the craftsman - 1902 - 04 - april

7/27/2019 The Craftsman - 1902 - 04 - April

1/62

www.historicalworks.com


2/62

THE CRAFTSMANAPRIL MDCCCCII

CONTENTSBeautiful Books.

59~ Irene Sargent.T. J, Cobden-Sanderson and the Doves Bindery.

By Emil y Trest on.The Binding of Books.

%y Florence Foote.The Art Handicrafts of Italy.

56~ M ary Harned.PUBLISHERS* ANNOUNCEMENTSSD

TSUBSCRIPTIONS : Subscription price $2.00 the year, inadvance, postpaid to any address in the United States orCanada, and to begin with any desired number.TRElMITTANCES : Remittances may be made by PostOffice money order, bank cheques, express order, or inpostage stamps.

fTCHANGE OF ADDRESS: When a change of addressis desired, both the old and the new address should begiven, and notice of the change should reach this officenot later than the fifteenth of the month, to affect thesucceeding issue, The publish&s cannot be responsiblefor copies lost through failure to notify them of suchchanges. IThe United Crafts, Publishers, Eastwood,New York.

Copyright. 1901 by Gustave StiolilerEntered et the Postoffice Eastwood. N. Y.. as Second Class Mail Matter.



3/62

FOREWORD

THE Publishers of The Craftsman proceed with

great satisfaction to the issue of their April number.The kind attention awakened by the new publication inliterary and technical circles, both at home and abroad,encourage them to yet greater effort.They judge the papers hereinoffered upon the various arts and crafts connected withbook-binding and book-printing to be most timely, be-cause of the active interest regarding them now every-where prevailing. Hereafter notices and criticismof Arts and Crafts Exhibitions will form a special featureof the Magazine, and all information bearing upon them,wherever they may occur, is solicited by the Editors,The May number of TheCraftsman will be devoted to a series of papers uponmetal work and clock-making. In addition to the editorialwritings, there will appear two articles by Samuel Howe :the one entitled Enamel Work, and the other a criti-cism of the Drake Collection of Russian brass and copper.Another paper of interest will be contributed by MissAmaIie Busck, whose experience in the art of which shewill write, can not fail to rove valuable to workers inmetal, The Magazine wi f; also contain a number of in-teresting illustrations, and no pains will be spared to makeit an acceptable and creditable issue.



4/62

DATES AND RESIDENCESOF SEVERAL NOTED PRINTERS AND BINDERS

ALDUSAldus the elder, Paul and Aldus Manutius the younger,Venice, 1488-1597. Y

ESTIENNEHenry, Robert, Henry, Robert and Antony Estienne,Paris and Geneva, 1502- 1674,

YELSEVIER OR ELZEVIR

Louis, Bonaventure, Matthew, Abraham, Isaac, John,Daniel and Abraham Elsevier, Leyden, 1580-l 7 12.Louis Elsevier and his sons, Amsterdam, 1638-169 1.Y

PLANTINChristopher Plantin, Tours and Antwerp, latter half ofsixteenth century. .% .THE KELMSCOTT PRESS

Founded by William Morris, at Ha&nerd, London,in 189 1; discontinued in March, 1898,



5/62



6/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS66

F OR him was lever have at his beddes heedTwenty bokes clad in bIak or reed,Of Aristotle and his philosophyeThan robes riche, or fithele or gay sautrye,Thus Chaucer, our first greatmaster of English letters, describes the passion of a bibliophile, And, as always at his masters touch, he conjuresup a picture. We can see the Haunt, i&favored clerkeof Oxenford, in his narrow ce sparsely furnished withbed, desk and chair, the property of his coIle

crucifix and a score of books constitute his on y personale, while a

possessions. These books, the source of mediaeval schol-arly delight, were not only clad, but as well written, inblack and red. They were issued from places which,were it not for history, and for the careful preservation ofnumbers of the books themselves, would be inconceivableto those who exercise their arts and crafts in the printeriesand binderies of today. These precious volumes, at thetime when Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales, weretranscribed and multiplied in the abbeys of En H;Iand andthe continent by monks who IiteralIy spent their ves in thescr ipfork or writing-rooms, of their conventual dwellin s.Oftentimes, it was to a single book that they devoted t ebest efforts of their genius and manhood. And thus thebook came to represent for the scribe aII that hearth andhome, secular enterprise, wife and child stood for in theeyes of the man of action. The scr iptorb not seldomopened upon a court, as we find exemplified in notablespecimens of monastic architecture; they were then called carols : a corruption of the word square, applied to thembecause of their shape. And there, in favoring light andquiet, the work of transcribing When we ex-amine the hour-books,the GospeProgressed.s,and the Psalters thus pro-duced, we receive a strong impression, not only from the ex-



