le Gascon," no
Mr. Cobden-Sanderson caught the

of his
knack
of
powdering parts
stars,
design with
gold points,
\
single
leaves,
and the
brilliancy
like
a
Mr.
order.
device
if
giving
the
utmost
to
the design
used
skilfully.
Cobden-Sanderson
will
not
work
to
He
and
binds only those books that please
him,
is
he
binds
of
them
the
as
he pleases.
of
He
cusvol-
independent
caprices
his
tomers.
[
He
and
does
with
not
undertake
he
does
many
his
umes,
each
best.
136

a
novice, trying his
'prentice
When
hand, he
wasted himself
more
than
once
on volumes
"THE LIFE AND DEATH OF
JASON.
Bound bv Cobden-Sanderson.
of
no
great
value, a
and
not
put
fifty
dollar
pe-
binding
on
book
an
worth
five
cuniary solecism,
artistic
incongruity.
Of
Bookbindings Old and Nezv.

late
137
blunder,
of
he
has
not
to
fallen
into
this
and he prefers
spend himself on books

the
original
edition.
;
permanent value
course
of his
in
Of
he
never
repeats
is
himself
as
every one
a
picture
is
bindings
are
as
unique
there
no
replicas.
Every cover
itself,
comthe
posed for the volume
and
is
often
outcome
decorative
of
loving
study of
the
author,
scheme
having been suggested by
some representative passage.

But
he
;
never
as
confounds
decoration
in
with
illustration
he explained
is
an
of
article
on
his
art,
"
beauty
the
or
aim
the
find
decoration,
of
and
not
illustration,
expression
ideas."
So we
the
do
not
on
his
books
has
any
been
of
childish
symbolism
in
which
abundantly advocated
a
England, on
and
according to which
treatise
zoology or
botany must
a
be
bald
adorned with
an animal or
of
flower
and babyish labelling

to
book
wholly unrelated
propriety
of
orna-
mentation.
generally
Mr. Cobden-Sanderson's covers are

rich
with
conventionalized
precision.
flowers
arrayed with
geometrical
He
falls
138
into a

naturalistic
treatment only at rare

In a copy of
for
and
regrettable
ris's
moments.
Mr. Mor-
"
Hopes and Fears
Art,"
which
design
Mr.
has
Cobden-Sanderson
has bound, the
a careful freedom of composition and an artful
symmetry; the treatment

which form the border
ventional,
is
of
the
rose-branches
almost purely con-
and the broad
blank space
in
the
centre
is
restfully open.
is
In America the art of the binder
retarded
the high
by reasons
really outside
of
art
by
wages
tariff
of
skilled
workmen, and by the
high
on raw materials, which have so raised

of
the
cost
the
in
best
bookbinding that many

have been wont to
book-lovers
New York
to
send their precious

across
tomes on a long voyage

be
the
Atlantic,
bound
in
London
the
the
best
cata-
or
Paris.
Americans
of
were
among
customers
logue
of
Francis
Grolier
Bedford, and
the
Club exhibition proves
that they have been persistent purchasers of the
best
work
to
of
contemporary French
binders.
is
But
send books abroad to be
bound
of
no
the
way
to
encourage
the
development
A UINDING BY COliUEN-SANDERSON.
NEW TESTAMENT.
Bound by William Matthews,
and red morocco.
in light
brown crushed levant, inlaid with blue By permission of Mr. Matthews.

141

art at
43
home.
This same
Groher Chib
exhibi-
tion
showed that American craftsmen were cap-
able of turning out
work
of
very high rank.
The
best of
the books
bound by Mr. William

Matthews, by
Brad-
Matthews, by
streets,
Mr. Alfred
by Mr. Smith, and by Mr. Stikeman,
held their
ficulties
own
fairly well.
Considering the
art has
dif-
under which the

the showing
developed in
the
this country,
made by
William
Amer-
ican binders was the most creditable.
For a binding
"
is
like
Mr.
Matthew's
Knickerbocker's History of
New
;
York," there
is
no need
to
make any apology
it
excellent
style,
in
conception and in execution, pure in
modestly original, and most harmoniously decorative,

its
with
its
appropriate ship,
its
tiny tulips,
and
wreaths of willow.
The
inventor of
these
of
designs for the inside
and the outside

J.
the
Knickerbocker was Mr. Louis

Mr. Matthews had called
Rhead,
whom
to his aid.
Although both Mr. Matthews and Mr. Rhead

are
Englishmen by
birth,
think
can
feel
an
this
evi-
American influence
in
I
the
decoration
right, this
of
is
American book.
If
am
144
dence, were any needed, of the great advantage

tlicre
is
in
having a book bound by a counthe

autlior,
tryman
of
who
will
treat
it
I
with
unconscious propriety of decoration.

a
it
know
in
wise
a rule
collector
to
in
New York who makes

bound
in
have his French books bound
Paris,
his
English books
London,
in
and
his
American books
bound here
New
York.
" Fifty years ago," said in
Mr. William Matthews
his
interestinor
address
on
his
art,
" there
was not a
finely
bound book, except what by
chance had been procured abroad, to be found

in
anv
collection
in
art."
America.
Fine
in
binding^
last
was an unknown
Now
the
de-
cade of the nineteenth century, Mr. Matthews

thinks " there are
many examples
of
American
workmanship
honour
in
our collections that would do
to the best
French and Enfylish binders O

If
of
the last half-centur}'."
this is true,
much
of
is
the credit for the improvement of public taste
due
to the influence of Îr.
Matthews
himself.
Of modern
is
Italian
and German binding there

to
no necessity or space
say anything
here.
IRVING'S "KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF
NEW YORK.
Bound by William Matthews.

Club, 1888.
Owned
by the Grolier by Mr. William Matthews.

Publislierl
145
147
The
tradition of vellum binding has been kept
alive in
Rome and
in
Florence, where the bevelinlaid
edged white tomes are often relieved by an

rectangle of coloured
calf,
tooled with what might
perhaps be called
pattern.
fairly
enough a Neo-Aldine
the Grolier
The
exhibition of
in the
Club,
which has aided
preparation and in the
illustration of these pages, included
no
Italian
work,
and
this
is
evidence
that
our collecit
tors, rightly
or wrongly, do not hold
in
high
esteem.
Nor was
handiwork.
there a single specimen of Teutonic
Yet Trautz was a German by

in
birth,
and
earlier
this
century there were several

established
in
German
Walther,
binders
England
Kalthoeber,
Staggemeier.
Even
now, while one of the leading binders of London, Mr. Riviere,

is
is
of of
French descent, another,
Mr. Zaehnsdorf,
German,
In
New York
Gerof
many
mans.
of
the journeyman
bookbinders are
Not only
was the
at
bibliopegic art
this
Germany unrepresented
bition in
recent
exhi-
New
York, but in none of the

about binding, French,
many
recent
books
English,
148
and

American, do
I
find
any
attention
paid
to the
work
ago
of
the
modern Germans.
of
Several
years
M.
half
Rouveyre
a
Paris,
who had
binding,
pubHshed
dozen
books about
arranged for a French edition of a collection of O
German bindings
(Reliure,
Fifty copies
and
of "
La Dorure
en
sur Cuir
Ciselure,
Gaufrure)
Allemagne."
were issued, the same publisher hav-
ing risked fifteen hundred copies of M. Octave
Uzanne's
"
La
Reliure
Moderne."
in
this
From
it
the
is
well-made reproductions
fair to infer that the
is
volume,
German binding
It is
it
of to-day
not remarkably interesting.
sometimes
frequently
dull
and sometimes pretentious;
is
designed by architects
in the needs
who
are without training

;
and
possibilities of its technic

;
it
is
often violently polychromatic

set
off
and
of
it is
sometimes
by elaborate panels
inserted enamel,
and by
of
richly chiselled corners
and centrepieces
employis
silver.
What
vigorous
is
best
is
the artful
ment
of
blind-tooling;
and what
most noteworthy
is
the successful revival of the
mediaeval art of carving in leather, always best
understood by the Germans.
INSIDE COVER OF PRECEDING.

149
III.
THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.
Much
Teutonic
as
one might expect a precious metal

is
to enrich a tome, there
more than a hint

of
of
heaviness
in
most
these
carved-
leather covers, girt with soHd silver clasps, and
armed with chased medallions.
The
occasional
attempts of American silversmiths at book-decoration are lighter and
more
graceful.
have
seen
more than one prayer-book, the smooth

of
dark calfskin
which was shielded by a thin

delicate arabesques.
shell of silver pierced with
But
this
is
almost an
accidental
return
its
to
method
ness,
of
ornamentation long past
useful-
and appropriate only when every book was
a portly
tome bound
in
real boards,
its
and repos-
ing in solitary glory on
own
lectern.
in
The
alli-
future of bookbinding does not
lie
any
ance with silversmithery.

Just
where the future

151
of
bookbinding docs
152
He
is
Bookbindings Old and Neiu.

very
difficult
is
to
declare.
Cosmopolitan
of
commonplace
the
the characteristic
much
of
work
of
to-day.
Craftsmen
content
of
remarkable
convention-
technical
ality
skill
are
with
and they go on indefinitely repeating the

Grolier,
old styles,
Maioli and Derome, which

styles
Padeloup and
alive,
were
once
of
but
which have long since been void

of vitality.
any germ
is
To
persist
in
using them
but
like
refusing
to
speak
alive
is
any
language
living
Latin.
For a man
ever impure,
to-day a
dialect,
how-
better than a lifeless
language,
however
of
perfect.
There are not wanting signs

the
banality of
reaction
against
modern
bookbinding.
One
the
of
them
is
the
instant
success
of
Mr.
is
Cobden-Sanderson's
return
to
innovations.
Another
silver-mounting.
infertile,
is
Yet a
third,
curious only, and
the decoration
of
a book-cover with enamels, either incrusted

applied.
or
The Germans have taken

metal,
to
letting
monogram, ornamented or
;
into
the
to
centre of a book-cover
but nothing seems

a
be gained by this which
mosaic
of
leather

would
not
153
Philippe
have
given.
The
French
late
Burty, the distinguished
art-critic,
and
nov-
a book-lover with
elty,
the
keenest
likinsf
for
had a copy on
Dutch
"
paper
"
;
of
Poulet-
Malassis's essay
it
on
Ex-Libris
he enriched
he
in-
with
other
interesting
book-plates;
;
serted a few autograph letters
he had
it
bound
monothe
by R,
Petit
in
full
;
morocco, with his
gram
at the corners
and
in the centre of
side he let in a metal plate
on which
his
own
book-plate was enamelled in niello.

larly personal
This singuin
binding
is
reproduced
"
M. Oc-
tave Uzanne's
volume on
La
Reliure Moderne,"
Burty's
experi"
where we
find
another of M.
ments, a copy of
la
M. Claudius Popelin's
la
De
Statue et de
Peinture
" (translated
from
identi-
Alberti), also
fied
bound by
owner's
Petit,
and also
by the
monogram, and
side,
having,
moreover, in the centre of the

elled
an enamfor
panel
made by M. Popelin
copy
of his
himself
his friend's
own
book.
Burty had
in his collections other

;
volumes
in
dis-
tinguished by enamels
and there were
the
Grolier Club exhibition a set of books belonging
154
to
Mr. S. P. Avery, and quite as
much
out of
the
common
as
Burty's.
of
Mr. Avery has sent
certain volumes
the
"
BibHotheque de I'En"
seignement
des
Beaux-arts
to
the
authors,
asking each to indicate the
binding which he
with
his
thought
most
consonant
"
work; so
Mr. Avery has
La
Faience," of
M. Theodore
one
of
Deck, decorated with panels
of pottery,
them being a
at his
"
portrait
of
the
author executed
Sauzy's
con-
own ceramic works; and he has

of
Marvels
Glass-Making," with covers

panels
taining
glass
enamelled
in
colours.
These ventures belong among the

of the art
;
curiosities
they are to be classed
among
the
freaks
rather
than
with
the
professional
beauties.
Another book
Mr. Avery)
interest
artistic.
of
Burty's
(now
owned
by
has
an
exceptional
literary
of
interest
an
perhaps
It
is
rather
than
rigidly
copy
the
original
"
edition
of
le
Victor Hugo's
Petit,"
scorching
in
satire,
Napoleon
published
1853,
few
months
after
Napoleon had broken
his oath
and made
himself emperor; this
copy (made doubly pre-
Bookbindings Old aiid New.
155
cious by three lines in the poet's handwriting)
was bound
side
in
dark
green
to
morocco,
receive an
and
the
was hollowed out
embroid-
"
LES CHATIMENTS."
Bound by
Petit.
Green morocco.
VICTOR HUGO, 1853. The " Bee " from the
throne of NapoP.
leon ni., Tuileries, September, 1870.
Owned by Mr. Samuel
Avery.
ered
bee
a
after
bee
which had
been
cut
from
the throne of Napoleon III. in the Tuileries a
few days
the
the
of
battle
of
Sedan.
This
is
very
irony
bookbinding.
copy
of
156
"

Chatiments
"
Les
was
bound
to
match.
Future collectors
will
find these bees of
Burty
even harder to acquire than those which mark

the books of
De Thou.
not
to
Unusual,
say
unique,
is
as
such
a
an
for
opportunity must be, there

the
here
to
hint
book-lover
at least
is
not
by him
be
despised.
Here
an exceptional binding.
Here
of
at least
we
leave the
monotonous
is
iteration
the cut-and-dried.
lishing a
relation
its
Here
method
of estabof
between the subject

not
ten
hitherto
the
book and
exterior
of
attempted.
For nine books out

binding
the
suffices,
the
conventional
levant
for
for
Jansenist
crushed
half
costly
volumes,
simple
morocco
those less valuable.

ures,
But for the special

with
treasof
for
the
books
an
individuality
their
own,
why may we
not abandon this barof
ren impersonality and seek to get out

regular rut
?
the
M.
Octave
to
Uzanne
has
avowed
"
that
he
would prefer
des Siecles
"
have a copy of the
Legende
the
clad soberly in a fragment of
dark-green uniform which
Hugo wore
the day he

was received into the French Academy,
157
to the
same volume bound with

by the best binder
the
utmost
luxury
it
of the time.
little
Perhaps
is
carrying this fancy a
too far to bind the
Last Dying Speech and Confession of a murderer in

a
strip
of
his
own
hide
"
properly
tanned, or even to cover
Holbein's
Dance
;
of
I
Death
"
with a like ghastly integument

I
but
confess
should find a particular pleasure in

the
of
owning
"
copy
of
Washington
Irving's
Conquest
Grenada," which
" in
Mr. Roger de
Coverly
bound
Spanish
morocco
from
Valencia" for the Arts and Crafts Exhibition

in
London
In
his
in
in
"
1S89.
Caprices
d'un
Bibliophile,"
pub-
lished
1878,
to
M.
Octave
a
Uzanne
urged
of
book-lovers
leathers.
seek out
greater
variety
The French
"
are
that
not
afBicted
with
what Dickens called

cover which
is
underdone pie-crust
technically
known
as
;
law-calf,"
and which
they ever
dull
is
desolately
either
as
monotonous
for
nor have
calf,
cared
sprinkled
as
and decorous
calf,"
orthodoxy, or for
affected
" tree-
marbled
much
by the
British.
i5<S

French do not take
to
tree-calf
is
That the
proof at once of their taste and of their wisdom.
Mr.
Matthews
declares
that
he
does
not
recommend
speaks
acids
as
of
tree-calf,
and
of
M.
Marius-Michel
it it
the
process
marbling
with
rots
"a diabolic invention," since
the the
leather
as
to
every
one
knows
who
has
misfortune
own
books
bound
in this
fashion half a century ago.
The French, with

bookattention
a full understanding of the principles of
binding,
have confined their

calf
almost
wholly to
and
to
morocco, eschewing even

Russia-leather, which
be-
the pleasant-smelling
comes
unless
brittle,
it
and has
constantly
oil
tendency to
crack,
it
is
handled,
whereby
finders.
absorbs animal
In
calf
from the human

of
the
employment
other
leathers
than
and morocco
lead.
we Americans have taken

bound
in
alligator,
the
Books
and
in
sealskin, for
of
example, are to be found in any
the leading bookstores, not always appropriclad,

I
ately
regret
to
remark.
There
is
hideous
the
incongruity, for
of
instance, in sheathing
in alligator-hide,
fit
wisdom
Emerson
as
"
;

this
159
weird
scaly
substance
might
be
is
for
the
tales of Poe.
Equally horrible
snakeskins
;
a prayer-book
covered with
bibliopegic
and
been
both
offered
of to
these
freaks
have
me
that
fitly
by tradesmen more enterprising than

Gautier's
"
artistic.
Une
Nuit
de
Cleopatre,"
strange tale of the serpent of old Nile, might
be protected by the skin of the crocodile
and
Captain Bourke's book about the

of the
"
Snake-Dance
to call for
Moquis
of
Arizona" seems
an
a
ophidian integument.
So might we
to
clothe
in
volume describing a voyage

skin, or
Alaska
seal-
an account
It
of Australia in the hide
of
the
kangaroo.
wôuld
"
be
quaint
fancy
to put our old favourite

in
Rab and
his Friends
dogskin (easily to be had from the glovers)
and our
new
friend
"
Uncle
Remus,"
in
"
the
soft coat of
Brer Rabbit.
Champfleury's
Les
Chats," and
M. Anatole France's old-fashioned

"
and
cheerful
Crime
de
Sylvestre
Bonnard
could be bound in catskin.

