Of the Decorative Illustration of Books, 1896, Mary M. Cheney(?), Full leather

Description: Crane, Walter. Of the Decorative Illustration of Books Old and New. London: George Bell and Sons, 1896. Printed at the Chiswick Press. Limited to 130 copies on "Tall Japanese Vellum", of which this is #105. (The vellum sheets are in a variety of sizes, which was common for these editions.) Edited by Gleeson White as part of the Ex-Libris Series. Walter Crane's study of book illustration, featuring his observations on the French, German, Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch schools. Illustrated throughout in black & white. Bound in full green morocco by "MC" (signed on rear turn-in) with a unique design for the period, with the title and author in a large central panel to the front cover, surrounded by a rectangular gilt frame with a stamped & tooled design, and at the top and bottom, a design primarily built up from a stamp reminiscent of the top of a Greek ionic column, accented with curving gouges, fillets, and dots. Surrounding this is an outer frame, featuring similar tooling of fillets, gouges, and dots. Five bands to spine with title and author to second and fifith compartments, along with similar tooling as the front cover to the first and sixth compartments. Wide gilt ruled turn-ins with gilt tooling to corners. White endpapers, top edge gilt. Measures approx. 6.5" x 9.5". Some light rubbing to edges and corners, spine slightly faded, with some minor gilt loss to spine gilt (see image). "MC" being the work of Mary Moulton Cheney is an educated guess, with the following details in favor of this hypothesis: a) Moulton Cheney's design work was extensive, including bookbindings that were executed by accomplished Minneapolis bookbinder Edith Griffith, b) much of Moulton Cheney's work was signed "MC", and c) her Artcraft Shop was known to sell hand-bound books. Finally, the design here is evocative of some of Cheney's more abstract bookplate designs, along with the swirling gougework included in the binding noted above. Mary Moulton Cheney is a highly regarded figure in the arts & crafts movement in Minnesota, and “seems to have served as founder, leader, or both, for almost every early arts organization in Minneapolis, as well as the Minnesota State Art Society” (Wikipedia).

Price: 850 USD

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

End Time: 2024-10-20T01:53:26.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.13 USD