Studio: international art (15.1899)

Designs for Cloth Bindings

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monies have little to recommend them except
that the shades in question may not have been
used in the same arrangement before. But
the exceptions are few indeed, and some of
the books which charm us here show good
taste in all respects.

The covers for " English Essays" and
" English Literary Criticism," and others
for " English Masques," " English Pastorals,"
and " English Lyrical Poetry," are very in-
dividual in their arrangement of pure line.
With little symbolism and no pictorial effort
they decorate the space harmoniously and
are distinctly satisfactory; the pattern is in
pale (almost white) ink upon soft shades of
greys and greens, with an occasional spot
of gold. The lettering is in italics (which,
speaking generally, is not commendable,
although it would be hard to prove the
objection); here, however, it is so obviously
the right thing that it justifies its presence
at once. Seen in black upon white these
designs are not suggestive of their true design for cloth binding by talwin morris

effect; for in light upon dark, as the "Jane
Eyre" cover shows, they have a delicacy,

without any hard effect, that would scarce be white a quantity of headpieces in " British Battles "
suspected if judged by the miniature reproductions (Cassell) will testify.

alone. What Mr. Morris can do in black-and- Still entirely conventional are the decorations

upon " With Clive in India " (in two edi-
tions), "Dr. Ogilvie's Dictionary," and
those which adorn a quantity of school
readers and pamphlet wrappers, each one
being really a delight in its own way to a
fellow-designer.

Midway between pure pattern and semi-
naturalistic decoration comes the cover for
"A Very Odd Girl," a novel scheme, with
gold ground for the panels above and
below, the heart-shaped device, with
greenish-white hearts pierced by the
flower-stems below, and a black heart
forming each calyx of the flowers above.
In this class fall also " Daddy Samuel's
Darling " (exhibited at the last Arts antl
Crafts), "Banshee Castle," and "The
Ravensworth Scholarship."

" The Universe " and " Whispering
Winds " go a shade further in their sym-
bolism ; the first being perhaps too full of
invention to do itself justice. "The
Universe" is a fairly big subject to
crowd into a small space, and if Mr.
Talwin Morris is conscientiously represent-
design forTcloth binding by talwin morris ing the fish of the sea and the fowls of

42

The

Whisper

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Winds

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