7/62

2 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

quisite art of the old illuminators, but also from the spirit ofself-consecration which animated the lonely men whowroughtwith such loving care,and which still breathes fromevery page of these beautiful books. At such moments, itseems sure that Fra Angelic0 was not the only mediaevalartist who prayed between the strokes of his brush;rather that he was but the type of a period when art andreligion were united, and when both were allied to labor.From the eighth to the fourteenth century, we find thisart of illumination flowering in different countries : in Ire-land, at the first named point of time, when the splendid Book of Kells and its similars came into existence; inFrance, advancing slowly to perfection, until in Dantestime, as we know by his allusions in the Divine Comedy,it was re arded as an art peculiar to the French ; inItaly, reac &n the climax of a splendid maturity just beforethe invention of movable type. The artists of each ofthese countries had, as was inevitable, their distinctivest le derived from conditions of race and environment.?yhe great Irish manuscripts are characterized by theirinterlaced ornament, as intricate as the geometrical designsof the Moors, and far more interesting historically, sincemuch of Celtic m hology and legend is therein involved.In the Book r Kells, the borders and initial lettersshow long systems of curiously interwoven strands, likethe threads of a rope, or the fibres of basketry. In bothdesign and color, they have a decorative value whichgives an extreme pleasure to the most inexperienced eye.Beside and beyond this, there is a religious idea runningthrough the maze of scroll-work and twisted knots. Thesebeautiful convolutions are artistic motifs derived from thedragons and writhing serpents which play so prominenta part in the tales of the Gods of the North. And thesame motifs which make distinctive the illuminated manu-scripts of the Celts recur again and again in the carvingsof Runic crosses, and the chiseled ornaments of churches,throughout Ireland and Scotland and in the Isle of Man,



8/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 9

Oftentimes, even the beasts and reptiles which symbolizedthe powers of eviI and darkness, form an integral part ofthe design: the bodies winding through the strands, andthe heads making terminal ornaments.too, the human fi occasionaIIy,as is the case in t8 re is frankly apparent in the design,e Gospel of Mac Regol at Oxford; orelse, in singular modification, it may be traced by the in-itiated eye, as on the shaft of a noted wayside cross nearAshbourne, En land.of an interlace fi Here, by the repetition of the unitsgeometrical design, a human trunk issin&ted; the head is suggested by an eIongated ovalterminal loop; the legs by sethe interlaced pattern ; and tI? rated strands pendent frome feet by the frayed ends ofthe strands turned at right angles to their length. Theseand other equaI.Iy fanciful conceits originated in a veryremote past, and arose from the desire of man to put him-self in reIation with the forces of nature, and to expressthat desire in visible form. Then, slowly, as the aestheticfaculty was developed in these Northern peo les by ad-vancing civilization, the symbolism was lost, eaving be-hind it that element of the grotesque which carries theirrestricted art to so high a place in the histo of orna-ment. Indeed, to examine in a critical sense tz ese Irishilluminated manuscripts is to agree with the saying ofWilliam Morris, that the only work of art which sur-passes a complete mediaeval book is a complete mediaevalbuilding.bolism, stren h and ori If now, as we have seen, sym-

i;

Ya&y are the characteristics of

the early boo -designs o Northern Europe, we find Later,in those of the French, compensating qualities. Delicacyand grace, a certain subtle inventiveness, and accuracy ofexecution distinguish the missaIs and Psalters whichare known in the annals of art by the names of the sov-ereigns and princes who first possessed them. In theseare found exquisite miniatures, imitations of nature, andconventionalized ,ornament, rendered with a light touch



