We love the unusual floral decoration on our copy of the American Tract Society’s Daily Food for Christians (New York, circa 1830s) #MiniatureMonday 

Daily food for Christians. [New York] American Tract Society,  [between 1833 and 1848?]  

The decoration on our copy of Gail Hamilton’s First Love is Best (Boston, 1877) is on point for #Halloween and the #SpineTingling challenge. This edition of First Love is part of the Cobweb Series of Choice Fiction selected by the publishing firm Estes and Lauriat. #publishersbindingthursday

Hamilton, Gail. First love is best. Boston: Estes and Lauriat. 1877.

Our copy of Kreutterbuch des Hochgelehrten und weitberühmten herrn D. Petri Andreae Matthioli (Frankfurt, 1600) lacked a title page, so a previous owner put their handwriting to good use creating a new one! #ManuscriptMonday 

Mattioli, Pietro Andrea. [Kreutterbuch des Hochgelehrten und weitberühmten herrn D. Petri Andreae Matthioli]. Frankfurt am Main . 1600  

Our copy of the American Tract Society’s Crumbs from the Master’s Table features gold and blind blocking on its palm-sized front cover. #MiniatureMonday 

Crumbs from the Master’s table. [New York] American Tract Society [between 1833 and 1848?].

We own several copies of Bailey’s Festus (Boston, 1851) that feature this gold-blocked image on their front covers, but this is the only copy we could find with the blocking on its spine. Perfect for this month’s #SpineTingling challenge! #PublishersBindingThursday

Bailey, Philip James.  Festus : a poem.  Boston : Benjamin B. Mussey & Co. 1851.

We’re joining @pemlibrary and @um_spec_coll for this month’s #SpineTingling challenge! First up is the gold-blocked spine title on our copy of Phantom Flowers: A Treatise on the Art of Producing Skeleton Leaves (Boston, 1864).   

#PublishersBindingThursday

Phantom flowers : a treatise on the art of producing skeleton leaves. Boston : J. E. Tilton. 1864

19th-Century publishers’ bindings marked a new trend in book decoration: using images from the text as the cover design. Prior to this, book decoration rarely related to the textual content. Our copy of Katherine Berry di Zérèga’s The Children’s Paradise (New York, 1877) features a gilt-stamped binding based on an illustration by Lucy Gibbons Morse from the book.  #PublishersBindingThursday

Zérèga, Katherine Berry di. The children’s paradise. New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons 182 Fifth Avenue, 1877.

The National Women’s Trade Union League (est. 1903) supported strikes that led to the establishment of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. The NWTUL’s official seal was designed by the sculptor Julia Bracken Wendt. It depicts a young mother shaking hands with an allegorical female figure of victory. Wendt herself worked as a domestic servant until the woman who employed her enrolled her at the Art Institute of Chicago. This 1914 pamphlet promotes the NWTUL’s training school for women labor organizers. #NotHiddenLabor

Robins, Margaret Dreier. Educational plans of the National Women’s Trade Union League. [Chicago] [1914?]

We love the delicate gilt blocking on our copy of Henry Mackarness’ Etiquette for Little Folks (Boston, circa 1860) #MiniatureMonday

Mackarness, Henry S. Etiquette for little folks. Boston: G.W. Cottrell, 36 Cornhill., [between 1856 and 1870?]

Of course we’re impressed by the horn on this Bahama Unicorn Fish, but its toothy pout is what really caught our eye. #FishyFriday

Catesby, Mark. The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. London. MDCCLIV. [1754]