DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61314#0056
British Bookbindings
his Two Little Runaways, published last
year.
To pass from these to the adjoining
field of paper covers would be beyond
our present task, but a word may here
be said as to the better ideals now
coming into force for the treatment even
of paper-bound books. It often happens
that a deterioration in one branch of
art—or, let us say, the degradation of a
certain material—results in the higher
development of the next thing beneath
it in order of worth. The abuse of gold
and silver leads to a renaissance in
copper and iron. A glut in the silk
market reacts favourably on homespuns
and cottons. In the same way the recent
profuse and feelingless turn-out of
cloth covers with so little distinction of
design, so little care for the texture itself,
as in the great bulk of machine-bound
books, has produced the inevitable re-
action towards paper. In America,
especially, cover-papers are now prepared designed by a. a. turbaynb executed by w. t. morrell
which, in colour, substance, and the
surface they present to the touch, are very far Already these papers are being imitated by the
to be preferred to cloth of the ordinary quality. English trade, and will probably continue to improve
until cloth in its turn shall have been
DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY DOUGLAS COCKERELL
pulled up to the same artistic level.
The increased attention given to paper,
both for the printing and binding of
books, cannot fail to re-act well upon
every use to which it is put. End-
papers for the lining of the cover itself
and wrappers to protect a delicate
binding, deserve a separate chapter to
themselves, so rich are they in oppor-
tunities for fine and even exquisite
decoration and colouring.
In closing a general record of efforts
to raise the standard of beauty in trade
design, one name not hitherto men-
tioned demands a specially honourable
place. Only those in close and deep
sympathy with new artistic ideals know
how much nearer they have been
brought to us all by the author and
designer of Modern Illustration. The
cover of this book is a worthy expres-
sion of a spirit at once so catholic and
eclectic, so sincere in art and so just
in criticism, as that of the late Gleeson
White. A retrospect, however imper-
fect, in the closing year of this century,
37
his Two Little Runaways, published last
year.
To pass from these to the adjoining
field of paper covers would be beyond
our present task, but a word may here
be said as to the better ideals now
coming into force for the treatment even
of paper-bound books. It often happens
that a deterioration in one branch of
art—or, let us say, the degradation of a
certain material—results in the higher
development of the next thing beneath
it in order of worth. The abuse of gold
and silver leads to a renaissance in
copper and iron. A glut in the silk
market reacts favourably on homespuns
and cottons. In the same way the recent
profuse and feelingless turn-out of
cloth covers with so little distinction of
design, so little care for the texture itself,
as in the great bulk of machine-bound
books, has produced the inevitable re-
action towards paper. In America,
especially, cover-papers are now prepared designed by a. a. turbaynb executed by w. t. morrell
which, in colour, substance, and the
surface they present to the touch, are very far Already these papers are being imitated by the
to be preferred to cloth of the ordinary quality. English trade, and will probably continue to improve
until cloth in its turn shall have been
DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY DOUGLAS COCKERELL
pulled up to the same artistic level.
The increased attention given to paper,
both for the printing and binding of
books, cannot fail to re-act well upon
every use to which it is put. End-
papers for the lining of the cover itself
and wrappers to protect a delicate
binding, deserve a separate chapter to
themselves, so rich are they in oppor-
tunities for fine and even exquisite
decoration and colouring.
In closing a general record of efforts
to raise the standard of beauty in trade
design, one name not hitherto men-
tioned demands a specially honourable
place. Only those in close and deep
sympathy with new artistic ideals know
how much nearer they have been
brought to us all by the author and
designer of Modern Illustration. The
cover of this book is a worthy expres-
sion of a spirit at once so catholic and
eclectic, so sincere in art and so just
in criticism, as that of the late Gleeson
White. A retrospect, however imper-
fect, in the closing year of this century,
37