9/62

4 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

and in a gaiety of mood that belong alone to theGal& race. These manuscripts bear a sign manualas unmistakable as those of their Northern predeces-sors. To replace the interest excited by the legendof the man fighting the dragon, told in scroll, twist, andknot, one finds a new pleasure in discovering, one byone, the details of the desi n.ters often form frames for lit tY The large capital let-e genre pictures which arenot unworthy of the predecessors of Meissonnier ; or, again,they are garlands of heavy foliage from the depths ofwhich show the soft wing, or the bright eye of a bird, orthe brush of a s uirrel, or fox. Between the time whenthe monks of Ire% nd produced their wonderful books, andthe moment when Dante made his famous allusion to theFrenchr t of i l luminat ing, the universe had lost its terrorsfor man : the world had become a pleasant dwelling-place,and the teeming, multiform life of nature cried out tobe admired and enjoyed. And here again, decorative art,more plainly than words can do, indicates the exact stageof the then existing social development, The French inthe thirteenth century had the same restless sense of per-fection which characterizes their most modern efforts. Apage of the latest French prose, considered from the pointof view of style, and by reason of the pleasure that it givesthe ear, through harmony of sound and beauty of rhythm,is matched by the French illuminated written book in itsappeal to the sense of sight.The Italian manuscripts offerother beauties ; certain examples of the fourteenth centurybeing perhaps more frequently employed as models andfor suggestions than those of any other country andperiod. Their ornamentation is less intricate and sym-bolic than those of the peoples beyond the Alps; since theItalians inherited by ri ht the traditions of classic art : re-jecting the occult and t%e grotesque, and presenting every-where slightly conventionalized natural forms. Amongthe most beautiful features of these manuscripts are the



