Library Company of Philadelphia
This lovely green publishers binding was designed by Florence Pearl England Nosworthy, with her “FP” monogram in the lower left corner. We love the maze of gold surrounding the colored accents.
Bliss Carman. The Kinship of Nature. Boston: L.C. Page and Co., 1904.
Ever wonder why you see a ton of gold-stamped cloth bindings from the 19th century, but hardly any silver? Gilt-stamping was a popular technique for decorating leather bindings, and made an easy transition to decorating cloth bindings when bookcloth first hit the American publishers’ binding scene in the 1830s.
Since aluminum-stamping was not available until the late 1870s, and was most popular through the 1880s, we see fewer examples in collections today.
Rollo in Holland. Abbott, Jacob. New York : Hurst & Co. [ca. 1880?] 10 cm x 15 cm x 2.5 cm.
These two were just begging to be featured for #PublishersBindingThursday and really, who can say no to that face! Either of those faces!
We love the delicate gold decoration on our copy of The Ladies’ Hand-Book of Knitting, Netting, and Crochet (New York, 1844).
#PublishersBindingThursday
The Ladies’ hand-book of knitting, netting and crochet.
New York : J. S. Redfield.
1844
“The house in which a great poet has lived always interests us, but it can not hold so much of his life as the trees through which his thoughts have made Æolian melodies, or the roadsides along which his imaginations have blossomed into song.” –Lucy Larcom.
We’re celebrating #PublishersBindingThursday and #NationalPoetryMonth with our copy of Lucy Larcom’s Landscape in American Poetry (New York, circa 1879), which features overlapping landscape designs printed in black and gold, as well as bevelled edge boards.
Larcom, Lucy.
Landscape in american poetry. New York : D. Appleton and Company.
[c1879]
Our copy of Allitter, or The Melody of Language (New York, 1836) features a gorgeous example of ribbon embossed cloth. #PublishersBindingThursday
Strait, H.
Allitter, or the melody of language. New York: G. A. C. Van Beuren.
1836.
The cherub and snail duo on our copy of George Allen’s The Life of Philidor (New York, 1865) is bringing some joy to our #PublishersBindingThursday. We love the appropriately tiny scale of this whimsical gold-stamped decoration.
Allen, George. The life of Philidor, musician and chess-player.
New York : F. Leypoldt. 1865.
Aristotle’s Masterpiece was the most popular book about women’s bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s. More than 250 editions are known, but all are very rare, and the Library Company’s 55 editions amount to perhaps the largest collection in America.
Aristotle’s Masterpiece was not written by Aristotle the ancient Greek philosopher; it was assembled from a number of popular medical works by an unknown writer. It is a bizarre assortment of superstition, folklore, and sex facts and fancies, all mixed in with the sort of common-sense medical advice that had been passed down by midwives for centuries. The text changed very little over the years, but it was often rearranged, as historian Mary Fissell has noted, like a reshuffled deck of cards.
We love the ribbon-embossed cloth binding and simple gold-blocked title on our copy of this 1830 edition of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. #PublishersBindingThursday
Read more about Aristotle’s Masterpiece here.
The sinking sun on our copy of John Burroughs’ Winter Sunshine (New York, 1876) is a #mood
#PublishersBindingThursday
Winter sunshine. Burroughs, John. New York : Hurd and Houghton. 1876.
With its bevelled edge boards and intricate gilt decoration, this binding is making our Autumn Dreams come true!
#PublishersBindingThursday #GreenPublishersBindingThursday
Castlen, Eppie Bowdre. Autumn dreams. New York : D. Appleton & Company.
1870.