In
more than one

is
of
the
old
of
treatises
on
bookbinding
admirer of
mention
made
an
ardent
Charles
James Fox, who had the
60

his
idol
speeches of
liide
covered with
serve
better,
it
vulpine
to
which
in the
would
seems
me, as a coat for a volume of hunting reminiscences.
So might
the
life
of
Daniel Boone be
" like
life
bound
the
skin of a " b'ar

" cilled "
;
that which
of
pioneer
and
in
the
Davyof
Crockett
coon,
could
be
clad
of
the
skin
the
descendant
to
the fabled
quadruped
dis-
which volunteered
come down when he

"
covered that the backwoodsman had drawn a
bead on him.
Dana's
Two
Years before the

if
Mast
"
would look well
in whale-skin, or,
that
were too tough,

"
in shark-skin
shagreen.
and
for
The
use of
Peau d'ane
hide
of
in
" of Perrault
suggests the
the
the
animal
lion's
"
who once
;
disguised
himself
tion
of
the
skm
any
edi-
^sop's
Fables,"
an indefinite numlies
ber of appropriate leathers
ready to one's
hand.
In 1890 Messrs. Tiffany
&
Co. issued a cat-
alogue of more than a hundred different kinds

of leather then
on exhibition
for
in their store
on
Union Square, and ready

ing of pocket-books,
use in the makcard-cases,
bags, blotters,

and the
the
like
;
i6i
for
and
of
all
these
if
are
available
binding
books,
the
book-lover will
take the trouble to select and to seek for the

leather best suited
to
each
of
tome
Messrs.
in
its
turn.
A
Co.
glance over the

is
list
Tiffany
&
most suggestive.
for
The how
skin of the chaaptly

this
meleon,
example,
would
bedeck the orations

ticians
!
of certain professional poli-
How
well
the
porcupine would suit
the later writings of Mr.
Ruskin
How
fitly
the black bear would cover the works of
Dr.
as
Johnson,
"
author of
the
contradictionary,"
Hood
book
the
called
him
have already noted one

snake-skin,
better
best
bound
in
but perhaps
uncanny ophidian had
be reserved
for those
books which every gentleman's library
should be without.
the
Yet
should like to see
speeches
of
Vallandigham
bound
in
the
skin of a copperhead.
M. Uzanne
oly
of
also
advocated that the monop-
leather
should be infringed,
in
stuffs,
and that
books be bound
again,
in
velvet
now and
could
and
in
old
brocades.
And what
be more delightfully congenial to Mr. Dobson's
62
"
Vignettes in Rhyme," wherein the poet sings
of the
days when
. .
France's bluest blood
Danced
to the tune of "After us, the
flood!"
what
"
could
be
more
harmonious
than
to
to
his
Proverbs in
Porcelain,"
robe
those
dainty volumes of verse in a remnant of dam-
ask or golden
of
brocade saved from
the
dress
the
Pompadour?
for
apparel
Pierre
the
"
What could be a fitter Madame Crysantheme " of

a
Loti
than
Japanese
of
silk
strangely
embroidered, with a label
Japanese leather
on the back, and with

as
Japanese water-colours
end-papers
In
M. Uzanne's
"
later
volume on
"
La
his
Reli-
ure
Moderne
in
there are photogravures of books
bound
accordance
with
hints
for
of
the
of
cartonnage a la
all
Pompadour
one.
But
those
who were reaching

Philippe
out in
new
art
direc-
tions
with hope of
renewing the
Burty seemed
fertile.
of
the
to
bookbinder,
to
me
have been the most

tives
One
of
of his of
tenta-
was a bold and frequent use

in
his
own
monogram
the
decoration
his
books

especially
163
employor
noteworthy was the

this
skilful
ment
of
monogram
in
the
dentelle,
border of the inside, oftener than not
disfie-
ured in America and in England by a hack-
neyed
"
wheel," blurring brutally at the corners.
In the bindings of
Poitiers
Henry
II.
and Diana
of
we can
a
see the most admirable utiliza-
tion of
is
monogram and
a device
and here
follow
a model
modern book-decorators may

So, too,
of
from afar as best they can.

pierre
Longe-
made
for
in
use of the
emblem
the Golden
Fleece,
which to-day bibliopegic argonauts

vain.
voyage
tools,
In
the
cutting
of
special
monograms,
devices, significant emblems,
masks,
hope
of
lyres, torches, or tears,
each owned
is
by the individual book-owner, there
perhaps
insi-
some
relief
from the stereotyped
pidity of the ordinary binder's stock in trade.

It
is
very
difficult
to
indicate
the
probable
after
line
of
bibliopegic
development.
Only
many
a vain effort and
many
a doubtful strug-
gle do
we
ever attain the goal of our desires.

to
Setting our faces

the
the future,
its
we must
let
dead
past
bury
dead,
and
we must
64

lifeless
is
give up the
imitation of defunct styles.

also,
Greater variety
needed, greater freedom
such as some of the other decorative arts have

achieved of late years.
lover
is
The duty
for the
of the book-
equal to that of the bookbinder;
they
of
must needs work together

the
art.
advance
to
For
their
collaboration
be
pregin
nant the book-lover must educate

the possibilities
tions
of
himself
and
in
the
technical
will
limita-
the
art.
Every architect
confess
that
he has had
his
clients,
many
and
;
a practical suggestion
from
more
often
from
of
the
wives of his clients

book-lover
and the influence

bookbinder
can
be
the
on
the
even
more
In
beneficial.
dealing
with
the the
ordinary
less
uninspired
the
to
better,
workman,
perhaps
said
and the simpler the work entrusted
him the
more
satisfactory
it
is
likely to be.
is
Here, perto
haps, the most that can be done
follow
the fashion and prescribe the

intelligent
afraid
of
style.
art,
With an
and
not
binder,
fond
aside
of
his
step
from the beaten path,
the book-lover can do
much, encouraging
his

ally,
65
lending him boldness, keeping him up to
the mark, sustaining
him
to
do his
best,
show-
ing
him
the
most interesting work that has
been
patron
artist
done
elsewhere.
The
relation
of
the
offensive
is
vocable
to
the
decorative
not unlike that of the
stage-manager
for
;
to
the actor,
to
Samson
to
Rachel,
instance,
M. Sardou
Mme. Sarah-Bernhardt
even
is
he can
he
show what he wants done,

cannot
did,
though
do
it
himself.
This
what Grolier
and De Thou, and M. Burty. and

the
Thus
the
bookbinder
together,
book-lover
interesting
fare
forward
making
art
experiments,
whereby the
most
of the
progresses,
fail.
even
though the
experiments
That the book-lover and the bookbinder can

put their heads together,
latter
it
is
needful that the

fac-
should be an individual and not a
tory.
There must be binderies
for
the
in
comthe
it
mercial
work
(of
which
shall
speak
next chapter), for

called
;
" edition
binding,"
as
is
but
"
extra binding," the covering of a

in
single
volume
accord
with
the
wishes
of
the
owner
of that
one book, can best be done
66

the
artist-artisan
is
where
his
at
Hberty to meet
they
are
customer face to
face,
that
may
little
talk
the matter over.
Most binderies
more
than factories, with

division of labour,
many
machines, and a close

lays out
and a foreman who

hands."
is
the
work
of the
"
This
able
is
not the \vay

delight
it
Mr.
with
Cobden-Sanderson
his
to
is
us
lovely
design,
nor
the
way
as
Trautz carried on his business.
An
artist
independent as Mr. Cobden-Sanderson, and as

rigid
in
his
independence,
is
best
apart;
he
broods in solitude, and
we
profit
at
by his dream.
the
Trautz had three assistants
most
he
was
and
his
own forwarder and

patron
his
own
in
finisher:
the
had
no
difficulty
dealing
directly with the
man who was

this
to
do the work.
vital
Not only
is
friendly
art,
relation
to
the progress of the

is
but the factory system

at
fatal
to
it,
when
is
the capitalist
the
head
of
the bindery
all
willing selfishly to take the

is
credit of
that
done
in
his shop.
For a
of
competent designer, with the proper pride

an
artist,
If
so
suppressed a position
is
intoler-
able.
the forwarding and the finishing of a

book are by
different hands, the
to
167
of
owner
the
book ought
know
it,
and the two men who

that he
cooperate ought to
know
art of
is
knows
it.
Perhaps what the

in
bookbinding
the
is
most
of
need
of
just
now
estabhshment
in
the
individual
of
binder,
an
artisan-artist
shop
his
own with an immediate

maybe
the
assistant
or two, and
a pair of apprentices.
Then
and
the
the
binder will sign
work he
of
does,
work
will
it
bear the
name
the
man who
British
in
is
really did
and no other.
The
superiority of
American wood-engraving over the

due
partly
at
least
to
the
fact
is
that
the
United States the engraver

artist,
one individual
he
is
while
in
Great
Britain
either
shop-keeper or a factory hand.
THE ANTIQUITY OF EDITION BINDING.

In one of the annual volumes of
Paris,"
"
La Vie a
inter-
stout
tomes of cheerful
that
gossip,
mitted
the
now
the
author
is
the director of
of
tells
Theatre
Fran9ais,
and a member
Jules
Claretie
the
French
pleasant
Academy,
M.
anecdote of a contemporary Parisian

to
binder
who was asked

from
his
cover one
of
the
beautiful books
which M. Conquet sends forth

little
spasmodically
shop,
and who
I
drew back with

not
scorn,
declaring,
" Sir,
will
dishonour
myself
by
binding a modern
book."
This craftsman's pride
it
was,
no doubt,
to
clothe the stately Aldine and the

vir
in
fit
pigmy
Elze-
robes
of
crushed morocco, dccorat171
172
ino-
Bookbindings Old and New,

them with
delicate gold traceries tooled bit
by
bit,
and lingered over lovingly.
To him
it
would have been a sad shock, had he been

suddenly
a
that, in the
is
told
eyes of the average reader,

it
book
bound when
is
merely cased
has
it
is.
in a
cloth-cover
whereon a pattern
Yet so
been
im-
printed by machinery.
Not
as ours the
books of old
Things that steam can stamp and fold;
Not
as ours the
books of yore
but sometimes,
Rows
of type, and nothing more.
Ours are not the books
of old,
when they
pains, they
are the result of taking thought and
have a merit of their own
and the
as
thing that steam can stamp and fold

lovely in
its
may be
way
as the poet's missal of the thir-
teenth century, around which the illuminator's
brother
monks sang
of of
"little
choruses of
is
praise.'*
The beauty
of
the
modern book
There
will
not
that
the book
yore.
always
be
between
them the
difference
which separates
work done by machine from work done by

hand
difference
wide
enough,
and
deep
vol-
enough, to admit of no denial.
But the

umes stamped by steam may have
charm and
their
73
their
own
noth-
own
quaUties
to
say
ing of their superior fitness for the nineteenth

century,
when democracy
is
triumphant.
Designed by Margaret N. Armstrong.
Published by Charles Scribners Sons.
"ART
OUT-OF-DOORS," BY MRS. SCHUYLER VAN RENSSELAER.
The books bound
in
thousands for pubHshers
are mostly ill-bound from haste and greed, from
ignorance and reckless disregard of
art.
But
once
in
way they
attain
a surprisingly high
74

Just
level.
how
excellent
are,
;
some modern comus
mercial bindings
scarcely any of
for
have
taken time to discover
we
are prone to over-
look not a few of the best expressions of con-
Designed by Mis. Henry Whitman.
Published by Houghton, Mifflin
it.
Co.
^^("^
"AN
ISLAND GARDEN," BY CELIA THAXTER.
temporary
art,
natural
outgrowths of
modern
conditions, in
our persistent seeking for some
great manifestation which
we
fail
to find.
Of a
certainty the great manifestations of art

are
little
75
hopelessly rare;
and, as a matter
of
fact,
things far
more
often attain perfection and
reward
our
seeking.
chromolithographic
placard does not seem to promise

in
much
but
is
M. Cheret's hands the
pictorial
poster
never insipid, and has often a most engaging and

masterly originality.
material
Cast-iron
is
an unlovely
limitations,
but
on
by recognizing
its
Alfred Stevens was able to give dignity to the

little
lions
the
outer
rail
at
the
British
Museum.
So a book-cover stamped by steam

if
may be a thing of beauty Mrs. Whitman or by Mr.

is
it
is
designed by
It
Stanford White.
fact
that
commercial bookbinding, often
ignorantly looked
interesting
to
down
of
its
on,
is
now
and
at a
it
most
seems
stage
history;
me
In
very well worth while to consider some
of its recent successes.
a paper
on
"
Bookbinding considered
as
a Fine-Art, Mechanical Art and Manufacture," read before the Society of Arts in London, Mr.
Henry
ing
is
B.
Wheatley declared that
"
cloth-bind-
entirely an
English invention."
Just as
Italy dur-
the fine-art of bookbinding began in
76

Renascence, and was most highly culFrance, so
the
art
of cloth-binding,
ing the
tivated in
arising in Great Britain, has been carried to a
higher level of mechanical

chines
perfection
by main
invented
or mightily
I
improved
the
United States; and
am
are
inclined to think that
the principles which should govern the decoration of
cloth
covers
better
understood
in
New York
as
application.
than in London
in so far at least
one may judge
from the
results
of
their
While
is
it
is
true
enough that cloth-binding

binding,
an English invention, commercial

work,"
as
it
" edition
is
called,
is
almost as
old as printing
itself.
The
early printers,
in
from
Aldus
in
Venice to Caxton
London, were
;
binders as they were also publishers

early
in
and very
the
history
of
the
toil
trade
were there
attempts to simplify the
of the finisher
who
the
decorated the leather sides and backs
of
broad volumes.
In the finest of the early books
every touch of gold on the cover was

a
made by
separate
tool,
which
the
skilled
workman
impressed on the leather at least twice, once

without the gold, and once to
laborious,
affix
it,
77
a slow,
and expensive process.
One
pattern
of the first of the devices adopted as a

"
short cut was the
roulette " or
roll,
a complete
engraved
on
the
circumference of
as the wheel
wheel, and reproducing

rolled
itself
was
across
the
leather.
;
This wheel served

it
for borders
and frameworks
;
was often most
admirably engraved
and
if
its
employment was
not altogether injurious

to
proper care was taken

precision.
match the corners with
In these
foible
days
it
when
omniscience
is
everybody's
may seem
think
like affectation for
me
frankly to
of the
roll,
confess ignorance
as to the origin
first
I
but
it
was
seen in
Italy.
I
In like
manner
must avow that
do not
know
many;
for certain the origin of the next labourI
saving device, but
think
all
it
came from Gerits
and beyond
there.
question
use
was
most frequent
This was the combina-
tion of engraved blocks into a pattern

less
more or
appropriate to the book.
The
binder had
of different
in
in stock a variety of these blocks,

sizes
and independent
in
subject, or related
78

even
in
pairs, or
sets of
four
and he would
rearrange these corners, centre-pieces, and panels

as best he could to suit every succeeding book,
availing himself also of the
roll,
and
falling
back
to
on hand-work where the occasion
seemed
demand
became,
it.
Careless
as
this
method
of
often
it
was
still
a crude
of
form
design,
even though the
toil
the
hand was mini-
mized
to the utmost. to get rid
But one step needed to be taken
altogether of hand-work on the cover; this was

to engrave a design for the
whole side
of a book,
and
to
stamp
plates
it
on
at a single stroke of a press.

is
These
plaqties
first
the
French term
were probably
employed by the
Italians
but the most noted of those

of
who made
early use
them was a Frenchman, Geoffroy Tory, the

and the would-be reformer
collectors
of
of
friend of Grolier,
the
alphabet.
All
know
the
plate
he designed for the Book
Hours he
trade,
printed,
which was a staple
of the
book
and
for
which there was an unfailing demand.

plate
Tory's
was original and complete

contemporary with
in
it,
itself;
but
also
another plate
and

reproduced
in the invaluable essay of
79
M. Marius-
Michel
ciale
et
on
"
La
Reliure
is
Fran9aise,
Commer;
Industrielle,"
incomplete
it
was
intended to spare the time and trouble needed

to
adorn the
book-cover with the elaboratelyGrolier type

;
interlacing arabesques of the

it
but
left
to the
hand
of the
workman
the task of
adding the name

scattered
of the
owner
of the book, the
gold dots which greatly enriched the
appearance, and a few other details here and

there.
It
is
instructive
to
note
how
the
adroitly
the
means have been adjusted

devices,
to the end.
These three
tion
of
the
roll,
combinain-
blocks,
and the plate complete or

different stages of
complete,
mark
the develop-
ment
of
wholesale
binding;
and they existed
simultaneously for centuries.
M. Marius-Michel
declares that out of every hundred of the smaller

sized
lishers
volumes
of
sent forth
by the
century,
printer-pub-
the sixteenth
eighty have
their sides
stamped by a plate simulating handoriginal
work.
The
of
editions
of
Rabelais,
of
Montaigne,
Ronsard, and of Clement Marot,

plate-
were issued more often than not with
80

sides.
marked
There
is
in
M. Marius-Michel's
essay a drawing of a block used to aid in the

imitation of the brilHant fanfares of
con."
"
Le Gas-
There
"
is
in
M. Gruel's
"
Manuel Histo-
rique
in
a most sumptuous binding by Derome,

at
all,
which there was no hand-tooling
save
perhaps a monogram or a coat-of-arms here and

there
;
it
is
formed by combining corners and
border-pieces,
and
it
was stamped
in a press.
The
Italian,
it
chief characteristic of the early
German,
is
and French commercial binding

of
artistic
that
was an imitation
It
binding
done
to
wholly by hand.
pass
was,
fails.
was a humbug trying

it
itself off
as
something other than

of
really
and
It
failing,
course,
as
fraud
always
it
was forever forging the designs

of
found on the books

very
often
its
the
best binders
stupid,
and
thefts
were
although
once in a while they were adroit.
Now
this
copying was
sonal
foolish,
because in art the impernever

rival
machine
can
is
the
personal
hand
for art
indeed only individuality.

"
M.
a
Zola defines art as
nature
seen
the
through
temperament
"
and
even
in
decorative

arts
i8i
personality
all
is
omnipotent.
But by aban-
doning
ern
of
thought of imitating hand-work, modfair
commercial bookbinding has a

its
chance
developing according to
tireless
own
of
conditions.
The machine has

and absolute
set the
power
it
production
regularity;
and
is
for those
who
machine going
all
to supply that
art
is
personal
touch without which
as nausfht. o
"
II.
THE MERITS OF MACHINE BINDING.

This
cial
is is
the
great merit of
modern commer-
bookbinding done by machinery

it
that
it
independent, that
has freed
of
itself
from the
trammels and the traditions

it
hand-work, that
is
no
longer
it
savourless
sham
It
copying
blindly, that
lives its
own
life.
recognizes
the
fact,
all
obvious enough nowadays, that
we
can-
not
be as Heber, to
folio
whom
Ferriar sang:
The
Aldus loads your happy shelves,

Elzevirs, like fairy elves,
And dapper
Shew
their light
forms amidst the
well-gilt twelves.
In this change Great Britain and the
United
States
have led the way, followed for once by

and,
after
France,
It
an
interval,
by Germany.
" half-binding
was
its
in frugal
Germany
that
is
had
origin.
Half-binding
money-sav-
ing contrivance, which
lordly book-lovers
to
have
reprobated as
equivalent
182
genteel
poverty.
83
The
of
Jansenists used to keep the
leather
;
sides
their
books
free
from ornament
and some
sparing
German
carried this simpHcity one step
further, substituting
of leather
paper for the plain surface

calf
and using morocco and
only for
the back, and for a narrow but needful hinge on
each
ther
in
side.
To push
was easy
;
this
economy a
it
little
fur-
yet
and so
the
came
to
pass
the
last
century that
English
binders
altogether omitted the leather, and covered with
paper both the sides and back.

ing, those
Strictly speakat all

;
books were not bound
they
were merely cased
that
is,
sheathed in boards.
casing of this kind was the most temporary of
makeshifts.
are
Every
librarian
knows how
fragile
the
paper and pasteboard which

of
envelop
is
the
books
the
last
century.
off,
The back
method was
prone to crack and to peel

are
and the sides

as
prompt
to
break away
the
slovenly and as inconvenient as possible.
Early
in
this
century the
to
disadvantage
the
of
paper-covered boards led
use of
plain
glazed calico in place of the paper.

at
first
There was
:
no thouqht
of
decoration
the
plain
"
84

was substituted
it
calico
for
the
plain
paper be-
cause
was stronger and did not chip and

;
tear quite so easily
the
title
was
still
printed
on a
label of
white paper, and pasted on the
back of the volume.
The
exact date
I
of
this
improvement
is
in
doubt,
have among
my
Sheridaniana the third edition of Dr. Watkins's

*'
Memoirs
of the Public
and Private Life
of the
Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan,

printed for
Henry Colburn
in
181 8, and
both
volumes are clad
in glazed calico, with a slightly

tint.
ribbed surface and of a faded purple

date of the
"
The
biography
is
that
of
the
binding.
of
Constable's
Miscellany,"
in
the
publication
to
which was begun

the
first
1827, said
have been
;
collection regularly
bound
in cloth
the
cases were covered in the simplest fashion with

plain calico,
and distinguished by a paper
label.
The
edition of
Byron's works in seventeen volin
umes published
been the
label,
first
1833
is
supposed to have
work issued without the paper

title
;
and with the
printed in gold on the
backs of the books

series of
"
but certain
volumes
"
of
Oxford English Classics

this "
may
per-
haps have preceded
Byron."
Desig-ned Dy
Hugh Thomso
"
Published by Macmillan
Si
Co,
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE."
BY JANE AUSTEN.
187
Stamping was probably done by a handpress,

such as British binders kept ready to impress
on the
sides
of
leather-covered
volumes
the
this
broad block with the owner's arms.

