International studio (25.1905)

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DOUBLURE DESIGN BY RALPH RANDOLPH ADAMS FOR BOOK
ON PENDLETON COLLECTION, PROVIDENCE, R. 1.

Adams has been interested in bookbinding since he
first undertook, several years ago, to bind some
books for his own pleasure. Since he has chosen the
held professionally he has had much success with
inlay work and mosaic. The problem of mosaic
has attracted him particularly. The ancient
method was open to the objection that the joints
opened, the edges curled and the binding was thus
marred. The later "onlaid" process, usually
called "inlay" and consisting of veneering pared
leather on to a full leather binding, in which such
craftsmen as Trautz-Bauzonnet have achieved
wonderful results and which Mr. Adams has him-
self followed with marked success, has always
appealed to him as being a makeshift and lacking
in technical sincerity. After many experiments he
has evolved a method by which he makes bindings,
in true mosaic fashion, of bits of leather accurately
fitted together. The leather which covers the book
is carved out in patterns with a knife clean to the
board, the cut-out pieces being then replaced by
other pieces of desired colour and texture, set in
cement and exactly filling the vacant spaces. So
perfectly do the leather pieces fit into each other,
and so firmly are they united, that the hot tooling
iron can follow the seams leaving its line of gold,

beautiful collection, requested that such a book,
descriptive of the pieces, should be published, and
the condition has been fulfilled through the gener-
osity of the treasurer, Mr. Stephen O. Metcalf.
The book is being prepared by Luke Vinson Lock-
wood, and will be a handsome folio printed on
imperial Japanese vellum from the government mill
at Tokio. The text is printed from Caslon type, a
font of which has been specially cast. The binding
is the work of Ralph Randolph Adams. We repro-
duce herewith the cover and doublure. The leather
is French levant, with gold tooling. The inner
medallion on the cover is colored bright red. The
book, limited to 160 copies, will be richly provided
with photogravure reproductions of whole pieces
and of various detail. Mr. Lockwood is known for
his writings on the subject, notably " Colonial Fur-
niture in America," and has given this collection
thorough study. The book will be printed by the
Literary Collector Press, at Greenwich, Conn.,
under the personal direction of Mr. Frederick C.
Bursch.
Mr. Adams has interwoven into his design for
both outside cover and doublure motives from the
furniture described, thus giving a harmonious
coherence to the book within and without. Mr.

COVER DESIGN BY RALPH RANDOLPH ADAMS FOR BOOK
ON PENDLETON COLLECTION, PROVIDENCE, R. 1.

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