The Books of Love

The Art of Love, 1839, with gold stamping on a ribbon embossed cloth binding; from The Library Company of Philadelphia.

The Album of Love, 1846, with gold and blind stamping on a printed cloth cover; from The Library Company of Philadelphia.

The Album of Love, 1848, with gold and blind stamping on a cloth cover; from The Library Company of Philadelphia.

Love is Enough, 1873, by Ellis and White, and designed by William Morris. Gold stamping on a forest green cloth from the Victorian Web.

Roland, 1897 by Ernst Eckstein. Stamped cloth binding from the University of Wisconsin's collection of German decorative trade bindings.

Evidently, there is more than just one Book of Love. Happy Valentine's Day!

Publishers' Bindings

Technological advances in equipment in the 1870s allowed publishers to produce elaborate decorated cloth bindings in large scale. The golden age of commercial publishers' bindings began about 1890 when publishers hired highly talented and specialized artists to design elaborate book covers. One of the most accomplished was Margaret Armstrong (1867-1944) who had little training, but excelled in this decorative arts field which had been considered to be primarily a man's position up until that time. Her cover designs reflected her love of nature, and she was greatly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement of the day. Over the course of her career she designed about 270 books, primarily for Scribner's. Her distinctive style proved to be so successful that many publishers, including Scribner's would hire imitators to mimic her work. This remarkable collection of her stamped bindings you see here is just a small portion currently offered for sale as a complete set at the Boston Book Company. Some covers appear to be unsigned, but many display her small M A monogram integrated into her stamped artwork. 

Source: Boston Book Company.

The Paper History Mystery

A couple weeks ago I featured the historic decorated papers of bookbinder Carmencho Arregui in Italy. These extraordinary papers struck a chord with many including myself. Since that time, I wanted to feature some of her modern conservation binding examples which include many of these same historic papers, as I find them so alluring. Some of the papers date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and their beauty reflects some of the historic printing processes of old wallpapers which were often wood engraved and stenciled. Arregui was surely inspired by many of the papers as she set out to decorate some of her own using a stamping process she refers to as Rolling Rollers. She generously shares this process and others on her site in addition to examples of her papers. When I asked her if any of the modern conservation bindings were bound with her own decorated papers, she did admit to this. Arregui preferred not to reveal their identity however, as "it is fun to guess" she added. It's the case of the paper history mystery...

Historic Decorated Papers

Many of these strikingly beautiful decorated papers designed originally for use as book covers and endsheets, are roughly 300 years old. This collection belongs to Carmencho Arregui, a bookbinder living in Italy. Trained as a book conservationist, Arregui now specializes in modern conservation bindings and flexible, non-intrusive book structures. Bindings of decorated paper are often so underrated, yet so remarkably beautiful. I am delighted to find this collection of Arregui's fine papers, and to learn more about her book structures and the modern conservation bindings of antiquarian books.