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.  

This Day in History!

On Wednesday, January 11, 1882, noted women’s rights advocate Kate Field (1838-1896) held a luncheon for Oscar Wilde when he was first in New York, at the beginning of his lecture tour on aestheticism. A couple of weeks later, this cartoon – characterizing the members of Field’s Co-operative Dress Association as “languishing maidens and sterile old girls” – appeared in an illustrated newspaper. Not only are Wilde and the women members of Field’s organization mocked, but the two women at the lower right in the cartoon may represent Kate Field and her partner Lilian Whiting (1847-1942). Field was a celebrity lecturer, who – like Oscar Wilde – provoked her own share of criticism.

Illustration in ​the Illustrated Police News (January 28, 1882). Gift of S. Marguerite Brenner.

#Caturday returns with a fiendish looking feline in profile on this tooled and painted leather book cover. Seriously, this lion has attitude. Functioning like a dust jacket, this cover is many steps above our paper bag text book covers from school days, albeit similarly illuminated in some cases… 

Book Cover. 19th Century.  Leather ; 8 ½ x 6 ¼ inches (closed) ; 13 x 6 ¼ inches (open).

For this #TypographyTuesday, we share a simple monogram drawn on an album cover. #simplifysimplify 

This album is filed with photographs, captions, and a little bit of whimsy related to Dinkelacker, and the construction business, Dinkelacker & Keating in Frankford, Philadelphia.

H.F. Dinkelacker contractor and builder photograph album [graphic].
1924.  [P.2004.10]

Welcome to a new year, and new adventures! Here is a #MapMonsterMonday from a time when adventure, especially in the Americas, was daily life. #adventureisoutthere 

R. B., 1632?-1725? The English empire in America… .  London : printed for Nath. Crouch, 1685.

Here’s a gorgeous papier mâché binding for our #LibraryWonderland edition of #PublishersBindingThursday!

Papier mâché bindings, also called “mother-of-pearl bindings” and “lacquered bindings”, appeared on American books only briefly - around 1850-55 - a time of increasingly elaborate book cover decoration. Papier maché was a very popular technique used to produce household items such as trays, snuff boxes, table tops, daguerreotype cases, and even furniture. The Library Company has sixty-nine papier mâché bindings, nine portfolio covers, two wall plaques, and two daguerreotype cases.

Check out the Library Company Conservation Department’s online album to see more of these rare and beautiful bindings.

The Winter wreath: / edited by N. Parker Willis. New York: : Leavitt and Allen, 379 Broadway [1853?] [2], 224 p., [11] leaves of plates :  ill. ;  25 cm.

The spine pictured here we like to informally (and affectionately) call a Frankenstein binding. There are layers of damage and repairs made to this book and the result is actually quite beautiful. #narrativelibrarianship 

Walter, Nehemiah, 1663-1750. A discourse concerning the wonderfulness of Christ. … Boston in New-England: : Printed by B. Green, for Eleazer Phillips, 1713.

TGI #FinisFriday! Looks like someone was pretty happy to finish this copy of The New-England Primer. (wait, does that say Elvis?!)

The New-England primer, or An easy and pleasant guide to the art of reading. : Adorned with cuts. To which is added, the catechism. New-England, : Printed for the purchaser., [between 1800 and 1806?] [64] p. :  ill. ;  11 cm (32mo)

This aviator comes from a booklet illustrating new American machinery and the different branches of the military. Airborne fighting was a new addition in WWI, just over a decade after the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk. 

Today we remember the brave airborne soldiers of WWI as well as those on the ground at Pearl Harbor in WWII, 24 years later. 

The army and the navy of the United States of America, 1917.  Newark, N.J. : The Prudential Insurance Company of America, ©1917.

We present A Concise History of the Holy Bible as our #TinyTuesday feature this week. This sweet little book was printed for Philadelphia bookseller H. Stead in 1787. #MustBePrettyConcise

A Concise history of the Holy Bible. [Philadelphia, Pa.] : Printed for H. Stead, Philadelphia., 1787. [2], iv, [5], 8-68, [5], 72-119, [1], 16, [2] p. :  ill. ;  55 mm (32mo)