" arming-press,"
From
has
as
it
was
called,
been
evolved
by
slow
degrees
the
powerful
bindery.
and
rapid machinery of the

ray's
"
modern
"
Murfirst
Family Library
was probably the
series
on
which
ink.
the
title
was
in
printed
1832,
in
with
ordinary
Knight's
"
Then came,
the
Charles
1833, his
"Penny Magazine," and,

Cyclopaedia,"
Penny
successive
volumes
of
which were bound by Archibald Leighton
in
stamped
the the
cloth.
Mr. Wheatley says that
at
first
cloth was
stamped before
proceeding
the
it
was put
proved
so
the
on
boards,
which
unsatisfactory
from
covered
beginning,
cloth,
boards
were
with
which
was
then stamped.
Thereafter the art speedily improved.
cloth
The
it
was dyed
run
to
any desired colour; and

rollers
was
through
to
give
it
any de-
sired grain or texture.
The
and
old-fashioned arm-
ing-press
was
modified
made
stronger;
88
Bookbi)idings Old
steam
and New.
for
foot-
and
was
swiftly
substituted
power.
Subsequent improvements enabled the
pattern to be imprinted on the side and back

of
the book
in
as
many
colours
as
an
artist
Designed by Harold B. Shetwin (the Figure by
J. L.
Kiplmgj.
Published by D. Appleton
&
Co.
"MANY
INVENTIONS," BY
RUDYARD
KIPLING.
could use to advantage

willing
to
or
the
the
publisher was
pay
for.
And
for
work
;
can be
is
done
with
extraordinary
speed
it
no
unusual thing
now
a bindery to turn out

several
89
the
thousand
copies
of
book
in
course of twenty-four hours.
Here we
between
come
to
the
essential
difference
bookbinding by hand and bookbindIn

artistic
ing by machinery.
hand-work the
Designed by Margaret N. Armstrong.

Published by Charles Scribner's Sons.
!?
EVENING TALES," BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
book
In
is
bound
in
leather
cloth
and then decorated.

case
is
edition
work the
apart
made and
which
is
decorated
is
from
the
in.
its
book
itself,
afterward
fastened
The former
slow process, and in
higher manifestations
IQO
it
Bookbiiidiup-s
an
it
Old mid New.

is
is
art.
The
of
it
latter
rapid
in
process,
and
as
is
wholly mechanical, except

the
so
far
the
designer
stamp
the
of
is
concerned.
the
And
therefore
is
on
lies
designer of
stamp that the duty
making
beautiful
Designed by D. S. Maccoll.
Published by T. Fisher Unw'n, London.

S.
"GREEK VASE
PAINTINGS," BY D.
MACCOLL AND
J.
E.
HARRISON.
the
books
demanded
by
our
modern
and
democratic civilization.
In
Great
to
Britain
those
who were
for
called
of
upon
invent
ornament
the
outside
clothbound
books were
free
from the
disad-

vantages under which their fellow-labourers
191
in
still
France
were
placed.
In
France
there
lingered the dominating influence of the traditions

past,
of
the
great
bibliopegic
artists
of
the
and there was pressure on the designer

a decoration which should
to devise
make
his
machine-made cloth cover look

tooled
like the
slowly
In
leather
of
book bound by hand.

solid
cloth-casincr
Eng-land
hailed
as
where
a
the
was
the
manifest
improvement
had
no
on
flimsy
paper-boards
it,
which
existed
to
immediately
pressure,
preceded
for
there
such
no one seemed
see
any necessary con-
nection
old
between the new cloth-work

leather-work.
to
and the
designers
of
artistic
So
a
the
were
at
liberty
develop
to
new form
conditions.
decoration
this
suitable
the
new
In
endeavour
;
they
have been
is
unexpectedly
successful
of
its
indeed,
there
art
hardly any form
modern decorative
aim more
which has achieved
satisfactorily.
One might
hazard
the
suggestion
that
there
has been less copy-
ing and less conventionality, more inventiveness
and greater appropriateness,
in the
commercial
192
bindings of England and America during the

past thirty years than in the avowedly artistic
"
extra
" bindinsr.
Of
lions
course
of
there
have
been
countless
mil-
tomes
disfigured
by hideous covers
can
of recall
and
of course everv
one
of us
cloth
cases
which were the
epitome
everything
of
they should not be.
But a selection
ma-
chine-made covers most pleasing to the trained

taste
is
equally easy.
When Thoreau
Concord
and
bought
back the many unsold copies

"
of his first book,
A Week
he
on
the
Merrimac
Rivers," remarking with characteristic that
humour
nine
had
now
librar}^
of
nearly
hundred
of
volumes,
more
than
seven
hundred
which he had written himself, he had added

books probably quite as appro-
to his collection
priately
bound
if
as those
which he owned
before.
his
in
No
"
doubt
"
he could see the neat

wears
attire
Walden
trim
now
that
it
is
included
the
and
tasteful
Riverside Aldine
Series,
Thoreau would acknowledge that he could ask

no
fitter
garb for his offspring.
Nor could
there
be anything more
modestly satisfactory

than
the
in
193
httle
maidenly
this
series,
simpHcity
with
their
of
the
tomes
cloth,
smooth blue
and
with
with
their
chaste
lettering,
Designed by Alice E. Morse.
Published by the Century Co.

B.
'THE CHATELAINE OF LA TRINITE," BY HENRY
FULLER,
&
"^
the golden anchor of Aldus

of
a hopeful
for
this
emblem
good books yet

In
to
come.
to select
comparing many modern books

and
examples
illustrations
paper,
94

been
led
to
have
is
the
conclusion
to
that
there
in
more thought
United
given
book-decoration
in
the
States
than
Great
Britain.
Designed by Hugh Thomson.
Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner
&
Co., London.
"
THE BALLAD OF BEAU BROCADE," BY AUSTIN DOBSON.
There are not a few beautiful book-covers

be found in the shops of
but not so many,
I
to
British
booksellers,
venture to think, as might
be collected from
American
publishers.
And
195
Designed by Laurence Housnnan.
Published by Macm'llan
&
Co.
"GOPLIN MARKET."
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
197

the reason of
British
this,
I
199
take
of
it,
is
partly that the
are
borrowers
new
books
rather
still
than
buyers,
and partly that the
British
desire to have the

finally in
books worth ownino- bound
leather,
and they therefore

case
as
still
look
upon
the
cloth
merely a temporary
reader,
for
convenience.
The American
the
most
part,
;
accepts the cloth binding" as a per-
manency
therefore,
and the American publisher

to
is
moved,
expend more time and attention

of
on the decoration
sale.
the
books he
offers
for
Consider, for example, the gaudy cover which

the
"
British publisher put

of the
on Mr.
Du
Chaillu's
it
Land
Midnight Sun," and compare

E.
with
the
that
prepared by Mr.
edition.
A. Abbey
for
American
true book-lover would

Chaillu's
be in haste to get Mr.

ing work out of
Du
entertain;
the British cloth case
but he
would
feel
it
absurd to wish to rebind a copy

Mr.
adorned with
Abbey's
cover.
He would
a book
be ready to echo Hawthorne's protest against

those
to put
who
it
"strip off
the real skin of
into fine clothes."
"
200
Again, take Mr. Vedder's remarkable edition

of
Fitzgerald's
"
Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyam,"
most sumptuone's
self
for
which the
rcbind this
artist
folio,
designed the cover-stamp.
To
ous
even
is
in the
crushed
levant,
to
deprive
of not
the least interesting of the illustrations
by which the American painter has interpreted

the
Persian poet.
And what
could be
more
ingenious or more characteristic than the Dutch

tile
which
is
seemingly set
"
into
the
in
golden
cover of the
of
Sketching Rambles
Holland
Mr, George
H.
Boughton and Mr. E. A.
Abbey }
Simplicity
is
an ingredient of
dignity,
and
there are book-lovers

all
who
love simplicity above

taste
things,
having a Jansenist
even in
noisy or
cloth
bindings.
in
There
is
nothing
fussy
"
the
cover of
Mr.
to
in
Harold Frederic's
the the
pencil
of of
In
the
Valley,"
due
or
Mr.
Mr.
Harold
Aldrich's
Magonigle,
" Sisters'
cover
its
Tragedy," with
myrtle
severe
and
Mrs.
yet
elegant
wreath
designed
also
by
is
Whitman.
for
To
the
Mrs.
Whitman
due the credit
tea-leaf
border of
Dr.
Published by Houghton, Mifflin
&
Co.
"RUBAIYAT
Ol-'
OMAR KHAYYAM."
20
'

Holmes's
ous
"
203
vigor-
Over the Tea-cups

and
its
"
with
its
lettering,
subordinate teapot of a
fashion
now gone
by.
None
of
Mrs.
Whit;
man's book-covers are frivolous or finicky
they
have always reserve and purity.
Yet decorations
not alone on
of
this
chaste
;
severity are
our book-shelves
and there are

principles
not
few devised
in
is
on
other
and
satis-
compounded
faction
another fashion.
in
Some
old
there
finding
an
German
cover
of
woodcut border doing duty on

Mr. Woodberry's
ing,"
"
the
History of
the
Wood
apt
its
Engravof
or
in
observing
its
use
the
orange with
as
full
fruit
and
the
green leaves
of
they
are
wreathed
in
arabesques
the
"
the
medallions
which
adorn
back
and
in
side of
Mr. Lafcadio
Hearn's
Indies,"
Two
Years
the
French
West
and
which
were
full
designed by Miss Alice
E. Morse, with a
understanding of the value of colour on a bookcover,
and an apt appreciation

it
of
the technical
means whereby
is
best to be attained.
It is essential to
good decorative design, whatit
ever
its
kind, whether
be a book-cover or a
204

a
wall-paper,
carpet
inlaid
or
floor,
tapestry,
carved
shall
panel
or an
that the
artist
recognize
technical
technical
limitations,
shall
preserve
in
possibilities,
and
shall
be
symdec-
pathy with the

orative
of
will
artist
materials employed.
swift
to
The
must be
seize
that one
the
processes
suit
presenting themselves which
best
for
his
immediate
object.
lies
"
One
the
reason
our
modern
failures
in
multitude of our
F.
of
facilities,"
suggests Mr. Lewis

"
Day
in his
little
book on the
Application
"
Ornament,"
and he adds that

is
the the
secret
of
the ancient triumphs

of the
often
in
sima
plicity
workman's resources."
tool,
Where
tool
man
has but a single
he must perforce
single
devise
ornament which
that
can
accomplish, or else go without ornament altogether.
Out
of
the
struggle
comes strength.
When we
matic
artist
see
the rather violently polychrothat
cover
Jules
which
most
accomplished
Jacquemart
"
placed
illustrated
on
the
book
on
"
La
Ceramique
but
by him, we
cannot
wonder whether
us
he
would
and
not
have
given
something quieter
more
Designed by G. A. Laundy.
Publishud by George Bell and Sons.
"HALF HOURS WITH AN OLU

201;
GOLl'liR."

beautiful
if
207
colour-
the
resources
of
modern
to
printing
had
not
been
ready
his
hand.
:
And
the
try
yet,
nothing
artist,
venture, nothing
if
have
get
the
decorative
little
he
wishes
to
outside
circle
of
every-day
fortunes
banality,
must
the
hazard of
new
as
often and
Designed by Harold B. Sherwin.
Published by the Cf>n-tury Co.
il'i'
PANEL FROM BACK AND COVER OF "OLD ITALIAN MASTERS."
as boldly as the explorer or the soldier.
Often
he
will
discover strange countries fair to see,

will
which he
annex forthwith.
search
for
Sometimes the
warded
only
of
novelty
is
re-
by a
chance
fantasticality.
volume
ghost-stories
by Mrs,
Molesworth
2oS
liad
Bookbi/KiliNgs
a
plain
as
Old and New.

from
the
side
of
cloth
cover,
at
it,
which,
one gazed
start
there seemed sudfigure
denly to
a
did
shadowy
due
remove
its
to
stamp which
glaze
of
no more than
not changing
"
the
the calico,
colour.
Colonel Norton's glossary of
Political
Americloth
canisms" was covered with

turned inside
grain,
out,
a dark-blue
a
and
there
exposing
blue-gray
in
on which
was
title,
printed,
set
off
the
original
dark blue, the

of
by the But
figure
the
trifles
fearsome
gerrymander.
freaks
of
these
are
the
casual
com-
mercial bibliopegy.
III.
THE SEARCH FOR NOVELTY.
More
ber
of
fertile
is
the
effort to
to
find
special
cloths for special

fabrics
books,
enlarge
the
the
num-
from
which
binder
may
bookthe
choose.
The very
of
step in advance
which M.
Octave Uzanne urged upon the

binders
artistic
France
has
been
of
taken
;
by
commercial bookbinders
are
into
America
stuffs
and we
constantly
the
service.
of
seeing
new
impressed
the
in-
M.
Uzanne claims
la
vention
the
cartonnage a
a light
Pompadour,
tale
the clothing of
and
lively
of
the
eighteenth century in a
of
brocade
almost
or a
damask
the
period.
This
is
exactly what
a publisher in Boston did
when he
of
sent
forth
in
Mrs. Higginson's
the cotton
"
Princess
Java," clad
It
which the
in
Javanese wear.
was
what a publisher
sent
forth
p
New York
209
did
''
when he
Youma,"
Mr.
Lafcadio
Hearn's
2 lo
the

story
of
slave,
covered with
dress
in.
the
sim-
ple fabric
that
slaves
It
was what
sent
forth
a
a
"
London publisher
tiny
little
did
of
when
he
tome
old-time
fashions,
Our Grandmothers' Gowns," bound with The American

edition
"
the
chintzes and calicoes of bygone days.

of
Charles
Lamb's
" Poetry
for
Children
was issued by Messrs,

in
Charles
Scribner's
Sons
half-binding
is
of
some woven
material
such as
used
;
in
the
nursery for the pinafores of childhood
and the
same publisher covered Mr.

account of
"
Riis's
stimulating
How
the Other Half Lives," with
a stuff very like that from which the labourer's

overalls are
for a
made, a most appropriate garment

like
book
Mr,
Riis's.
Messrs. Houghton,
of a
Mifflin
&
Co. have
made experiment
silk;
more
it
aesthetic fabric,
Persian
they used
" Strangers
for
the
back
of
Miss
Jewett's
it
and
Wayfarers," on which
the white side
rative lettering
silk
;
contrasted boldly with
bearing
Mrs. Whitman's
deco-
imprinted in the colour of the

it
and they employed
again for Brown"
ing's latest
volume
of
poems,
Asolando," in

this
case
covering
the whole
book,
one
side
of
which was further decorated by a dignified

and border
I
panel
ing.
of
Mrs.
Whitman's design-
know
of
no recent commercial binding

than
this,
more
satisfactory
or
more adequate
%/ ;,i
A,S
I
!^^
J.bl'^"
Ui
yc
,^
.TSiV
1,^
-y
-S:
Jy J
j:..
-^'.
-^
'^J-
-^ -^
~J-
-^J? ...-<;
A copy
of the
sampler worked by the "girl."
Lettered by A. Hilgen[ii^'f
(.
reiner, die-cutter.
Published by Charles Scribner's Sons,
O-'i^^
"A
to
its
GIRL'S LIFE 8o
YEARS AGO," BY ELIZA SOUTHGATE BOWNE.
"^
'-
purpose, the appropriate sheathing
of
poet's last words.
This same
house published
the
"
Book
of
the Tile Club," a portly folio
bound
in sturdy
Bookbindings Old and Xew.
canvas
vin
material already used
by Mr. MarSons) in
"
(for
Messrs.
of "
Charles
Girl's
Scribner's
the cover
Life
So Years Aero
in
(whereon
of
the
title
was
printed
a
imitation
fantasy).
a
"
child's
sampler,
Tile
pleasant
''
The
a
Book
of the
Club
was
its
altogether
delightfully
more imposing tome, with

by Mr.
(not
decorative side-stamp
Stanford
White,
with
sive)
its
prominent
to call
them aggresits
ner\'es across
the
back,
with
brass-
bound
corners, with every
page separately and

and with
wherein
the
securely
its
mounted on
a linen guard,
personal
and peculiar
portraits
end-papers
or
we can
Tilers,
"
trace the
insignia of
with
even,'
of
one
his
7iom
de
giierre.
The
;
Book
and
it
the
its
Tile
Club
fairly
"
was
aimed
high
hit
mark
and squarely
in the bull's eye.
End-papers of special design are

refinements
of
among
might
the
book-making, which
be
seen oftener than they are
when
publishers are
giving time and thought to the
preparation
in
"
of
an exceptional volume.
Those
the
Grolier
Club edition
of the " Philobiblon
were admirably
Stanford Vi'h
te.
'
Published by Houghton, Mifflin &. Co.
A BOOK OF THE TILE

21
;
CLUB.'
ItU

in
215
keeping with the

useful, as
text.
They may even be

in
made
maps.
they were
Dr. Eggleston's
histories of
the
United States, where they are

this sort
But supplementary delicacies of

in
is
can be expected only when,
the phrase of the

illustrated
cockney
art-critic, "
the
book
by the
celebrated French artist

Still
De
Luxe."
rarer
in
is
another ancillary adornment to
be found
Loftie's
cal."
"
certain proof copies of

