This gorgeous circa 1846 publisher’s binding is our ‘offering’ for #FloralFriday. We love the delicate floral patterns surrounding the gold-stamped cover title, especially against the rich color of the cloth binding.

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

Osgood, Frances S. [c1846], The floral offering, a token of friendship 
Philadelphia : Carey and Hart [c1846]  22 cm x 28 cm x 2.5 cm

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

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

We’re bringing a little divination to this Publishers’ Binding Thursday. The Ladies’ Diadem, or, Starry Oracles (1847) measures just 4.5 inches tall and contains the name of a star for each day of the year, accompanied by a “poetical prophecy”. The star for today, February 16, is Mebusta, from the constellation of Gemini, and the accompanying prophecy reads “There lives more life in one of thy fair eyes, / Than all the poets can in praise devise.” 

This little books features a lovely gold-stamped crown surrounded by gold stars and blind-stamped decoration on faded red cloth.

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

1847, The ladies’ diadem, or, Starry oracles; in which each day in the year is designated by a star and a poetical prophesy or description. Lowell : Milton Bonney.

This beautiful gilt illustration caught our eye, in our 1874 purple cloth binding of Richard Wagner and the music of the future : history and aesthetics. 

Hueffer, Francis. Richard Wagner and the music of the future : History and aesthetics. London : Chapman and Hall, 1874.

We love the gilt design on this publisher’s binding from 1854, found on The Measure of the Circle by John Davis. 

Squaring the circle was proven to be impossible in 1882, twenty-eight years after the publication of this book.

Davis, John.  1854, The measure of the circle. : Perfected in January, 1845 Providence : published for author. 1854. 2 cm x 14 cm x cm.  

Check out the incredible abstract design on this printed cloth publishers’ binding from 1835. The seaweed-like shapes and dots could be in imitation of marbled tree leather bindings.  

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

Constantinople and its environs. Porter, David.  New-York : Harper & Bros. 1835. 

This gilt-stamped binding from 1862 is giving us all the autumnal feels on this Publishers’ Binding Thursday.  

Parrish’s The Phantom Bouquet gives instructions on removing the pulp and preserving the skeletal structure of leaves and the seed-vessels of various plants and flowers.

1862, The phantom bouquet : a popular treatise on the art of skeletonizing leaves and seed-vessels. Parrish, Edward. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co. 

We are continuing our #BackToSchool theme this #PublishersBindingThursday.

Marion Kirkland Reid, who published under the name Mrs. Hugo Reid, was a Scottish feminist writer best known for her 1843 book, A Plea for Woman, an argument for gender equality in opportunities for higher education, which was later published in the United States under the title Woman, Her Education and Influence.

The Library Company’s copy is bound in brown bookcloth with blind ornamental blocking and gilt stamped cover title. 

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

[1847], Woman, her education and influence.  Reid, Mrs. Hugo. New York : Fowlers and Wells. 11 cm x 19 cm x 2 cm.

Library Company founder, Benjamin Franklin, knew what was up when he said “[t]he discovery of a wine is of greater moment than the discovery of a constellation. The universe is too full of stars." 

With this sentiment in mind, we present our first (and maybe only) Publishers’ Binding Thirsty Thursday feature. We hope Ben would be proud. Cheers!

1867, An elementary treatise on American grape culture and wine making. / Mead, Peter B.  New York : Harper & Bros.