Happy #publishersbindingThursday, #feathursday edition! We love the gold stamping almost as much as we love the marbled cloth! Swoon!

C.W. Webber. Wild Scenes and Song-Birds. New York: George P. Putnam & Co., 1854. 

We’re joining @rutgers_scua and @rarebkcat for the July #JoyofGLAM challenge! We will be posting joy-inspiring images from our collection each Wednesday for the rest of the month.

To kick things off we’re sharing this video of a small portion of a recently acquired collection of publishers’ bindings featuring printed pattern book cloth. If you’ve been following us for awhile then you know that we love publishers’ bindings here at the Library Company, and seeing this new collection in the stacks every day always makes us smile.

We love the subtle floral ribbon-embossed cloth on our copy of Hamilton’s Practical Catechism on Singing (New York, 1839). 

Ribbon-embossed grain got its name from its original intention: as decoration for cloth ribbons. However, the rising popularity of grained and decorated book-cloth in the 1830s and 1840s led to the production of ribbon-embossed cloth for use as a book covering.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more!

Hamilton, James Alexander. Hamilton’s practical catechism on singing. New York : Hewitt & Jaques. 1839. 10 cm x 15 cm x 1.5 cm

It’s a #PublishersBindingThursday double feature! Both of our copies of Willis’ Sacred Poems (New York, 1847) are bound in a green and black printed-pattern cloth. We can’t decide which is our favorite. Can you?

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more bindings in our collection

Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1806-1867. Sacred poems. / By N.P. Willis.. New-York: : Published by Clark & Austin., MDCCCXLVII. [1847] 126 p. :  12 cm

Our copy of David Gould’s Life of Robert Morris (Boston, 1834) is bound in a rare and gorgeous pale pink ribbon-embossed cloth. Ribbon-embossed grain got its name from its original intention: as decoration for cloth ribbons. However, the rising popularity of grained and decorated book-cloth in the 1830s and 1840s led to the production of ribbon-embossed cloth for use as a book covering. 

This is the only example of this specific ribbon-embossed pattern we have in our collection – we hope this post inspires others to look through their collections to see if there are more examples to share!

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more bindings in our collection!

Gould, David. Life of Robert Morris. Boston : Leonard W. Kimball. 1834

We present this gorgeous and well-defined ribbon-embossed cloth for #PublishersBindingThursday, found on our copy of Samuel Knapp’s Life of Timothy Dexter (1838).

Ribbon-embossed grain got its name from its original intention: as decoration for cloth ribbons. However, the rising popularity of grained and decorated book-cloth in the 1830s and 1840s led to the production of ribbon-embossed cloth for use as a book covering.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more! 

Knapp, Samuel L. 1838, Life of Timothy Dexter Boston : G. N. Thomson 1838 9 cm x 16 cm x 1 cm

The floral motif of this printed-pattern bookcloth nearly obscures the blind and gilt stamping on the front cover of our copy of A Description of the City of New York, published in 1847.

Decorated bookcloth, including printed-pattern and ribbon-embossed cloth, peaked in popularity in the late 1830s into the 1840s. The trend became less popular beginning in the 1850s, when heavy gilt-stamped designs on ungrained bookcloth dominated the market.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more!

Holley, O. L. 1847, A description of the city of New York New York : J. Disturnell 1847. 10 cm x 15 cm x 1 cm

For Publishers’ Binding Thursday, we present this ribbon-embossed cloth bound book from 1840. This style of decorative cloth typically featured a floral or botanical pattern, though more abstract designs have been documented. Ribbon-embossed grain got its name from its original intention: as decoration for cloth ribbons. However, the rising popularity of grained and decorated book-cloth in the 1830s and 1840s led to the production of ribbon-embossed cloth for use as a book covering.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more! 

Stephens, John Lloyd.  1840, Incidents of travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland.  New York : Harper & Brothers. 1840

Purple bookcloth is notorious for fading, as evidenced by our copy of John Smith Dye’s History of the Plots and Crimes of the Great Conspiracy to Overthrow Liberty in America, published in 1866. Exposure to light faded much of this bookcloth to its original ecru, but a shorter shelf-mate protected a portion of the front cover.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more! 

Dye, Deacon.   1866, History of the plots and crimes of the great conspiracy to overthrow liberty in America. : Complete in one volume. / By John Smith Dye.  New York : published by the author.  15 cm x 23 cm x 2.5 cm

We’re okay with being a part of the herd in appreciation of this striking publishers’ binding. 

1882, Herd register of the American Jersey Cattle Club. Volume VI. - 1879. American Jersey Cattle Club. New York : Published by the club . 1882.