:
Mr.
W.
J.
Kensington
it
Picturesque and Histori-
These,
"
was announced by the publisher,
would
front,
have painted in water-colours on the

gilt
under the
edges of the leaves, a couple

until the leaves are
of
Kensington views, which,

at
bent back
an angle,
will
be invisible."
In Mr.
of
S. P. Avery's
copy
of the Grolier
Club edition
Irving's
"
Knickerbocker," the water-colours unof
der the
gilt
the fore-edge are
the
is
work
of
Mr. G. H. Boughton.
sus.
But
this
an
excur-
There are so many byways
of
booklore
that the book-lover can hardly help digressing

occasionally.
IV.
STAMPED LEATHER.
From
the beginning commercial binding has

itself chiefly
concerned
with cloth, with but an
occasional venture with other fabrics,

dimity, or silk.
hnen, or
which
The few
full
copies of certain single
books, and of
publishers
half-calf,
sets of certain authors,
now and
tree-calf,
again advertise as ready in

or in
in
crushed levant-mo;
rocco are not really commercial bindings

are
they
more or
less artistic
bindings done chiefly by
hand, but done wholesale.

to be avoided
really well
Generally they are

to see their
by
all
who hope
books
bound, for they lack the loving care
with which a conscientious craftsman treats the

single
volume intrusted
to
him
to bind as best
he
can
and they are
also without
the
merits of
another sort which we find in

coverings.
the best cloth
Sometimes,
of course, the sets
which
publishers offer in leather are honestly forwarded

216
Designed by Stanford White.
"THE CENTURY DICTIONARY."

217

and thoroughly finished
:
but for the most part
they are hasty and soulless.
To
the
true
book-lover's
eye
no
crushed
levant can be too fine or too magnificent for the
book he truly loves
In red morocco drest he loves to boast,
The bloody murder,

Or dismal
ballads,
or the yelling ghost
sung to crowds of old,
Now
cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.

this,
Knowing
some American publishers have

bound
in
issued the whole edition of certain books

in full leather,
and with the covers stamped
appropriate designs.
of
Here we have the methods

applied
to
the best
cloth-binding
the
best
material, leather.
These books are

though
the
as carefully
forwarded and finished as
they were
hand-work
the
purist
indeed, almost
only objection
might make against them would be

;
the saw-cuts in the back
and
this
objection
is
is
minimized by the
fact that the
volume
will
now
permanently clothed, and that there

fore be
there-
no need
to
rebind
it.
Although plates were engraved even

fifteenth century
to
in
the
stamp the
sides
of
leather-
220

practice
bound books, the

so far as
had long ceased except and bibles
dictionaries, prayer-books,
;
were concerned
the
side,
and even
imitation
orio-inal
in
its
palmiest days
a
plate
was an
of
hand-tooled
of
and not an
to
desio;n
a nature
It
is
appropriate
the individual book.
the
Designed by George Wharton Edwards.
<K
"THUMB-NAIL SKETCHES," BY GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS.
quality
that
it
of
modern
separated
commercial
itself
bookbinding
from
it
has
of
wholly
the
traditions
hand-tooling,
merits.
and that
the the
for
stands
on
its
own
Consider
of
massive
and
Mr.
substantial
solidity
side-stamp
the
"
Stanford
White
designed
Cen-
Designed by Howard Pyle.
Published by Charles Scribner's Sons.
"THE MERRY ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD," BY HOWARD

221
PYLE.
(^S5

tury
is
223
it
Dictionary,"
and
note
how
different
in its
vigorous firmness from even the most

Technically,
this
dic-
elaborate hand-toohng.
tionary cover
is
is
most
interesting, for the design
impressed on
damp
sheepskin by a heated
tone of
the leather,
plate,
which changes the
thus imparting to the decoration colour as well

as
relief.
Although
of
recall
the stamped leather cover

of
the
photolithographic facsimile
the
first
folio of
Shakspere,
with Teutonic tradition,
blind-tooled accordance think that only

in
I
it
is
within the past few years, and here in the United

States, that publishers
have made a practice of

of
issuing
the
whole edition
in leather
certain
beautiful
books bound
as
stamped by machinery
Mr. Howard Pyle's
"
though
it
were
cloth.
re-
setting of
"
Robin Hood
was issued by Messrs.
Charles Scribner's Son's in 1883 with a leather

cover embossed
the artist-author.
illustrated
with a
Dureresque design by
the lovely volumes
collab-
Then came
Alfred
by Mr. E. A. Abbey with the

Mr.
Parsons,
oration
of
and published
by Messrs. Harper
&
Brothers.
For Goldsmith's
224
Boo/cd/ //(//// OS
to
Old and New.

folio,
"She Stoops
Stanford
Conquer," an ample
devised
a
Mr.
White
tasteful,
cover
;
decoration,
modern,
and
graceful
border
sur-
rounded the two sides and the back, here treated

as
if
they were a single plane surface (although
outlined straps crossed the back); and a cartouche
on the side held the
title of
the
work and the

the sprightly
it.
name
of
the artist
who had made
aad refined drawings that
illustrated
The
gold of the letterinar was of a different tone from

the gold of the decorative design
;
and by another
filled
mechanical device the
filleted
border was
by a ribbed
surface,
this,
Quite as effective as
although
Life
its
"
simpler,
was the cover
of "
The Quiet
with
the
to
of
Messrs,
of
Abbey
flowers,
and
also
Parsons,
powder
of
due
the
ingenuity
Mr.
White.
From
"
same publishers have since

"
come the
tors,
Old Songs
by the same
illustra-
the
"Sonnets by William Wordsworth,"

by
of
with
"
drawings
Mr.
Parsons
of
alone,
and
The Boyhood
the
Christ,"
of
spirit
General
Lew
conearlier
Wallace,
covers
which
as
were
the
all
ceived in the same
two
225

books, although they lacked
distinction
227
of
something
the
Mr. White gave to his handiwork.

of
For the edition
Longfellow's
"
Hiawatha,"
to the illustrating of
which Mr. Frederic Rem-
ington brought his extraordinary knowledge of

Indian
manners
and
modes
of
thought,
the
Co.,
publishers,
Messrs.
Houghton,
appropriate
Mifflin
&
of
prepared a most
skin,
this
cover
buckof
and on the rough, brown-red surface

Mrs. Whitman's side-stamp stood out
brill-
iantly.
So
far
as
know, buckskin had not

bookbinding
to in
before been used in
America,
to
although
clothe the
it
seems
be
fit
material
:
many books
of frontier life
the late
of
Edouard Fournier records

old
as
that
of
many
to
the
so,
monkish bindings were

usual,
deerskin
the
novelty
turns
out
be
an
antiquity.
Vellum, which was once a favourite material

with the old bookbinders, has gone out of use
almost
everywhere
in
except
in
Italy.
It
was
of
employed
Joseph
covering the
for
"
Autobiography
Mr.
Jefferson,"
which
George
Wharton Edwards designed
a rich
and ingen-
228

embossed on
also
utilized
ious Renascence side-stamp to be
the yielding leather.
Vellum was
to
bv the Grolier Club

edition of the
"
clothe
its
unequalled
this
Philobiblon,"
but in
seal
of
case
the only decoration was the
the
good
Bishop
of Bury.
Here
the
art
come
to
the
end
of
my
notes
on
art
of
commercial
bookbinding,
age,
is
an
which, in this mechanic

flourishing
in
It
is
perhaps most
of
this
country
inventive
mechanics.
one of the
art
most
important
art.
forms
of
household
understood,
of
decorative
Properly
tised, it is
and
intelligently
prac-
capable of educating the taste even

of
of the
thoughtless, and
to
giving
keen enjoy-
ment
sake.
it
those
who
to
love
books for their own

to
There needs no argument

not an
the
art
prove that
called
is
despise
which has
forth
energy of M.
of
Giacomelli
and Jules
Jacquemart,
Mr.
of
William
Morris
and
Mr.
Walter Crane,
Vedder, and
ford
Mr. E. A. Abbey, Mr. Elihu

Pyle,
of
Mr. Howard
Mr. Stan-
White and Mrs. Wliitman.
Designed by
"
J. A.
Schweinfurth.
Published by
13Y
Little,
Brown
&
Co.
'.
THE OREGON
TRAIL,"
FRAHCIS PARKMAN.
tfty
229
BOOKS IN PAPER-COVERS.
BOOKS IN PAPER-COVERS.
I.
THE SUMMER CLOTHES OF
FICTION.
When
the soliloquizer in the Spanish Cloister

soul's
wished to consign Brother Laurence, his

abhorrence, to
sudden and certain damnation,

to
he
determined
his
is
place
within
his
enemy's
to
reach
at
"
scrofulous
French
novel,"
look
which
the ruin of the soul.

it
Although the
as
poet does not so declare

I
in
many
a
words,
have
always
believed
that
this
scrofulous
French novel was loosely clad

yellow paper,
flimsy
in
cover of
as
beyond question, and
easily destroyable
as the
soul of Brother Lau-
rence.
Whether
it
be due
to
the
French
to
fiction
afflicted
which the British bard declared

with the king's
evil,
be
or whether
it
be due to our
234

stories,
American
of
sentimental and adventurous,
the
kind familiar since the war as
"dime
novels," or
whether
it
be due to some more

is
recondite
that
"
cause, there
no denying the
"
is
fact
yellow-covered literature
not in good
odour with book-lovers.
Even
the collector
who
so
nowadays
despises
nothing,
be
it
never
humble, treats with contempt volumes stitched

into
paper-covers
call
mere
So
h'ocJntres,
I
as
the
French
them.
is
far as
know, not any

books
of
all
book-lover
sorts
now gathering
to swift
the
which go forth
oblivion
guarded
against hard usage only by a wrapper of paper.
There are
collectors of book-plates, of
I
postage-
stamps, of pictorial posters, but
have never
heard of a collector of paper-covers.

as the paper-cover
And
yet,
must needs be the work
of
a typographer or of a colour-printer, of a lithog-
rapher or of
designer in
black
and white,
should be
there seems to be no reason
why
it
scorned
for this
when
all else is
cherished.
The
reasons
neglect
the
are
not
easy to declare
when
for
for
we consider
many wrappers prepared

novels,
magazines, for catalogues, for
and
No. v.]
AUGUST,
1870.
[Price
One
Shilling.
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL,

Advertisements to be sent to the Publi shers ana
(. righto; Trordation
is
193, PICCADILLY. ADAMS & FRANCIS, 59, Fleet Street

reicrvei-l
E.O.

children's
237
books, by artists
like
Messrs. Elihu
Vedder and Stanford White, Will H.

Joseph
Pennell,
Low and
Randolph
Walter Crane and
Caldecott,
Luc
Olivier Merson, Carloz
Schwabe
"
and Jules Cheret.

In
one
of
the
pleasantest
essays
of
As
the
we were
"
saying,"
Mr. Warner
discusses
Clothes of Fiction," and remarks on the sumof
mer and the winter apparel

certainly as
of
romance.
"
As
the
the
birds
appear comes the crop
summer
novels,
fluttering
down upon
stalls,
in procession
through the railway
trains,
littering the
drawing-room
tables, in light paper-
covers,
fanciful
ornamented
designs,
in
attractively in
colours
and
as
as
welcome
and grateful
winter
the
fer
girls
muslin.
...
the
In
rich,
we
pre-
the
boards
light
and
the
heavy binding,
be
;
however
tale
may
but
in
the
summer, though the

tragic
fiction
be as grave and
as
wandering love and bankruptcy, we

it it
would have
of
come
were."
to
us
lightly
clad
out
underfitting
stays,
as
The
publishers
stand this desire of the

forth
their
public,
in
and they send

loosely
summer
novels
238
garments
fancy
it
flannel
shirts,
so
to
speak,
and striped
blazers.
Sometimes,
may
as
be,
the
outside
is
adorned
inside
"
with
the
an
illustration
taken
from
the
of of
book,
were
Mr.
Janvier's
Uncle
an Angel," made attractive by Mr.
Smedley's alluring picture of Narragansett Pier,
and
M.
Daudet's
"
L'Immortel,"
dancer.
brightened
by M. Rossi's pert
the wrapper
as
is
ballet
Sometimes
treated with decorative sobriety,

"
was Mr. Howells's

its
Hazard
of
of
New
fate.
Fort-
unes," with
times,
sombre symbol
outside
Some-
indeed, the
cover
is
merely an
typographic
external title-page, having a chaste
beauty
quite
distinct
:
from
the
pictorial
is
and
the
from the decorative

stiff
such, for
example,
Vinne's
"
paper casing
of
Mr.
De
Plantin
it
and the Plantin-Moretus Museum,"

sent forth by the Grolier Club.
as
was
But
this typo-
graphic severity would

perhaps,
if
seem a
little
:
austere,
applied to a
summer
to
novel
yet
it
is
thus that the popular

series
is
Scribner yellow-covered
this,
attired.
Akin
are
and yet not

designed
wholly
similar,
the
side-stamps

by
Mr. Stanford
239
White and by Mr. Francis
Lathrop
for the successive collections of proofs
from the Century magazine.

In
in
England
the
railway
novel
is
incased
boards sheathed with paper; and this cover
PROOFSFRPM SCKIBNERS MoNTHLYAND-S" NICHOLAS'
SECOND'
SEKIES-
.SCRjBNEildr
CO
NEW-YOR.K'
FR.EDEMCK
WAKNE & CO -LONDON'

1881
DESIGNED BY FRANCIS LATHROF.

is
adorned more often

illustration
in
than
of
not with
crude
in
and hard
story,
some
scene
the
printed void
three
art
colours
generally,
of
and
sort.
wofuUy
of
or
charm
any
240

"
Mr. William Morris has reminded us that

give people pleasure
perforce
tise,
to
in
the
things
they must
office
that
to
is
the
one
great
pleasure
of
decoration
give
people
in
the
P3-FR0n-SCRIBNER'S^-
S-MONTHLY-AND-p
M3-ST-NlCH0LASl^^
THECENTU RY CO
UNiON-SQUARE-NYDESIGNED BY STANFORD WHITE.
things
they
use
must
of
it."
jDerforce
make,
the
that
is
the
other
Possibly
man
that
who
he
must perforce use the ordinary

novels
is
British
railway
so
demoralized
by
them

can take
pictures
241
vulgar
;
delight
in
the
staring
of
and
on
the
covers
these
tales
but
in
surely
no man could have found pleasure

inartistic.
making anything so grotesquely

Perhaps the reason for
lack of art
is
this
stupidly violent
to be
found in a blind following

long before the recent
of a tradition established
revival
I
of the
decorative arts in Great Britain.
have
"A
Comic Alphabet," designed, etched,
and published by George Cruikshank, No. 23
Myddleton
Terrace,
Pentonville,
1837,
of
is
the
paper-cover of which has

suggestion in
cally
it,
hint
humorous
emphati-
perhaps, but which
empty and awkward.

discover
the
in
To
of
of
immense
of
advance
made
by the British
decoration
their skill
it
knowledge
the
the principles
and
in
striking
development
prin-
the application of these
ciples,
needs only a setting of this
Cruik-
shank cover over against the wrapper designed

by Mr. Walter Crane for the catalogue
Arts and Crafts
Gallery in
of
the
Exhibition
in
held
at
is
the
New
pleas-
London
1888.
it
This
indeed a
pleasure to the user, as
was obviously a
242
lire
Bookbiiidiiigs
to
Old and New.

Mr. Walter Crane's
I
the
maker.
(To
services to children, also a labour of love,
shall
return again.)
in
Another admirable wrapper made

by an American
characteristic
this
England
although
fresh
time
is
the
and
cover
the
which
Mr,
Joseph
Pennell
of
devised
for
cheaper British edition

ton's
Mr. Laurence Hut-
invaluable
"
Literary
Landmarks
of
Lonits
don."
As
as
quaint as
is
Mr. Pennell's, and in
way
original,
Miss
Armstrong's suggesin
tion of a daintily
embroidered napkin
Herrick's
which
advice
was wrapped
as to "
Mrs.
pleasant
The
Little
Dinner."
of
These designs
Mr.
Pennell's
in
and
;
Miss
it
Armstrong's were printed

in
colours
and
of
is
colours
that
the
most
attractive
recent
French paper-covers have been printed, sometimes by one of the more
modern processes
of
chromotypography, and sometimes by the elder
method
of chromolithography.
Here the paper-
cover of the published book has been influenced
by the extraordinary development

torial
of
the
pic-
poster in
France.
Many
of
the best of
the coloured wrappers of
recent French books
'!^
4^
'^
*1
=-
5!
.1;;
^^
243

have been
but pictorial
the
posters
245
through
seen
the small end of
opera-glass.
More than
once
in these cursory
papers on various phases
of the
complex
art of the
bookbinder has there
been occasion to dwell upon the interdependence of the

arts,
and upon
their reflex action

is
one on the other.

stance.
And
here
another
in-
The French
pictorial
poster was
de-
veloped by M. Jules Cheret and his followers
and
rivals just
in
time to be of use to the pubto
lishers
who wished
Cheret,
send forth their books

colours.
clad in paper coats of
many
M.
The same
M. Willette
artists M.
Grasset,
were
they
called upon,
and the book-covers which

conceived wholly in
the
designed
were
spirit of the pictorial poster.
II.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE PICTORIAL POSTER.

If " Post
no
Bills "
were the universal law nowthe good fortune to
adays, those of us
live in Paris
who have
or in
New York
art.
would be deprived
of
of
one
of the
most interesting manifestations

Perhaps
it is
modern decorative
not wholly
unfair to suggest that this nineteenth century of
ours
is
a day of
little
things,
tiles,
and that our
silver-
ware, our pottery, our
our wall-paper, our

its
woodcuts, our book-covers, each in
kind,
and
when
it is
at its best, are better
than our historic
painting, our heroic sculpture, or our grandiose

architecture.
The minor
arts
have their place in

;
the hierarchy of the beautiful
and more often
than we are willing to acknowledge, they have a
charm
of their
own and
of
a value likely to be as
lasting as those of their

sisters.
more pretentious
elder
fig|
The
idyls
Theocritus and the

these so tiny that
?
urines from
Tanagra
are
246
we
can afford to despise them
2/\.j
We
on
are
all
of
us prone to underestimate the
value of contemporary labour
when
fail
it is
bestowed
common
in a
things.
Often we
altogether to
see the originality, the elegance, the freshness,
word, the ar^,
of the
men who
are
mak-
ing the things which encompass us roundabout.

