DOI Heft:
No. 67 (October 1898)
DOI Artikel:Mr. Talwin Morris's designs for cloth bindings
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19230#0057
Designs for Cloth Bindings
and the rest have also done during the
past half-dozen years. But while these
artists created new types of the cloth
binding, they did so on books which
appealed to a few hundreds at most.
Despite the capital designs of some few
books published since "The Tragic
Mary" (which must be taken as the be-
ginning of the newer movement), or the
fact that certain Rossetti cover-designs of
great beauty were circulated long before,
all these are exceptions, and the average
volume for the average person has only
witnessed improvement in the last two or
three years. During that time Messrs.
Allen, Bell, Dent, John Lane, Lawrence
andBullen, Macmillan, Kegan Paul, Fisher
Unwin, and others, have all been helping
to raise the standard of design upon various
classes of books ; as Messrs. Blackie have
also raised it in the class of popular litera-
ture which forms the staple of their pub-
lications.
, . design for cloth binding by tai.win morris
Speaking generally, the London pub-
lishers have confined their covers to belles-
lettres and poetry, with certain examples of the schoolboy literature, and popular classics, with
better class of fiction. Messrs. Blackie, of Glasgow, sober and well-disposed designs on their covers,
have gone further and issued educational works, They have even clothed the story of adventure
with binding, gorgeous (as it need be)
but also worthy of being treated as an
example of good applied art, as covers
by Mr. Ralph Peacock and others could
be adduced to prove.
Mr. Talwin Morris's designs owe much
to their colour. The one for "Jane
Eyre," here reproduced, is olive-green
with very pale yellowish-green lines, and
heliotrope filling the eye of the device,
which somewhat resembles a peacock's
feather. In another cover for a volume
entitled " Concerning the Firm of Blackie
and Sons, 1809-1874," the space is
occupied by vertical lines, with conven-
tional thistles dotted irregularly between;
these, in dark olive with purple touches,
and tiny hearts of gold, yield a colour
scheme at once new and very good. On
the other hand, some few of his designs
are more pleasant in monochrome than
as issued. The exigencies of publishing
a vast number of books require much
variety. There are only a few ways of
being right to thousands of ways of being
by talwin morris wrong in colour, and some novel har-
41
design for cloth binding
and the rest have also done during the
past half-dozen years. But while these
artists created new types of the cloth
binding, they did so on books which
appealed to a few hundreds at most.
Despite the capital designs of some few
books published since "The Tragic
Mary" (which must be taken as the be-
ginning of the newer movement), or the
fact that certain Rossetti cover-designs of
great beauty were circulated long before,
all these are exceptions, and the average
volume for the average person has only
witnessed improvement in the last two or
three years. During that time Messrs.
Allen, Bell, Dent, John Lane, Lawrence
andBullen, Macmillan, Kegan Paul, Fisher
Unwin, and others, have all been helping
to raise the standard of design upon various
classes of books ; as Messrs. Blackie have
also raised it in the class of popular litera-
ture which forms the staple of their pub-
lications.
, . design for cloth binding by tai.win morris
Speaking generally, the London pub-
lishers have confined their covers to belles-
lettres and poetry, with certain examples of the schoolboy literature, and popular classics, with
better class of fiction. Messrs. Blackie, of Glasgow, sober and well-disposed designs on their covers,
have gone further and issued educational works, They have even clothed the story of adventure
with binding, gorgeous (as it need be)
but also worthy of being treated as an
example of good applied art, as covers
by Mr. Ralph Peacock and others could
be adduced to prove.
Mr. Talwin Morris's designs owe much
to their colour. The one for "Jane
Eyre," here reproduced, is olive-green
with very pale yellowish-green lines, and
heliotrope filling the eye of the device,
which somewhat resembles a peacock's
feather. In another cover for a volume
entitled " Concerning the Firm of Blackie
and Sons, 1809-1874," the space is
occupied by vertical lines, with conven-
tional thistles dotted irregularly between;
these, in dark olive with purple touches,
and tiny hearts of gold, yield a colour
scheme at once new and very good. On
the other hand, some few of his designs
are more pleasant in monochrome than
as issued. The exigencies of publishing
a vast number of books require much
variety. There are only a few ways of
being right to thousands of ways of being
by talwin morris wrong in colour, and some novel har-
41
design for cloth binding