Possibly the Greek did not consider the beauty
of the vase
he used
to
daily, the
form
of
which
is
a pure joy
us
and probably the Oriental
worker
at
the
loom cannot guess the pleasure

commingling
is
we
in
is
shall take in his subtle
of colour
the wools of the rug he
weaving.
So
it
small wonder that the pictorial posters which
adorn our blank walls pass by unperceived, and

that
we do not
care to observe the skill which
has gone to their
making.
pictorial
Yet
the
recent
development
of
the
is
poster in
France
and
tion
of
in
America
all
worthy
of careful considera-
by
who
take note of the artistic currents
our time.
More
guished
than
once
has
this
or
that
distin-
French
painter
or
architect
stooped
to design a poster for the play or for the

of
book
some
friend.
But
for
the
most part the
248

muddled and
ineffec-
posters of these artists arc

tive
;
they lack the solid simplicity of

is
motive
which
the essential of a the
good advertisement
vigour
of
they are without
bold
;
design
which the poster demands

out
the
it
and they are withrelief
compression
requires.
artist,
and
of
lettering
which
These are
qualities
which
the ordinary
not seeking, has not achieved,
perhaps
because
are
he
half
despised
his
task.
These
fail
the
qualities
which no one could

of
to
find in the
work
the masters of the
poster in France, M. Jules Cheret,
M.
Willette,
dis-
M. Grasset.
In
their
advertisements we
cover a perfect understanding of the conditions

of this
form
of pictorial art.
The
that
first of
these conditions
is
that the poster
shall attract attention at all costs;

is
it
and the second

all
shall
satisfy
the eye at
hazards.
Thus we
see
it
that
the
is,
poster
may
be noisy,
it
and
a
noisy
often
no doubt,
but
must
not be violent, just as even a brass band ought
ever to play in tune.
And
the paper-cover
poster.
is
younger
sister
of
the pictorial
The
be
conditions
under
which
paper-covers
can

effective
249
are
and accomplish
their purpose
the
same
is
as those
under which the
pictorial poster
restrained.
Indeed, the alliance between these two forms

of
chromatic
time.
decoration
had
been
close
for
some
Certain of M. Cheret's boldest and

for
most vigorous compositions were

pose of advertising
the pureditions
new books
for
or
new
M.
the
"
Robida's
"
Rabelais,"
"
example,
and
Three Musketeers
of the elder
is
Dumas.
sought
in
Perhaps the point
of contact
to be
the wrappers for sheet-music and for the scores

of operas.
The drawing prepared by M. Georges

M. Massenet's opera
to
"
Clairin for
Le Cid
"
had
in
been
like
enlarged
serve
as
poster;
and
manner M.
Willette's
delightfully
charac-
teristic
design of the old and the young Pierrots
for the witty
and pathetic pantomime

"
of "
L'En-
fant Prodigue
did double duty.
Any one who

late
has had
the
good fortune
in
of
to
spend even twenty-four hours
Italy
must have observed not a few
Italian posters,
chiefly railroad advertisements, having a quality

of
their
own, a national
note,
perhaps best to
250
Boo/cbindijigs
Old and New,
be characterized as a Inroad richness of colour

not unlike that to which
we
are accustomed in
Roman
I
scarfs
and Bellagio rugs.

I
In the
brill-
iancy of some of these posters

detected the influence of
painters;
have thought
little
I
the
group
of
Hispano-Roman
and
have
noted
also the decorative
methods
of the lithographic
designers
inartistic
who have
devised the showy but not

issued
covers for the sheet-music

publisher,
first
by
the
Milanese
Signor
of
Ricordi.
M.
Maindron, the
historian
the
pictorial
poster, has declared that
Signor Simonetti, the
water-colourist,
rate
is
to be credited with the elabo-
posters
announcing
six
the
Exposition
ago.
It
of
Turin some
or seven
years
may
are
of
be doubted whether these

really
Italian
posters
any more
effective
even
the
best
them
iant
than
is
the best of the strikino^ and
brill-
paper-covers
with which
Signor
Ricordi
adorns the music he publishes.

Fine as
Italians
not a
little
of
the
work
of these
both in the pictorial poster and in the

it
paper-cover,
of the
is
on the whole not equal to that
Frenchmen, M. Jules Cheret, M. Grasset,

and M. Willette.
25
is
Of
these,
I
M. Cheret
the
pioneer, and although

for the
I
confess a great Hking
Byzantine compositions of
M. Grasset,
is
cannot but think that M. Cheret
still
to
be hailed as the master of these two branches

of the decorative art.
We
that
are
all
profoundly grateful to M. Cheret
he has enlivened the dull gray walls of
Paris
by
lightly
draped
and
merrily
dancing
figures, giving a suggestion of life to the wintry streets of the
and warmth
capital.
French
their
These
aerial
bodies,
with
diaphanous
drapery and their swift movement, suggest the

figures frescoed
on the walls
of
Pompeii
and
M. Cheret
is
not without his share of the Latin
ease and verve which forever fixed these
Pom-
peian girls as a joy to the world.

the bold stroke of the Japanese
has, moreover, the
He
artist,
has also
and he
Japanese faculty of suppress:
ing needless details

gling,
in
for there
is
never any nig-
any finicky cross-hatching, any uncertainty,
M. Cheret's work.
of
He
is
an impressionist
impressionist
in
one sense
the word,
an
who
has a masterly
command
of line
and an absolute
252

who
uses these to
control of colour, and
make you
figure
perceive what
has impressed him.

as saucy as
The
he sketches
there
is
may be
his
you
please, but
no slouch about the composition.
To
as
this
describe
work adequately we must,
M. Henry Lavedan suggested, borrow from

decorator certain
of
his
own
colours,
lemon-yellow, and
night-blue
;
a geranium-red, and
mid-
and even then we should lack the
cunning
of the artist so to juxtapose these as to

effects.
reproduce his
is it
Almost equally
is
difBcult
to
in
reproduce here what
most representaabove
all
tive
M. Cheret's work
for
else is
he a colourist, and the attempt to translate his

wôrk
little
into
less
the
monochrome
of
typography
is
than a betrayal.
The compact and
skilful
composition can be shown, and the force

drawings; but the effort to transfer the
of the colour
is
of the
charm
foredoomed
to failure.
In M. Cheret's book-covers
we
see the
same
freshness of touch, the

of
same Japanese freedom

of
design,
the
same fantasy
skill
invention,
the
same exceedinor
in
the
combination and
contrast of simple colours, which delight us in
253

his
pictorial
255
same
posters.
We
see
also
the
ingenuity in the adapting of the means to the

end.
M. Cheret's decoration, when he has been

inspired, consists of a single design covering
most
the back and both of the sides of the wrapper,
and adroitly devised so that each side has
its
own ornament.
is
An
its
excellent
example
of
this
his cover for a sensational novel called " Pile
de
Pont,"
with
single
stalwart figure of a
man
tion
projected
blackly
of
within
the
light
its
circle
reflec-
made by an arch
in
the bridge and
the
water
flowing
its
placidly
beneath,
while the bridge extends
successive
arches
one
behind
the
other
across
the
back
and
around the other side
of the wrapper.
Another
"
example
is
the
cover of
its
M. Lefevre's
Scarasil-
mouche," with
Mephistophelian
figure
houetted sharply above the joyous
trio of Pierrot,
is
Columbine,
and
Harlequin.
This wrapper
unusually effective and harmonious in colour.
Of M.
digue
"
I
Willette's
cover for " L'Enfant
Pro-
have already made mention.

cover
for
I
Of M.
"
Grasset's
the
"
Dix Contes
of
M.
Jules
Lemaitre
have no space to speak at
256
length.
Bookbifiifijigs
It
is
Old and New.

the
one
of
most elaborate and

and,
like
sumptuous
of
French
pictorial
paper-covers,
posters,
it
M.
rich
Grasset's
suggests
stained
the
and
solid
translucency of
as
glass.
Modern and French
are
both
to
M.
Grasset
and M. Cheret, the one seems

inspiration
in
have found his
medioeval
cathedral,
and the
richly
other
in
Japanese
theatre.
In
the
polychromatic design M. Auriol has made for
M. Octave Uzanne's
philes,"
"
Contes pour
les
Bibliois
perhaps the
rigidity
of in
first
thing to strike us
certain
the
"
reading figures
who
pass
In
tion
before
us
stained-glass
attitudes."
the
equally
unusual
and
effective
decora-
M. Carloz Schwabe devised

ecclesiastical
tale,
"
for
M. Emile
Zola's
Le Reve," probably
else
is
what
we
note
before
of
anything
the
the
its
strange
elaborate
complication
design
and
symbolism.
I
Of M. Steinlen
but none
the less
of
know no
pictorial
poster;
is
he the author of two of
the most novel
recent
of
French book-covers.
M.
Aristide
One
is
for
book
Bruant's
of
unconventional
and unspeakable songs
the
^kfa UT
'J^cidfr
r,.BlARDOT
EdiLeur,
22.Pla.edela
^^WM
i^deleine.
PtfJS
DESIGNED BY WILLETTE.

Paris
a
file
259
of
streets,
"
Dans
la
Rue."
It
consists
of
sandwichmen,
old
fellow
beginning
(on
with
weather-worn
the
front),
and
extending (around the back) out into the gaslit
darkness of a
other was
damp and
for
wintry boulevard.
The
made
one of M. Jules Moiyear-books,

the
"
naux's
humorous
legal
Les Tri-
bunaux
Comiques."
Here
artist
makes
a clever and novel combination of
figures col-
oured naturally, with solid silhouettes extending in panoramic procession

of the
around the back
volume.
Less
unexpected
are
two
other
French
Full
of
paper-covers
character
side
of
is
herewith
that
reproduced.
which appears on
an
the
of
out-
" Bric-a-Brac,"
album
comic
sketches by that delightful pictorial humourist,

the
Franco-Russian
Pleasantly
flavour
of
who
the
calls
is
himself
the
Caran
d'Ache.
century
rococo
eighteenth
design with which
M.
Louis Morin has adorned the cover of a recent

illustrated edition of Gautier's " Petit
la
Chien de
Marquise."
One
of
the
most
amusing
of
M. Cheret's
26o
covers
is
that prepared for the illustrated cata"

is
logue of the
in
Exposition des Arts Incoherents,"

as
artistic
1886;
it
and as incoherent as
any
of the
studio jokes which
may have
b-een
AceuM
Q^ê'ô,
Designed by Caran d'Ache.
Paris
E. Plon Nourrit
&
Co.
shown
worthy
in the exhibition
is
itself.
Especially notethe pictures
the
humour with which
on both the sides and the back are combined
and yet kept separate.
Mr. Harry Furniss con-
Designed by Carioz Schwabe.
Paris
E,
Flammarion.
261
Bookbindings Old and, New.

fined his design for
263
British
"
pamphlet about
of
the
"
Pictures
of
1891
to
the front
the
wrapper, which had for
its
centre a palette with
portraits of the best-known artists of
London.
,55
P^w^^,^.^c^^m:^j^^
W^'^^X
YfV^^^^^l
,êiUQ
\
^
C.
i;r
,.
dc
la
Marquisc..-,^^;"
:^^,..:
,/^
Designed by Louis Morin.
Paris
L.
Conquet.
III.
BRITISH AND- AMERICAN PAPER-COVERS.
Covers
of exhibition catalogues of
seem
closely
akin to covers
magazines,
while
except
the
that
latter
the
are
former
may be
sportive
TyPCENTURTI
ILLUSTRATED
MAGAZIN
mONTHLY^
DESIGNED BY ELIHU VEDDER.
condemned
their longer
artists of
to greater seriousness
by reason
of
permanence.
Many
cover
of the leading
the
day have designed wrappers for
magazines.
The former
264
of
The
Ccu-
265
tury was invented by Mr. Stanford White, and
redrawn by Mr. Elihu Vedder, and the present

cover was devised by Mr. Stanford White
of the
;
that
new Scribners
is
by Mr. Stanford White
that of the English Ilhistrated
Magazine
is
by
Mr. Walter Crane.
Messrs.
Abbey and Parsons
THE CENTURY
ILLUSTRATED
MONTHLY
MAGAZINE
r
i^
%
'4
DESIGNED BY STANFORD WHITE.
prepared the cover for the
British
edition
of
Harpers
to
my mind
far
more appropriate
than the cover of the American edition, a reminiscence of
the old Bentleys
Miscellany.
Mr.
Francis
for the
Lathrop drew a dignified cover-design

dead and gone Majihattan
;
and M. Luc
Olivier
for
Merson made
equally
a design equally dignified
the
defunct
Paris
Ilhistre.
Mr.
266
Boo/cbindiiio-s
Old and New.

for
Bertram Goodhue's
wrapper
its
his
quarterly
of
is
Knight Errant^ with

"
vague suggestion
Childe
Roland
to the
Dark Tower came,"
worthy to be compared with the Centitry Guild
Hoddy-Horse
also
the
organ
of
authors and
^^ne-CnGLISH-
fiLUSTRflTGD
DESIGNED BY WALTER CRANE.
artists
dissatisfied
with their environment and
with their epoch.

of the covers
To
be noted also are certain

for the
made by Mr, W. H. Bradley

to
Chicago Inland Printer ; and not
be omitted

is
267
the graceful and classic design by
Mr. Will
H.
"
Low now
That there
is
seen on the Bookbuyer,

is
a character in
American
I
desis^n
which
hardening into
style,
think every
ILLUSTRATEDîeOPAGESÔNE SHILLING
HARjPEICS
AONTHLT
yVGAZINE
JAMES
R. OSGOOD, MÎLVAINE & COMFANY. 4S. ALBEMARLE STREET. LONDON. W. HARPER&BR0THER5, E?ANJ{L1N SQUAEE. N EW YOK K
.
LONDON
OTFICE.
4SAIBEMaKLE JSTREET.V.
one who has had much

designers
the
chief
will
to
do with American
the
agree,"
wrote
lady
who
a
is
of
;
the
Associated
Mrs.
Artists,
few
to
years
ago
and
Wheeler
went on
268
declare

that
this
American
style
*'
:
seems
to
possess three important qualities

lute
art
;
First, abso-
fidelity
and
truth,
as
shown
line,
in
Japanese
perhaps
second,
grace
of
which
comes from
Renascence
viduality
of
;
familiarity
with
the forms
of
the
indi-
and
third,
imagination,
In
its
or
treatment.''
own way
felt
the
American
pictorial
poster
has
the
inliu-

ence of
be
called
this
269
it
forward movement
bear
witness
in
and
can
Mrs.
to
behalf of
Wheeler's declaration, just as her own embroideries
and
textiles
can,
or
the
La Farge and
Tiffany stained glass, or any other latter day
DESIGNED BY WILL
H.
LOW.
development
people.
of the art instinct of the
American
A
of
habit
of
its
the
German
periodical
Dahcim
gives
fresh-
changing
cover with every
issue,
the outside of this publication a certain
270
B00 kb hidings
Old and New.
ness not always to be discovered on the inside.
The
habit has been adopted also by the French
monthly
Figaro
Illuslre,
which
reproduces
polychromatically a water-colour drawing of one

MARCH. 1894 iii@@iti^^-siii^3i^siii@iiieiiieeiiis-
riE n/iRv/iRD
GR71DU71TES
Vol. 2
-MQ.7
PU5USnEDDY The n ARVARD G R ADU ATCS
Aagazinc -Association
6BEACON St Boston Aass.
or another of the brilliant French painters

the day.
of
Perhaps the monthly change
of the
design allows the paper-cover to serve also as

a pictorial poster to draw the attention of those
who
pass by the
stall
on which
it
is
exposed

to
271
the appearance
of
the
new number.
acquired
Joiirnal,
One
same
American
habit,
T/ic
periodical
has
the
Ladies'
its
Home
broad
which has
reproduced on
front
page drawings
artists
by most
black
of
the
leading
American
in
and white.
former
cover
of
St.
A
dren's
Nicholas,
the
chil-
magazine, was designed by Mr. Walter
Crane, to
whom,
of
for that
and
for other things,

is
the gratitude
Its
the
nursery
forever
due.
present
cover was drawn
by
Mr.
Harold
B.
in
"
Sherwin.
his
"
When
Robert
of
Louis Stevenson,
Verses,"
tells
Child's
Garden
sings
of
Picture Books in Winter," he

All the pretty things put
us that
by
Wait upon the children's eye,

Sheep and shepherds,
trees
and crooks.
In the picture story-books.
We may
Seas and
see
how
all
things are,
far.
cities,
near and
fairies'
And
the flying
looks.
In the picture story-books.
But these illuminated horn-books, these tiny
tomes
of
youthful
joy,
arc the
guerdon
of
tlie
272

the present.
children of
The
"
children
of
the
past
knew
"
them
not.
The
New England
of
"
Primer
had a cover
as
as
of the
utmost typographic
vain
itself.
severity,
dignified
and as scornful
delights
the
"
Bay
Psalm
Book
Learning was not made alluring for the sons

of
the
I
Pilgrim
Fathers,
nor for their grand-
sons.
doubt
have
not
that
Jonathan
"
Edwards
without
would
Tears
"
denounced
and
Readinsf O
as a pestilent
of
irreligious work.
Yet a score
metaphysician
sician tion
of
years
born,
before
the
American
"
was
French metaphyEduca-
had published a book on the
Daughters," in which he advised that

to
the
young be taught
so
that
read in cheerful fairy
tales,
the
labour
may
be lightened.
Fenelon even ordered that a well-bound book

be given to the child
a
the
book with
gilt
edges
the
and
fine
illustrations.
But the
treatise of
Archbishop
nally
of
of
Cambrai had been written

friends
origi-
for
his
Duke and Duchess

in
Beauvillier;
rich
and onlv
the
the
households of
gratified
gilt
the
could
"
children
be
and
incited
by
well-bound
books with
edges
and
fine engravings."
A-BOOK-GF-OLD-p.MYnE5'Vv/ITH-NEWDKE5SES''
^^-Aa/ALTER: CRANE ^
THE-
MUSIC -BY -THE- EARLIEST- MASTEKS'
ned by Walter Crane.
By permission
of
Edmund
Evans.
London
George Rutledgo
it
bons.
273
FOES
IN
AMBUSH
,^tAPT.
CHARLES KINO
Designed by R.
L.
M. Camden.
Published by J. B. Lippincott Co.
"FOES IN AMBUSH," HY KING.
"

For
the
277
most
the
part
the Httle
volumes preof
pared for
use
and behoof
the
young
than
were but shabby things, often

chap-books.
"
httle better
The
a
first "
edition
if
of
Goldsmith's
it
Goody Two Shoes

s
smith
of
surety
is
indeed
be
Gold-
rudely manufactured;
for
and so were most books

within
a
the
young
ago.
until
quarter
of
;
century
They
were
vilely
illustrated
and they had coloured
covers crude and violent in outline and in tint
Then -it was

tion
in
1865
Mr.
Evans,
Walter Crane
in associa-
began designing children's toy-books

with
Mr.
Edmund
In
engraver and
colour-printer.
Little
1870 was published "This

Market,"
its
flat,
Pig went to
outlines,
its
with
its
strong,
colours,
definite
and
bright
and with
cover as seemly, as decorous, and
as decorative as
any baby, however
fastidious,
might wish.
In
1875 began another series of
eight larger toy-books, with a uniform wrapper;
among
and an
1876,
these
"
were
"
Beauty and
the
Beast
in
Alphabet
of
Old Friends."
Then,
in
came "The Baby's Opera," and

Baby's
1879
"The
Bouquet,"
and
in
1886
"The
2/8
Baby's
Own ^sop,"
mounted
in
all
attired
in
printed
paper-covers
on
pasteboard,
most
harmonious
colour and inventive in design.
And
the
all
these
books
and
many more were

the
devised by Mr. Crane not for

rich
only,
of
children of
of
not
for
the
daughters
the
Duchess
of
Beauvillier,
but for the
children
it
the
poor,
be,
able
to
pay only a sixpence,

of
might
Hbrary.
for
the
beginning
the
baby's
After Mr. Crane had shown
the wây,
in
Miss
footlittle
Kate Greenaway began

steps with
to
follow
his for
her exquisite
little
books
people;
cott,
and so did the

his
late
Randolph CaldeIt
with
more robust
Caldecott
drawinsr.
was
of
in
1878
that
published
the
first
his
picture-books
;
"The
House
Fourteen
years,
that
Jack
Built "
and
"
in
the
same year came out the more

ap-
second
peared
"
John
the
Gilpin."
in
next seven
ending with
The Great Panjandrum

1885.
I^
Himself," which bore

in
first "
the date of
"^^'^s
1879 that
of
Miss
Greenaway published the

books,
the
her picture-
well-known
Kate
Greenaway 's
ONE SHILLING
Designed by Walter Crane.
Published by George Allen.

"
SPENSER'S
FAERIE QUEENE."
281

Little
283
in
Folks'
Painting
also her
Book
"
"
and
the
the
same year came

"
Under
Window."
"
The Kate Greenaway

date
of
Birthday- Book
bears
the
1880,
and the "Mother Goose"
ajDpeared the year after.

I
am under
the
impression
that
it
is
to
study of
Miss Greenaway's simple and quaint
drawings that M. Boutet de

inspiration
for
Monvel owes
picture-books
his
for
the
French
children
recently.
that
he
has
published in Paris more

is
Perhaps
artist
this
the
first
time
any
British
has
influenced
Frenchman
rediscovered
since
the
Fontainebleau
school
landscape in the paintings of Constable.

I
have been able

field
to give but a hasty glance

is
over a
where there
much
but
I
to
be gleaned
I
by the patient
labourer;
trust
have
is
succeeded in suggesting that the paper-cover

not
a
thing to
beauty,
be despised, that
it
may be
thing of
of
and that
of
it
may
be a thing
value.
:
One word
the
is
warning,
and
have
done
even
never destroy the paper-cover of a book,

of
least
important
integral
pamphlet.
of
The
book
integument
an
part
the
284
and
cover,
if

the
book
is
worth keeping, so
in always.
is
its
which shoukl be bound
The
other
wrapper may contain
advertisements
or
TESATRE DELA RENAISSAVCE
DESIGNED BY BOUTET DE MONVEL.
information, or
it
may have
you
a portrait or
some
other illustration not contained within the book

itself
;
and
then
if
remove the wrapper
Design-jJ L/
ij
L.aii^.
Lundun
George Rutleclge
Si
Sons.
285
Bookbindings Old and Neiv.

your book
will
287
always
never be perfect.
;
It will
be short of something
tive in
it
will
always be defecit
and incomplete, even though

a
should
of
be
a
the binding of
Trautz-Bauzonnet or
Cobden-Sanderson.
THE GROLIER CLUB OF
NEW
YORK.
THE GROLIER CLUB OF
NEW
YORK.
I.
NEW YORK AND

Once upon
a
ITS CLUBS.
time
M. Francisque Sarcey,
wishing to express his abhorrent contempt for

a poor play, doubted whether
it
would please
even the inhabitants of Carpentras or of
New
York.
test
think
we New Yorkers may
fairly pro-
against this
likening of our fellow-citizens

Boeotia of France, even
call
to the
dwellers in the
though we do not dare to
our city the
Athens
of
America.
as
to
In
the
noisy
literary
and
futile
discussion
the
future
capital
of
these United
States,
one agreement was clear

this
above the din, that

yet such
country
had
not
as
focus
of
intellectual,
political,
and
days
material
activity
as
London was
291
in
the
292
of

Queen
Elizabeth
;
and
to
the
want
of
of
one such here

"
Lowell attributed
much
of
the
backwardness
and provincialism
our own
literature."
Although there
trifugal
is,
very fortunately,
cen-
tendency
in
our
in
system
the
of
politics
and education, aiding

literary centres
starting
of little
here and there throughout the

I
land,
it
is
clear also,
think, that there
is
quite
as strong
centripetal
of
tendency towards the

portion
of
concentration
lectual,
large
the
of
intel-
material,
and
in
political
activity of
the
United States here
the city
if
New
and
of
York.
And
it
will
be well for us
not
the
intellectual
activities
are
pushed
aside
stress
thrust
under by the overmastering

or political activities.
material
The
fact that
most
of the leading in
American
bear
publishing houses are
New York may
witness chiefly perhaps to the material activity

of the city; but
the fact that most of the best
magazines
issue
and reviews (weekly
and
the
monthly)
exhibitions
hence,
sales
of
and that most

pictures
are
of
and
held
here,
goes
to

show
that
293
is
the
intellectual
is
movement
not
sluggish.
This movement
strengthened and
of
sustained
all
by many clubs
and
for
all
and associations
sorts
of
purposes,
in
made up
one
art.
of little
knots
men
interested
or
I
another
manifestation
refer
to
of literature
or
need not
the Authors Club,
housed for several

Fencers'
in
years,
oddly enough, over the
Club,
and having so many members

it
common
with
that the fighting editor
was no myth and the
quarrels of authors under this roof were briefer
and more pointed and
less
I
acrimonious than
those recorded by Disraeli.
need do no more
than note the disputatious Nineteenth Century
Club;
the venerable
;
Century and the revived

;
University Clubs
the Tile Club

;
the kindred
Salmagundi and Kit-Cat Clubs

Club
the old Greek the
and
the
new Library Club;
Archiof
tectural
League; the Aldine Club, composed

;
the
(the
tiful
men who make books

Garrick Club of
and The Players

its
New
York), with
its
beau-
home
in
Gramercy Park and
fine gallery
of histrionic portraits,
both presented by Edwin

lie
Booth.
rare wealth of material will
ready
294
to the

hand
of the Dr. Francis of the twentieth
century
clubs
in
;
who may
but
I
write
if
about
old
New York
anywhere
doubt
he
shall
find
his
catalogue a more interesting association
than the Grolier.
The
choice
Grolier Club
is
a gathering of those
who
the
love books for

quality
their external
of
beauty
for
for
the
paper,
the
graceful
firmness of the type, for the even clearness of

the pressvvork, for
the
harmonious elegance
for
of
the
illustrations,
and
the
Its
decorative
skill
bestowed on the binding.

clares
constitution de-
that
" its
object
shall
be
the
literary
study and promotion of the

the
arts
pertaining to
is
production of books."
That
in
to say, the
Grolier
Club
is
interested
books
It
is
not
as
literature
art
but as wôrks of
of the
art.
with the
and mystery
book-maker, the printer,
the engraver, and the binder, and not with the

secrets
of authorship, that the
members
of the
Grolier Club concern themselves, although

of
many
litera-
them
are
scholars
are
and
students
of
ture.
They
true
;
book-lovers,
and
not
mere book-hoarders
they are
bibliophiles, not

bibliomaniacs
trinsic
;
295
its
they
not
love
for
a
its
book
for
in-
beauty,
accidental
its
rarity
they cherish a volume because of

vignettes or
it
charming
its
vigorous press-work, not because

the
"
belongs
to "
good
:
edition
the
!
one with
the two misprints

Ah,
je la tiens
Que
je suis aise
C'est bien la
bonne Edition
et seize,
Car
viola,
pages quinze
Les deux fautes d'impressoin
Qui ne sont point dans
la
mauvaise.
THE GROLIER ARMS,
II.
GROLIER HIMSELF.
The
Grolier Club
is
named
after
Jean Grolier
de Servier, Viscount d'Aguisy, Treasurer-General of France,
who was
a book-lover choosing
the best impressions of the best editions of the

best books
and having them bound by the best
binders under his
own
supervision.
Grolier was
of in
one
of
the earliest of
the great bibliophiles

first
France.
The French have always been

in the skill
their affection for choice tomes,
and they have

taste of
been foremost also

their
fully
and the
book-making.
Mr. Lang, in his delight" "
easy and learned treatise on
The
Library,"
is
has quoted Dante's reference to

called illuminating in Paris "
the art that
'onor di quell' arte

Parisi.
Ch' allumare e chiamata in
In the century and a half which elapsed be-
tween Dante's death and Grolier's birth printing

296

had been invented, and the
illuminating
art
297
is
which
called
had begun
the
to
be neglected,
of
but
without
impairing
supremacy
Paris.
Grolier was of Italian origin, and he served for

years in Italy, at Milan
first,
and then
at
Rome.
In 1534 he had been appointed
French ambas-
sador to Clement VII., and
it
was then that he
began
to collect books.
After his return to his

offices,
own country he
in
held several high

of
and he
was Treasurer-General
1565 at the
France when he died
age of eighty-six.
1675,
His library
it
remained intact until
when
was sold
and scattered.
The
researches
erudite
it
of
M. Le Roux de Lincy,
enable
us
to
Grolier's
clare that
of
biographer,
de-
was the
varieties,
library, not
of a
collector
literary
but
of
scholar
who
of
wished to
his time.
have at
hand
the
best
books
Apparently there were on Grolier's

or
shelves few
none
of
the
books which,
in
M. Alphonse Daudet's sharp phrase, are

tended
for
" in-
external
use
only."
Unlike many
the
treasures
modern
he
collectors,
Grolier
read
had
garnered;
and
their
contents
were
2gS
worthy

of
the
artistic
casing
the
he gave them.
chief scholars
;
He
his
was the comrade

time.
of
of
Erasmus praised him
and
Aldus
Manutius, the great printer, dedicated a book

to him.
friend of authors, editors,
and pub-
lisher-printers,
in
Grolier
was always very wary
his
picking of copies, and he had a proof
vision
fine
paper
for
whereon
special
imthe
pression
was made
edition did
him alone where

satisfy
common
ness.
not
his
fastidiousin
These chosen sheets were then clad

suits
leather
by the best binders

designs
of the
full
day,
who decorated them with

delightful
of
the
freedom
of the
richest period of the
Franco-Italian renascence.
It
is
small wonder that
a library called into
being with such exceeding care and so adorned
by the cunning
of
the
most adroit workmen

it
should have high repute, and that when

dispersed, a
lier's
was
hundred years and more
after Gro-
death, the separate books were eagerly purin those
chased at what
days seemed
full prices.
But
in
the
two centuries since the
sale
the
value of these volumes has been rapidly rising,
GROLIER CLUB BOOK PLATE.

299

until a single
301
for
tome has been sold by auction

dollars
nearly six thousand
this
is
the noble
copy
Paris
of
Heliodorus owned
National
Library,
by
Mr.
in
Hoe.
In
the
and
London
the posphilan-
the
British
of
Museum,
books
;
are fortunate in
session
bearing
in
Grolier's
thropic motto
and
New York
others
may
arm corum
AUTOGRAPH OF GROLIER FROM CAPELLA'S "ANTHROPOLOGY." (owned by MR. SAMUEL P. AVERY.)
be seen in the library of Columbia College and

in
the
Astor Library.
of
Not a few which

the
are
owned by members
engravings
with
ter
;
Grolier
are
Club
given
far
and
herebet-
of
some
of
these
will
and
these
plates
show
of
than
any
wandering words
the famous
mine
the
characteristics of
Grolier bindings.
reveal
But
grace
although
these
reproductions
of
the
and
the
delicacy
the
design,
of
they
gild-
cannot revive the noble richness
the
ings nor the artful contrast of the colours.
III.
THE AIMS OF THE CLUB.
The
York
is
origin
of
the
Grolier
first
Club
of
New
recorded in the
volume
of its trans-
actions.
in
A
arts
little
gathering of
into
men
interested
of
the
"
"
entering
at
the
production
books
Hoe,
to
was held
in
the
house of Mr.
Robert
Jr.,
January,
a
club,
1884.
They determined
to
organize
and
that
end
they
appointed committees to present a name and

to
prepare a constitution.
Early
in
February
the
members
that
adopted
the
constitution
of
which
are
declares
founders
the
L.
club
William L. Andrews, Theodore
De
Vinne,
Alexander
Hoe,
S.
Jr.,
W.
Drake,
Albert
Gallup,
Robert
Brayton
Ives, S.
W.
Marvin,
;
Edward
Mr.
Mead, and Arthur B. Turnure

elected
Ives,
and then
they
Mr.
Hoe,
President,
and
Brayton
Vice-President.
club
device,
including the
arms
of
302
Grolier,
was provided
THE GROLIER CLUB
BUILDING,
NEW YORK.

a
fortnight
later.
305
a
Then
the
chib,
at
having
No.
first
name,
chose
local
habitation
64
Madison Avenue, where the council

about
brief
in
met
three
the
middle
of
April
first
less
than
months
after the
conference.
There,
rooms simply and most
tastefully decorated
its
and furnished, the Grolier Club made

for a brief season
;
home
there
it
took root and flourthere

its
ished and
brought forth
fruit;
mem-
bers listened to a series of lectures as

tive
instruc-
as
they were interesting;
and there they
held separate exhibitions of etchings, of manuscripts, of original
designs for book illustration,
of bindings,
and
of early printed books.
Then
of
its
in
1886 the club moved into a house

it
own. No. 29 East 32d Street, where

for
its
had more ample accommodation
many
new members.
Romeyn,
of
The
architect,
Mr. Charles
W.
suc-
carefully considered the special needs

of this
an
association
in
sort:
that
he
ceeded
giving
the
club-house
dignified
and characteristic physiognomy
of its
own, the
enough.
dwelling
accompanying
sketch
dignified
shows
plainly
And
in
X
this
and
spacious
3o6
the

Grolier
since.
Club
Mr.
has
continued
to
prosper
in
ever
Hoe was succeeded

William
the
presidency by
Mr.
Loring Andrews
and
in
due season
Mr. Andrews was followed
by Mr, Beverly Chew.
Of the founders
book-lovers
of the club,
some were merely
from
taste
and
some
were
book-
^4

book-making, that there might
be a
307
stimulat;
ing interchange of suggestions and experiences
and also
States.
to
further
these
arts
in
the United
Although
there
are
an
a
increasing
few
in
America
they see
who know
it,
beautiful
also,
book when
!
there
are
alas
not
few
who
the
dwell in outer darkness, and in whose eyes
simple
edition
British
typographic
of
beauty of the Ameri"
can
the
to
Lowell's
of
is
Democracy," or
Lang's
"
of
edition
Mr.
Letters
ill-
Dead Authors,"
of
no better than the

the
made tawdriness
Mr.
Locker's
"
American
"
edition
of
Lyra
Elegantiarum
most
feeble attempt at bespangled splendour.
There
are
not a few,
fear
me
greatly,
who know
page,
of the
not the proper proportions of
a printed
and who do not exact that the cruel knife

reckless
and mercenary binder
shall
never shear
a hair's-breadth from width or height;
who do
not consider whether the fair white space of the

outer and lower margins shall be precisely twice
as full as
the
inner and
upper margins
and
who
take no care that the width of the page of
3o8
type shall be strictly one-half of the length of

the
diagonal
of
the
page.
niceties
There are not a

are
few to
whom
these
unknown
not
a
the
not a few in the United

in
States and
few
Great Britain.
So
first
far
as
know,
the
to
Grolier
Club
is
society
founded
unite
gratify
its
book-lovers
the
and
book-makers
and
to
needs
and
col-
wishes of both classes of

lecting
members by
of
and exhibiting the
best works
the
great artists of the past and by producing
new
best
books which
that
may
skill
serve
as
types of
the
modern
and
taste
may
Club
do.
I
This
double function of the

find in
ica
Grolier
do not
any
earlier organization either in
Amer-
or in
is
Europe.
there
Neither in England nor in
France
to this
any society exactly equivalent

club.
New York
Arts
In
London, that
Fine
useful
body the
formed
Burling-
ton
Club
was
" to
bring
together amateurs, collectors, and

ested in art
tation
;
others interfor consul-
to afford ready
means
special
between
persons
in
of
knowledge
the
fine
and experience
matters
relating to

arts;
309
and
to
provide
accommodation
works
their
in
for show-
ing and comparing rare

sion
of the
the
posses;
members and
past
friends "
it
and
held
during
the
twenty
years
has
nearly forty special exhibitions of works
of art,
and perhaps
have
the
ten
of in
these
subject
special
to
exhibitions
been
akin
of
those
held
at
rooms
the
Grolier Club.
But the Burits
lington
Fine
the
Arts
fine
Club
extends
it
interest
likely
to
over
all
arts,
and
is
as
gather
lains
and display bronzes

it
or
to
ivories, porce-
or paintings, as
is
show woodcuts,
;
etchings, or illuminated manuscripts
while the
solely to
Grolier
Club
confines
its
attention
arts pertaining to the
production of books.
des
In
Paris the
its
Societe
Amis
by
des
Livres
declares that
aim
is " to
publish books, with

their
or
without
illustration,
which
typo-
graphic execution, or by their

shall
artistic
selection,
be an encouragement to the painters and

as
to
the engravers
to
well
as
a motive of emu-
lation
the
French
printers,"
and
all
also,
" to
create a
friendly feeling
of frequent
among
bibliophiles
by means
reunions."
The
Society
31o
of
Bookbijidiiigs
Old and New.

is
the Friends of
fifty
Books
limited to a
memParis.
bership of
with an addition of
twenty-five
in
corresponding
Ladies
first
members
for
non-resident
are
eHgible
membership, and the

order
is
name on
of
the Hst in alphabetical
Madame Adam. Among the other members are the Duke d'Aumale, M. Henri
that
Beraldi,
M.
Henri
Houssaye,
Paillet,
M.
Auguste
Laugel, M.
talis,
Eugene
Baron Roger Por-
and M. Octave Uzanne.
The sumptuous
Books
tomes prepared with loving care and untiring

toil
by the Society
of
the
Friends
of
are
known
to
all
bibliophiles
through the
world as examples of the highest endeavour of

the art of book-making in France to-day.
The Burlington Fine

publish
Arts
a few
Club
of
its
does
not
books, and only
valuable
exhibitions are devoted to the arts pertaining to
the
making
of
books.
The
Societe
des
Amis
no
ex-
des Livres publishes books and

hibitions.
qualities
to
holds
The
be
Grolier
Club unites the three

in
found
differing
degrees
in
it
one or the other of these

has frequent
European clubs:
which
its
meetings
at
members
31
it
may
talk
shop
and
it
free
their souls
gives
a
exhibitions;
and
prints
books.
that
(I
open
parenthesis
here to
little
note
there was
once
an unpretending
in
Book
Fellows' Club here
New York
;
which printed a tiny tome now

to record that there
is
and again
club in
and
a dining
London
called the
Sette of
Odde
Vol-
umes, for
whom
few pretty books
of a personal
interest
and
of
mostly varying value

But
neither
of
have
already
been
printed.
these can fairly be called a rival of the Grolier

Club.)
I
am
forced to consider the meetings of the

it
Grolier Club before discussing the books

published,
has
because
certain
of
its
publications
have had a previous existence as lectures delivered
before
the
members.
first
During
the
winter of 1884-85, the

the
whole season that

of
its
club
was
in
full
possession
rooms,
Mr. Theodore L.
toric
De Vinne lectured on " HisPrinting-Types," Mr. Hoe on " BookbindConsidered,"
ing
Artistically
and
Mr.
Will-
iam
In
Matthews
1885-86
on
"
Practical
Bookbinding."
lectured
Professor
Chandler
on
312
"

Processes,"
Photo-Mechanical
"
Mr.
Elbridge
Kingsley on
Professor
Modern Wood-Engraving," and

"
Knapp on
Thierry Martens and the

In
"
early Spanish
Press."
1886-87
Mr.
W.
of
J.
Linton spoke on the
Wood-Engravers
the
XVth
sande,"
and XVIth Centuries," Professor R. R.

"
Rice on
The Etchings
Brayton
Mr.
In
of
Storm van's Graveon

"
Mr.
Ives
Early
Printed
"
Books," and
ental Books."
Heromich Shugio
on
Oridis-
1887-88 Professor West
cussed the
"
Philobiblon," Professor Russell Stur'
gis analyzed " Turner's
Liber Studiorum,'
"
"
and
Mr.
W. Lewis
Eraser considered
of
Nearly
in
Two
Hundred Years
ica."
Book-illustrating
Amerlectured
In 1888-89 Mr. George
Hannah
on
"
Early Printed Books relating to America,"
and Mr. H. Mansfield on "The Etched

of
Alphonse
Legros."
"
In
1890
Mr.
Work W. C.
Prime lectured on
raries"; and in
Diirer and his
Contempo-
1891
a
Mr. H. Carrington Bolton

collection
subjects.
of
discoursed
upon
books
1892
on
Mr.
alchemy and kindred

Frederick
"
In
Keppel
delivered
of
an
address
"
;
on
in
Some
Masterpieces
Engraving
and
31
1893 Mr. Charles R. Hildebiirn considered the

career
the
of
"
Wilham
Bradford,
first
printer
in
J.
Middle
Colonies."
And
a
in
1894
Mr.
"
Wells
Champney
of
read
paper
on
Pastels
and
Pastellists."
The most
preceded
these
lectures
accompanied or
of
special
exhibitions
of the
the
of the
of
objects
under discussion or
eulogized.
works
master
other
ad-
There were any number

in
exhibitions
connection with which

delivered
prints,
;
no
dresses
were
indeed
portraits,
these
of of
special
exhibitions of
of
fans,
of
drawings,
pictorial
of
early
pastels,
printed
of
books,
posters,
of
etchings
too
and bookbindto
ings
old
and new are
many
be
here
catalogued in detail as they deserve.
IV.
THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE GROLIER CLUB.
The
first
publication was aptly chosen
it
was
a reprint
of "
Decree
of
Starre-Chamber, con-
cerning printing, made the eleventh day of July

last past.
1637."
By declaring
it
unlawful, with-
out special authorization, to make, buy, or keep

types
or presses, or to practise the trade of
publisher, or
bookseller,
printer,
the
men who
print-
were misruling England sought to render

ing too
full
of
risk
to
be profitable, and they
hoped thus
to prevent the expression of the dis-
content with which the people were boiling.

it
As
a
is
neatly put in Mr.
De
Vinne's vigorous and

:
lucid
little
preface to
hissing of
this
reprint
"
Annoyed by
all
steam, they closed
the valves
fires
and
outlets,
but did not draw or deaden the
which made the steam.

gratified with
They
sat
down
in peace,
their work, just before the explo-
sion which destroyed
them and
314
their privileges."
DECREE
OF
Starre-Chamber,
CONCERNING
Printing,
SÎade the eletienth day of July
lajl pajl.
1637.
Împrinted
at
London by
'Rpbcrt "Barker,
Printer to the Kings motl Excellent Maieftie And by the Affignes

:
of
Mb
BiU.
1637.
REDUCED FACSIMILE (IF TITLE-PAGE OF GROLIER CLUB EDmON OF "A DECREE OF STARRE-CHAMBER, CONCERNING PRINTING."

This decree was issued
the Court of Star
in
in
31
1637
four years later

;
Chamber was aboHshed

was
beheaded.
of
and
1649
King
Charles
is
The
book-
reprinted decree
an admirable piece
is
making.
with
The
Dutch
the
type
an old style great primer,

italic
Dutch
is
capitals for the

also, as
letter.
first
The
city
paper
tion
becomes the
bibliophiles
publica-
of
organized
of
the
which was once

is
New Amsterdam.
in
of
Japanese paper, folded

Paris
it
the
The cover style made

having
popular in
imprinted on
by M. Jouaust, and
in gold
a facsimile of a book-
cover designed by Roger Payne.
The
second
publication
its
is
less
is
interesting
because the reason of

It is
choice
not apparent.
a reprint of
Edward
Fitzgerald's " Rubaiyat

It
is
of
"
Omar Khayyam."
of
it
not
unlike
the
Decree
Starre-Chamber
is
" in
make-up,
differ-
ing chiefly in that
on Japanese paper and

in colours
adorned with head-bands printed

Persian designs.
ental model,
tiful
its
from
The
cover, also
from an OriBeau-
was
also printed in colours.

is,
as this
book
it
is
less
satisfactory than
predecessor, because there was no imperative
3 $
1

it.
need for
Although Oriental
is
art in verse
and
decoration
profoundly suggestive, the issuing
of yet another
new
it
edition of
the " Rubaiyat,"

set-
however worthy
ting,
may
be of the noblest
of
might seem rather the task
British
Burlington Fine Arts Club than of an American
tv
No
better
choice
could
the
GroHcr
its
Chib
third
"
have made than the work selected as

publication.
This
is
Washington
Irving's
His-
tory of
New
to
York, from the Beginning of the
World
the
End
of
of
the
Dutch Dynasty, by
Here was a most
of
Diedrich
Knickerbocker."
the
happy solution
the claims of
claims
locality
and
the
literature.
Most
fitly
could
HEAD-PIECE FROM GROLIER CLUB EDITION OF TORY OF NEW YORK.' " (DRAWN BY HOWARD
" KNICKERBOCKER'S
'
HIS-
PYLE.)
Grolier Club bend

tion
its
energies to
of
the prepara-
and
of
production
a
rich
and
worthy
by
the
for-
edition
book
about
New York
of
greatest of
New York
authors.
By good
the
tune the humorous
chronicle
learned
and gentle Dutch antiquary lends

to
itself easily
;
abundant
illustration
and decoration by the

late
and
Died-
of the opportunities offered
2,20
rich

Knickerbocker
the
present
GroHer Club
better piece
has been swift to avail

of
itself.
No
seems
book-making has
ever
It
"
been
sent forth
to
by
that
an American publisher.
this
me
'
cheerful
issue
'
of
"
is
Knickerbocker's
to stand
His-
tory of
New York
worthy
of
beside
M. Conquet's noble editions
Stendhal's two
HEAD-PIECE FROM GROI.IER CLUB EDITION OF LOG-BOOK "KNICKERBOCKER'S 'HISTORY OF NEW YORK.'" (DRAWN BY W. H.
NOAH'S
DRAKE.)
great novels,
"
Le Rouge
"
et le
Noir" and
"La
that
Chartreuse de Parme
the
I
models of modern
the
best
book-making,
and
altogether
skill
French
in
this
taste
and French
art.
can
accomplish
that
to
difficult
do
not
say
equal
the
the
American
French
;
volumes
are
for
quite
the
they lack,
one
thing,
tender

and
brilliant
321
as
etchings
which
of
serve
headstories;
refine-
pieces
for every chapter
Stendhal's
the
final
and
again, they are

of
without
title
ment
the
recurring
water-marked
in
the lower margins
of the
page.
all
Perhaps the
American books have

and easy grace
of
not
the soft richness
M. Conquet's masterpieces,
but yet they brave the comparison boldly.
From
Dutch
cover to core
there
is
delightfully
flavour in these two comely tomes.
The
in
boards in which
orange,
as
befits
they
the
are
bound
of
fall
are
clad
garb
the
of
is
only true
account of the decline and

in
Dutch
Dutch
of
;
rule
America.
too,
The paper
are
within
and
Dutch,
the
types,
facsimile
those
five
used by Elzevir at Leyden in 1659

years
before
of
only
change
Colonel
surprise,
New Amsterdam experienced a heart and became New York, after

Peter
city.
Nichols, taking
Stuyvesant by
had captured the

the
The
frontis-
pieces
to
two volumes are etchings from

Battery in 1670," and
drawings of
"The
"The
in
Governor's Representative," by Mr. George H,
Boughton, who
was once a school boy
the
322
Aurania
ings

of
the
Dutch.
of
"
The
other
two etch-
are
views
Fort
New Amsterdam,
in
1651," and of
last
"New Amsterdam
The
1656," this
being a reproduction
of the earhest
half-titles,
known
them
print of
New
York.
initial
head-bands,
of
tail-pieces
and
letters
all
are
of
some
from Dutch models, and

pleasantly
them are most

of
Dutch
Mr.
in
spirit;
two
Pyle,
them were
rest
It
designed by
Howard
Mr.
note
that
and the
Drake.
were
drawn
by
Will
H.
remains only to
the original
manu-
script of Irving's careful

of
and elaborate revision
"Knickerbocker's
a
'
History of
of
New York'"
of this
is
now owned by
member
the Grolier Club,

to indi-
and that advantage was taken

cate in an appendix the
minor and yet always

suppressions
of
interesting
changes
and
the
author.
Except a useful pamphlet
of "
Transactions
"
the "Knickerbocker's 'History of
New York'"
Grolier
was the only publication

during the season
next
of
of
the
Club
18S5-86; and during the

confined
the
itself
winter
of
the
club
of
to
the
printing
certain
lectures
delivered

before the
it.
323
The
first
of
these
had
on
been by
"
President,
Mr.
Robert
Hoe,
it
Bookfirst
binding as a Fine Art," and

to
was the
appear as a book.
the
ckib,
When
of
Mr.
his
Hoe spoke
remarks by
of
before
he
illustrated
specimens of the work

noted binders,
all
many
the
most
selected from his
own
library,
photographs
of
which were thrown on a screen

;
by the stereopticon
is
and the published lecture

by sixty-three
"
made more
valuable
" of
Bier-
stadt artotypes
these bindings of Mr. Hoe's.

reveal
Although the
richness
of
plates
the
extraordinary
the
lecturer's
collection,
of
not
all
the
examples
doubt,
were
worthy
reproduction
and, no
more
characteristic illustrations
call
might have been procured had a

for
been made from other
the
best
specimens obtainable
members
of the club.
The second
ing-Types,"
lecture
was on
"
Historic
L.
Print-
by
in
Mr.
Theodore
1885,
it
De
Vinne.
Delivered
January,
was published
by the
Grolier
Club with additions and with
new
Mr.
illustrations.
As
"
all
know who have

of
read
De
Vinne's
Invention
Printing,"
he
324
is
Bookb'uidiiigs
Old and New.

own
craft,
a master not only of his
but also
of the
more arduous
Mr.
art
and mystery
style
of authoris
ship.
De Vinnes
as
as a writer
as
clear
as
is
and
his
simple, as
as
of
firm
and as vigorous,
His wide
has
press-work
a
the
printer.
and deep knowledge

so
subject
it
been
thoroughly digested and

I
is
so pleasantly
presented, that
think a merely casual reader,

to type-setting
having a Gallio-like indifference
and type-founding, would

at the
It
find his interest aroused
beginning
is
of
Mr.
De
Vinne's essay.
that
the
more fortunate
the
subject
should have fallen into hands so accomplished,

as
tion,
there
"
is,
so
we
read
in
the
introduc-
no
popular
gives
treatise
about
book-types
nothing
that
us
in
succinct
and
con-
nected form
information about their designers

tells
and makers, and that
us
It
why
is
styles
once
of
popular are now- obsolete."
the
want
such a treatise that Mr.

all
is
De Vinne
is.
has
the
filled,
too
his
brief
as
his
paper
it
As
author
that
is
own
printer,
in
is
needless
lecture
to
say
the
book
which
the
appears
masterpiece
of
American book-making, a mar-

vel of
325
the
the
most
type,
admirable
the
simplicity.
The
and
paper,
press-work,
the
size
the shape of the page, the adroit arrangement

of the
marginal notes, the due subordination of

the
the
foot-notes,
ample and properly propor-
tioned
margins,
even the novel
and dignified
binding
of a
all
these testify to the guiding touch

craft.
master of the
1888
the
In
club
published,
"as a
it,
sort
of
New Year
edition
tale,
"
book," so a report calls

the
late
a dainty
of
Charles
Reade's histrionic
suggesting
in
its
Peg
Wofifington,"
mechanical execution the

century
book-making
Mistress
of
the
when
but
story
the
lovely
little
Margaret
flourished.
The two
one
should
tomes
were pretty
enough,
British
wonders
be
exactly
why
this
chosen for reproducIn
tion
by an American
of
club.
1889 the
first
book
it
the
year was far more
appropriate;
was
Mr.
De
Vinne's delightful
account of
the
Plantin
printing-house, reprinted
from the
all
Cc7itury magazine with additions and notes,
Mr. Pennell's picturesque sketches being printed

in
varying
tints.
326

publication of the club,
The most important

even
more
is
important
the
"
than
"
the
of
"
Knicker-
bocker,"
Philobiblon
Richard de
holds
British
Bury,
The good
Bishop
of
perhaps the foremost place
Durham among all
ejr
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Version? SLnglicanetnon ct^rolts

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q Crjrttis
||
REDUCED FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF GROLIER

OF " PHILOBIBLON."
CLUl!
LATIN EDITION
book-lovers, just as
Grolier holds the foremost
place
among
fit
all
French
book-lovers
and
it
was most
of
and appropriate that a company

for the
American book-lovers named
French-
327
man
was
should
choose for
reverent
reproduction
the masterpiece of the
Enghshman.
laborious
;
The
it
task
honourable
but
and
was
undertaken not lightly or

but
with
courage,
in a spirit of levity,
determination,
and
fore-
'
bomiiii fliratbi be aiunctrbilc tosmnninati
\>z
aSutp
-quoitbam
iCfijttopi SI>undmniiBii#.
i.stc
dTomjifauji-
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bc^
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REDUCED FACSIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF GROLIER CLUB LATIN EDITION

OF " PHILOBIBLON."
thought.
fided
to
The mechanical
Mr.
execution was con-
De Vinne, than whom no one was worthier. The literary labour was undertaken by Professor Andrew Fleming West
328
of
Princeton,
who had
ah-eady lectured
to edit.
before
the club
fessor
dutiful
upon the book he was

not
of
Proof
West shrunk
comparison
that
from
the
toil
manuscripts
text
and
early
estab-
editions
lished
;
a
this
proper
might be
and
proper
the
text,
most
sent
devoutly
forth
as
amended and
the
first
revised,
club
volume.
In the second was contained
Professor
West's
sturdy
and
precise
render-
ing of the
lish.
original
Latin
into our later
Engby
These
two
volumes,
long
of
delayed
the
in
the
ardent and
followed
to
arduous labours
editor,
were
by
third
volume
which
was
of
be found an introduction, an account

author,
the
and such notes as were need-
ful for
the elucidation of the work.

edition was limited to two
The
hundred and
ninety-seven copies on paper and three on vel-
lum, one
of
which
latter
is
properly
reserved
are
for the library of
the
club.
The volumes
while
clad in pure
vellum
the
covers,
stamped with the

within
gold
there
seal
is
of
good
bishop,
a novel lining-paper, rich in colour and

in
congruent
design.
The form
is
small

quarto,
httle
329
and
a
with
page
six
inches
wide
less
than eight inches long.

"
The
paper,
a so-called
white antique,"
is
American handMr.
made by
than any
paper.
the
Brown
it
Company, and
whiter, clearer,
De
Vinne regards
as
and better
jDrinting
English,
Dutch, or
Italian
The typography
seemly
;
is
not
merely decent
as beautiful as
and
the
it.
it
is
as exact
and
utmost
skill
and
the
text,
loving
first
is
care
could
make
The
the
type
of
volume, which
a
contains
;
Latin
pica
black-letter
the
second
volume,
which
in
contains
the
English
(not
translation,
being set
small
pica.
modern
Roman
Sir
old
style)
The
vaults
black-letter
of
types
were got
Reed's
out
of for
the
Charles
Sons
Baines
Mr.
De
Vinne
by
drives
in
Mr.
of
Talbot
Reed,
to
and
they are
punches believed
in
have been cut

of
France
century.
the
first
half
the
sixteenth
of
There
are
rubricated
initials,
full-bodied
vermilion not often seen nowadays.

head-pieces
the
There are
them, and
devised
and
tail-pieces,
some
of
more ingenious, having been
by
330
Mr. G.
W.
Edwards.
(as
There
is
a page
of
fair
is
proportion
we have
seen),
and there
there
is
type rightly adjusted thereto; and
the
very perfection
in
of
press-work, ahke
register.
impeccable
impression and in
Herein indeed
we
see the final superiority of the best
modern
printing
by improved machines
artistic
when guided
this
by a
fine
sense
such registry as
not
of
would
be
absolutely
accidental,
to
say
early
impossible,
printers.
on the
hand-presses
the
In
"
the
manufacture
"
of
this
edition
full
of
the
Philobiblon
there
was
the
of
harmony
skill,
which comes from a union

and
taste.
It
is
knowledge,
the eye, to the
a delight
to
the
of
hand, and to the mind.
At
last
book
Richard
de
Bury
had a
of
goodly
outside,
as
becomes the words

books and
a
foretaste
to
wisdom
within.
is
To
to
love
own
of
a book like this

book-lover's
this
have
the
like
heaven.
edition
To
like
study
this
a leads
book
in
an
away from
vice
and
conduces
xv.)
to
virtue.
"
Indeed we read therein (cap.

can serve both books and
that
no
man
mammon."

In
33
hundred
on
"
1889
there
in
an
edition
of
three
the
copies
"
was
published
lecture
Modern Bookbinding
Mr.
the
Practically Considered
which
before
William
club
four
Matthews
years
had
delivered
before
and
from
which more than one quotation has been taken

to
enlighten the preceding pages
of
the
pres-
ent
volume.
the
Externally
this
volume
Mr.
it
ranged
with
published lectures of
;
Hoe and
was
illus-
Mr.
De Vinne
as
and
internally
trated
Mr. Hoe's had been with abundant
photogravures.
In
1890
one
of
the
most
artistic artistic
of
the
club's publications
was
issued,
largely
because
of
its
seemly
three
"
simplicity.
This
was
an
edition
of
of
hundred and
a
twenty-five
copies
the
Areopagitica,
speech
of
Mr, John Milton, for the liberty of unlicensed

printing."
For
this
Lowell
wrote
an
of
intro-
duction,
characteristically
of
commingled
to be
wis-
dom and
In 189 1
wit
it
is
now
found in the
latest edition of his
complete works.
the chief publication was the address

"
on
"
Washington Irving
which George Will-
332

at
iam Curtis had delivered

before
in
Ashfield two years
and
which
has
since
of
been
his
fitly
"
inckided
Literary
the
posthumous volume
and Social Essays."
This was
illustrated,
and the edition was limited to three hundred
and
its
forty-four
copies.
As
of
the
its
club
increased
membership, the
size
editions
had
also to increase.
Hitherto the publications of the Grolier Club
had
been
of
two
kinds
either
they
were
lectures
wêre
delivered
before the
members
or they
independent works which the club wished
to honour.
class,
Now
there began to appear a third

the
being the catalogues of
exhibitions
held at the club-house.
In 1891 there was pub-
lished a catalogue of engraved portraits of
the
to
of
in
most famous English

Johnson; followed
illuminated
in
writers,
from Chaucer
1892
by a catalogue
;
and painted
catalogue
of
manuscripts
original
poetical
and
1893
^^y
^
of
and and
early
editions
some
of
the
prose
to
works
of
English
writers
from
Langland
Wither.
list
In 1894 there was printed a classified
of early
American book-plates; and
in 1895
Bookbmdings Old and New.

a cataloQûe of books from the
libraries
333
or col-
lections of celebrated bibliophiles
and
illustrious
persons of the past, with arms or devices upon

the
bindings.
Most
with
of these lists
were
all
set off
and
enriched
of
facsimiles;
art.
and
were
to
models
the
typographic
And
of
akin
these records
the
of special exhibitions held within
club-house,
was a
volume
" Transac-
tions " published
toward the end of

history
1894
and
containing
of
its
the
of the club to the
end
first
decade.
In
this
I
summary
list
of
these
several
cata-
logues,
could not of course refer to two other
publications
of
made
"
in
the past five years.
One
them was an
original essay
of
by Mr. Moncure D.
the
Conway on
sixty copies
The Barons
were printed
of
Potomack and
the Rappahannock," of which three hundred and

in
1892.
"
The
other
was a facsimile
of
Bradford's
Laws and Acts

their
the
General
Assembly
York.
for
Majesties
Province of
1694,
of
it
New
Originally printed in
in
was reprinted by the club
an edition
just
three
hundred and twelve copies
two
centuries after the laws had been enacted.
334

other of the publications of the Grolier
Two
Club must be mentioned here,

they can
fairly
if
publications
first
be
called.
The
of
was
bronze
thorne,
medallion portrait
Nathaniel
Hawd'lll-
made
for the club
by M. Ringel
zach in 1892; and the second was an etching
by M.
"
Fran9ois
in
Flameng
Printing
of
the
picture
of at
Aldus
his
Establishment
Venice,
the
showing Grolier some

having
Bookbindings,"
original
been
painted
to
by
the
M.
club
Fran9ois
Flameng and presented

S.
by Mr.
P.
Avery
to
whom,
indeed, the
Players)
library of the Grolier (like that of the

is
indebted for
many
benefactions.
The membership
first
of the Grolier
Club was
at
limited to one
to
hundred
of
(it
has
now been
fifty
enlarged
allow
two
hundred and
its
resident members), but the editions of

lications
pub-
have
generally
somewhat
and
the
exceeded
the
smaller
number,
unfortunate
to
outsider has
sometimes
been able
aid
is
acquire
at
these
court.
treasures
by
the
of
friend
This
the
liberality
in
proper
accord
with
spirit
of
the
inscription
stamped

on
Grolier's
335
et
own
books,
forth
lo.
Grolierii
ainicorum,
to
setting
as
that
they
belonged
Grolier and his friends.

is
Surely an altruism
selfishness
of
like this
liger,
rare
as the
Sca-
who bade
his friends
buy books
for
them-
selves.
To grant
difficult
or to withhold, the question

(sqtie
is
equally
diffiailter.
When
all
book-
owners
precious
will
shall
freely
lend
and send
their
most
tomes
with
ungrudging speed, then
be the book-lover's millennium, which the

of
founding
the
Grolier
to
Club
here
in
York may haply help

in
bring to pass.
New And
for
the
meanwhile
its
members may pine
that book-man's Paradise:

There treasures bound
for
Longepierre
blue,
Keep
brilliant their
morocco
is
There Hookes'
"Amanda"
upon Peru
not rare,
Nor
early tracts
is
Racine
common
as Rotrou,
defies,
No
Shakspere Quarto search
And Caxtons grew
as blossoms grew,
Within that Book-man's Paradise.
INDEX.
Abbey, E. A.,
Aldine Press,
199, 2 '3.
5.
Bookbinding
in monasteries, 9.
at
Aguisy, Viscount of [Grolier],

iS, 22.
Bookbinding, exhibition
Grolier Club, 108.
the
dine typographic devices, 26.
Bookbinding,
forwarding,
and
A. us, 14, 76.

rating, 151.
finishing, loi.
American silversmiths' book deco- Bookbinding,

ID.
wooden
boards,
Amyot, Jacques,
48.
Armstrom
Assyrian
Miss, 242.
Arnold, Matthew, 117.

ookbinding, 6.
Bookbinding in silver, 9. Bookbinding, carved ivory, 9. Bookbinding, commercial, 182. Bookbinding, antiquity of edition
binding, 171.
Astor Library, 301.

Auriol, M., 256.
Bookbinding, technic of the

95-
craft,
Avery, S. P., 154, 215.

Badier, Florimond, 58.
Bookbinding, as
Bedford, Francis, 107, 126.
it
is
practised
to-day, 98. Bookbinding, " forwarding," 95.
Bewick, 118.
Binders of to-day, 119. Binding by machinery, 182.
Bookbinding, the "Powder," 38. Bookbinding, curiosities, 152.
Bookbinders of Great
90, 125.
Britain,
Bindings in cloth, 176.

Block design for covers, 177.
Bolton, H. Carrington, 312.
Bookbinders'
tools, 25.
Bookbinders,
modern
French,
1 22 Bookbinding in France, 89. Bookbinder as an artisan-artist, Bookbinding, early Italian, 14. Bookbinding in Venice, 18. 167. Bookbinding in Venice during Book covers in calico, 184.
fifteenth century, 75.
Bookbinding
144.
in
America, 90, 138,
Bookbinding Napoleon
in
I.,
Book of the Tile Club," 212. Book Fellows' Club, 311. Books first bound in cloth, 184. France under Books bound in sealskin, 159.
"
116.
Books
337
in
paper covers, 233.
338
Books
with
illustrated
Index.
paper Crane, Walter, 132, 237,241,277. Cruickshank's " Comic Alphaskin,
covers, 238.
Books bound
158.
in
alligator
bet," 241.
Curtis,
George William, 331.
Book-worm,
10.
Cuzin, 122.
Boone, Daniel, 160. Boughton, G. H., 200, 215.

Boule, 80.
Dana's
'*
"Two
Years," 160.
Daphnis et Chloe," 72. Boyets, the, 71. Day, Lewis F., 204. Bradley, W. H., 266. Derome, 47, 152. British and American paper Derome, the younger, 83. covers, 264. Derome, lacework borders, 85. British railway novels, 240. De Samblancx, 122. British booksellers, 194. De Thou, Jacques Auguste, 47. Burlington Fine Arts Club, 310. De Vinne, Theodore L., 323, 329.
Burton's " Book-hunter,"
Burty, Philippe, 153.
Caldecott, Randolph, 237, 278.
3.
De Vinne,
Diana of
" Plantin."
Poitiers, 54.
Dibdin, 84, 118. Didot, F., 14.
Cape, 122.
Dobson, Austin, 161.

Dubuisson, 86.
in
Caran d'Ache, 259.

Castellani,
silver,
modern workers
1 1 1
DuChaillu's ''Land of Midnight Sun," 199.
Cellini,
Benvenuto, 9, Chambolle-Duru, 122.
18.
Champney,
Charles V.,
J.
Wells, 313.
Edwards, G. W., designs book covers, 227.

Eisen, 86.
for
9.
5,
Charles IX.,
37, 53.
Cheret, Jules, 175, 245, 248, 250.
Cloth binding, 176, 184. Cloth binding for special books,

209.
Erasmus, 5. Evans, E., colour Eve, Nicolas, 57.

Eve, Clovis, 57.
" Fanfares," 57.
Ferriar, 182.
printer, 277.
Clubs of
New
York, 293.
62, 104, 129,
Cobden-Sanderson,
132. 152, 166.
Flameng, 334. Columbia College Library, 301. Fournier, Edouard, 14, 18. Conway, Moncure, D., " Barons Fox, C. J., "Speeches" bound in fox skin, 159. of Potomack," 333. Coverly, Roger de, 132. Francis L, 5, 37.
Index.
Francis
Fraser,
II., 5.
339
III., 54.
W.
Lewis, 312.
Henry Henry
IV., 53.
Furniss, Harry, 260.
Higginson, Mrs., "Princess

Java," 209.
of
Gautier's
''
Une
Nuit de Cleo-
patre," 159.
Hildeburn, C. R., 313. Hoe, Robert, 302.

Holbein's
157-
German binders in England, 147. German bookbinding, modern,

144.
"
Dance of Death,"
Gilson, finisher for William Mat-
thews, 106.
Grasset, M., 245, 248.
Gravelot, 86.
Greenaway, Kate, 278.

Grolier, 6, 17, 18, 152.
Holmes, Dr. Oliver W., 17. Horace, g. Hugo's " Napoleon le Petit," bound in morocco with the " Bee " from the throne of Napoleon III., 155. Hunt, R. M., 135.
Illuminated horn-books, 271.
Illustrated children's books, 237.
Italian
Grolier's motto, 30.
Grolier
and the Renascence,
5.
Grolier bindings, 21. Grolier bookbinding tools, 26. Grolier Club, 291. Grolier Club building, 305. Grolier Club e.xhibition of book-
bookbinding,
modern,
144.
Ives, Brayton, 312.
bindings,
T)2
121.
lec-
Jacquemart, Jules, 204.

Jansenists, 71.
Joly, 122.
Grolier Club meetings and

tures, 311.
Grolier Club, origin
of,
302.
Jones,
Grolier Club publications, 314.
Owen, ''Alhambra," bound by Matthews, 106.
Gruel and Engelmann, 122.

Gruel,
Guinti,
M. Leon,
5.
58.
Kalthoeber, 147. Keppel, F., 312.

Kingsley, Elbridge, 312.
"Guirlande de
Julie," 58.
Knapp, Professor, 312.
Hannah, G., 312. Hardy-Dumennil, Hawthorne, 334.

Heber, 182.
126.
La Farge,
Lamartine,
269.
1
17.
Lamb's
210.
Poitiers,
" Poetry
for
Children,"
Henry Henry
II.,
5,37, 54.
II.
and Diana of
Lang, Andrew, 296.

Latlnop, Francis, 265.
38.
340
Laugel.
for
Index.
Auguste, books
bound Mazarin
Library, 43.
Napoleon
I.,
117.
Mazarine, Cardinal, 66.

Medici, Cardinal de, 9.
Laurin, Marc, his motto, 33.
Lavedan, Henry, 252. Le Gascon, 47, 58, 62.

Leighton, Archibald, 187.
Merson, Luc Oliver, 265. Moinaux, Jules, 259. Molesworth, Mrs., 207.
30, 297.
Le Roux de Lincy,
Linton,
5, 17,
Monograms,
163.
de, 283.
Lewis, English bookbinder, 118.
Monvel, Boutet
W.
J.,
312.
Locker,
307-
" Lyra
Moreau, 87. Elegantiarum," Morin. Louis, 259. Morris, William, 132.

Morris, W., "
for Art,"
Longepierre, 163.
Lortic, 122.
Loti, P., 162.
Hopes and Fears bound by Cobden-
Sanderson, 138.
Louis XIL, 37. Morris, Miss May, 136. Louis XI n. bookbinders use lace- Morse, Miss Alice E., 203. makers' designs, 79.
Louis XIV., bookbinding during
his reign, 68.
Niedree, 122.
Louis XV., 72.
Nodier, Charles, 57. Norton's " Political

isms," 208.
American-
Low, Will H., 237.

Magonigle, Harold, 200.
Maioli, 47, 152.
Ogier, Guillaume, 14. " Our Grandmothers'

210.
Gowns,"
Maioli motto, 33. Mansfield, H., 312.
Margaret of Valois, 54. Marius-Michel, M.,43, 57, 122.

Martial, 9.
Padeloup,
80.
'72,
152.
Padeloup's bookbinding designs,

"
Mary
of Cleves, 54.
62, 96,
Pandectarum
43-
Juris Florentini,"
Matthews, William,
144.
143,
Parsons, Alfred, 223.

89, 117.
Matthews, W., ''Modern Book- Payne, Roger,

binding,"
etc.,
331.
to
Pennell, Joseph, 237, 242.
Matthews, W., " Matthews,
How
Work
Petit, R.. 153.
Design," 106.
Petrarch, 10.
W.,
" Bookbinding
Pictorial poster, 246.
Practically Considered," 96.
Picture-book covers in France,

251.
Matthews, Alfred, 143.
Index.
Picture posters in Italy, 249.
" Philobiblon " of
341
Richard
de
the
Scaliger, his motto, 33. Schwabe, Carloz, " Le Reve," 256.

'Sette of
Bury,
Plantin, 48.
publislied
by
Odd Volumes,"
B., 271.
311.
Grolier Club, 212, 326.

Poulet-Malassis's
153-
Sherwin, Harold
Shugio, H., 312.
" Ex-Libris,"
Silversmiths in France,
Simonetti, 250.
9.
Prime,
W. C,
312.
Printers (early) as bookbinders,

176.
Smith, R., 143. " Societe des Amis des Livres,"

309-
Pyle,
Howard, design Hood," 223.
for
"Robin Staggemeier, 147. Stamped designs

Stamped
for
the whole
side of a book, 178.
Quaritch's " Catalogue of Book-
leather, 216.
bindings," 107, 126.
Steinlen, M., 256.
Quentin-Bauchard, " Daphnis Chloe," 72.

Quinet, 122.
Stevenson, R. L., 271.

at
Stevens, Henry, 122. Stevens, Alfred, 175.
Stikeman, 143.
Sturgis, Russell, 312.
Reed, Sir Charles Reed's Sons,

329-
Thibaron, 120.
illustrations to
Remington,
Renascence,
Long-
fellow's "
Hiawatha," 227.
J., 143.
Thoreau, 192. Thouvenin, 57.

Tiffany
6.
&
Co., 160.
18, 76.
Rhead, Louis
Ricordi, 250.
Tory, Geoffroy,
Trautz, 119, 126, 147, 166.
Rice, Prof. R. R., 312.

Riis's
Trautz-Bauzonnet, 287.
"How
the
Other
Half
Tree
calf,
158.
Lives," 210.
Ris,
Clement
'
de, 30, 53.
Riviere, 147. Robida's " Rabelais," 249.
Uzanne, Octave, " La Reluire Moderne," 108. Uzanne, " Caprices d'un Bibliophile," 157.
Romola,
tel,"
14.
Rossi, M., design for

238.
"L'lmmor- Vedder,
E., 200, 237, 265.
Vergil, 9.
17.
Rouveyre, M., on German bind- Voltaire,

ings, 148.
Ruban,
122.
Walther, 147.
342
Warner,
237-
Index.
"Clothes
of
Fiction,"''
Whitman, Mrs., 175, 200. Whitman, Mrs., design

" Strangers
etc.,
for
Water-colours painted under the

gilt
and Wayfarers,"
edges of leaves, 215.
210.
West, Prof. A. F., 312, 327. Wheatley, Henr\- B., 175. White, Stanford, 175, 265. Stanford, design White,
Willette, M., 245, 248, 255. Woodberry's " History of Wood
Engraving," 203.
for
"Book
of Tile Club," 212.

for
Zaehnsdorf, "Art of Bookbinding,''
White, Stanford, design
Cen-
10 1, 129.
tury Dictionary, 220.
94 X4
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BOOKBINDINGS OLD AND NEW

LIBRO LLAMADO RELOX DE PRINCIPES.

Bookbindings Old and

IVitb an Account of the Grolier Club

Macmillan and Co.

Cushing & Co.

- Berwick & Smith. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

THESE STRAY NOTES OF A WANDERING

THAT COMPACT BODY OF AMERICAN

THE GROLIER CLUB

Grolier and the Renascence

Padeloup and Derome

BOOKBINDINGS OF THE PRESENT.

The Technic of the Craft

The Antiquity of Edition Binding

The Merits of Machine Binding

The Summer Clothes of

The Influence of the Pictorial Poster

New York and

The Aims of the Club

The Publications of the Grolier Club

LiBRO Llamado Relox de Principes.

6th Century with Arms of Francis L

Grolier Binding, "Bessarioni" Grolier Binding, "II Cortegiano"

Colloquies of Erasmus," Basel, 1537

Binding executed for Tho. Maioli, 1536

Binding executed by Clovis Eve for Louis XI IL

Pandectarum Juris Florentini."

Binding with the

Arms of France and the Cipher of Henry

Bound by Nicolas Eve

French, i6th Century.

Attributed to Clovis Eve

"Arianus, de Venatione," Paris,

French, 17TH Century.

List of I11list rat ions.

"Office de la Semaine Sainte."

"Ariosto, Orlando Furioso," Venice, 1584.

OF Derome the Younger

French, i8th Century.

"History, Theory, and Practice of Illuminating."

"aucassin and nicolete.''

Binding by Francisque Cuzin

Bound by William Matthews

"Pride and Prejudice."'

Designed by Hugh Thomson

"Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." Designed by E. Vedder

"Half Hours with an Old Golfer"'

of the Tile Club."'

Designed by Stanford White

"Merry Adventures of Robin Hood." "fHE Quiet

Designed by Stanford White

List of 1 1hist rat ions.

Facsimile of the Cover to

"contes pour les bibliophiles."

Designed by Carloz Schwabe Designed by Walter Crane

Designed by Randolph Caldecott

"Under the Window." Designed by Kate Greenaway

Grolier Club Building

Reduced Facsimile of Title-page of Grolier Club

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

with the Device of the Dauphin

Binding by Cobden-S Anderson