10/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 5

floriated borders which surround the text, often givingthe appearance of a shower of brilliant petals arrangedsymmetrically by chance, and which the next breath ofair might disperse and calacedE upon the page.Iended

~~~~~~ot,~~~I~~~~~~~in both support and contrast: the ones mostusually employed being the blue now known as Gobelin,containing a grayish cast and somehow sugparency ; a red perfectly correspondin with t esting trans-1ing upon the crimson overcast with w El e blue, bear-te of the raspberry ;

a violet chording with the blue, as a lower note chords witha higher musical tone ; an emerald green more vivid thanthe other colors ; and finally, traceries in gold and pointsof black which coordinate the design, after the manner ofa scheme of punctuation. Thus we may faintly describethe art of illumination as practised by three differinin the Middle Ages; the first school touching peoplest a e timesof barbarism, and reflecting the senseof mystery and ter-ror which then overhung the world ; the second reachingitswi Je rfection simultaneously and in the same countrythe Gothic cathedral, and, therefore, aWilliam Morris comparison of the book wit a ain recallingthe church;the third fermenting with the ideas of the Renascence, dis-carding symbolism, and simplifying its forms as if in preparation for the age of printind

.ith the invention of this newart began, as was inevitable, the decay of the beautifulbook of the Middle Ages. The rich materials which hadmade it a precious possession of sovereigns and princeswere successively discarded, in order that the word of wis-dom might reachthe people.the The jewel coffers of palaces,eat libraries with their locks and chains confiningthe eavy volumes to strict places, were no longer to bethe sole guardians of human thought registered in visibleform. The hour was already foretold in which the verypeasant should clasp his book to his breast with that sat-



11/62

6 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

isfaction which comes with the words :but mine own !

A poor thing,The vellum book of the MiddleAges was a very great advance in luxury upon thepyrusE roll of classic anti uity, since the value of thetter resided largely in the % bornot in the material itself. expended upon it, andThe roll used by public officers,orators and teachers had needed no cost1tection or ornament. But the vellum boo % cover for pro-was at first theprerogative of royalty, since in early times none but clerks

and kings could read and the latter hardly. So, not seldom,the cover was of gold, silver, or ivory, heavily set withjewels : rubies, emeralds, amethfind by visiting the sacristies fysts and pearls ; as we mayo certain great continentalcathedrals, or museums like those of Paris and Vienna.But as time passed, the nobles became milder in mannersand customs, and literacy extended. Then too, the indus-tries dependent upon the silkworm were established withbrilliant results. These conditions therefore thancharacter of the book as to its outer covering, untii: ed thein thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries we find the Tudor prin-cesses deli hting in book covers and casings fashionedfrom rich talian stuffs, such as velvets and damasks;these materials being embroidered with pearls, and studdedwith gems. Leather bindings, the most satisfactory everdevised and the oldest now inactive service, were used asearly as the twelfth century. They gradually supersededall other forms of preserving and adorning the book, untilunder the French craftsmen of the sixteenth and seven-teenth centuries they attained a perfection which offers thestandard and guide to thebranch of art-artisan&p. present workers in the sameThis perfection is so wellrecognized that many connoisseurs have accepted thestatement made by a French writer: Book-binding isaltogether a French art ; although a so emphatic expres-sion can be excused only by reason of the patriotism ofthe one who uttered it. Still it remains true that no



12/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 7

master of this fascinatincan ignore the work oH

craft, be he Teuton or Saxon,the binders of the courts of theValois and Bourbon kings. The artistic processes-especialI the decoration technically known as tooling,-were irst practised in Italy, but once known in France,they advanced to a point of excellence never attained inthe first named country. In common with all the arts,that of book-binding received its first great impetus fromthe pleasure and luxury-loving monarch, Francis First,

of whom it was well said in sonorous Latin that he wasno less famous in letters than in arms. He not only builtthe splendid castles which line the banks of the Loire, andare so fitted to their surroundings that they seem part andparcel of Nature herself; he also opened for his people awide path toward intellectual supremacy and materialwealth by founding the galleries of the Louvre; he wasfurther a most notable book collector, and transmitted hisexquisite taste to his immediate descendants, and by sodoing assured for them a redeeming trait amid their friv-olous or their noxious characteristics.The daughter-in-law of FrancisFirst, Catherine de Medici, brought from her culturednative city the love of literature for itself, as well as thedesire for the acquisition of beautiful books. This wasmost natural, since throughout the fifteenth century,Florence had been the refuge of the Greek scholars, who,driven from Constantinople by the Turks, had fled withtheir treasures of rare manuscripts into Italy, to beg hos-pitality of the citizen-sovereigns of the most famous townof the Peninsula. The Medici were not less patrons ofliterature than bibliophiles, as we now understand theterm; that is: experts in judging the beauty, the work-manship, and the money value of any given book. From1465 until well into the sixteenth century, the booksprinted in Italy were the finest in the world : a fact whichwas due to the existence in that country of the last great



13/62

8 BEAUTIFUL BOOKSschool of iI.lumination, and also to the great Venetian pubI&her, Aldus Manutius, of whom we shall speak later.It was natural then that Catherine de Medici, as the heirof both the tastes and the commercial sense of her ances-tors, should seek to acquire an enviable library. She isknown to have possessed at least four thousand volumesof great value as to the design and execution of theirbindings. But the artists and craftsmen who broughtthem into existence are unknown, and the books them-selves are, in Iarge proportions, lost. Many of them existunder newer exteriors in the great national libraries ofFrance; a number of them are found in the BritishMuseum ; still others, after long wanderings, have becomethe treasures of private collections. For the Queen wasdeeply in debt, and at her death, her books became theproperty of the Crown, and were rebound, in order to re-move from their covers the arms and devices of theirfirst owner. This fact is to be deeply regretted, as itwould be of great interest to examine in its entirety alibrary now impossible to obtain or coIIect, at any price,or in any country. Another woman bibliophile nearthe throne, at this time, was Diana de Poitiers, the mis-tress of Catherines husband, Henry Second. This noblelady had aIso her special binders and decorators, and, asthe book-cover then, in addition to its other functions,served those of the modern book-plate, the crescent of thegoddess Diana, combined with the initial of the kingsname, shone upon every volume in the royal favoritescolIection. The sons of Catherine deMedici shared more or less in the cultured tastes, as welIas in the passions andvices of their mother. Under theirpatronage, the celebrated bookbinders and bookseIlers,Nicholas and Clovis Eve, rose to a reIives through their exquisite work. -rputation which stillhese two brothersrepresented the first of a number of families of noted French



14/62

Beaten l eat her book bound i n w hi t e cal fBy M iss Nordhoff



15/62


16/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOItS 9

binders ; the art passing from father to son, extending intocollateral branches, sometimes lasting through three, four,or five generations, and distinguishing a large number ofindividuals. It will be thus seen how wide-spread was the demand for beautiful books and how hon-orable and lucrative was the calling of the craftsmen con-nected with their. production. And then, as now, ama-teur book-binding was a favorite occupation of the leisureclasses, ranking princes among its devotees, and even oneking: Henry Third, the last of the sons of Catherine deMedici to occupy the throne of France.But the critical taste for beauti-ful books was best advanced in France, and, owing to theinfluence of that country, throughout Europe, by a noble,Jean Grolier, whose public diKlomatic career is now for-gotten, while his services to t e arts of book-binding andprinting are constantly gaining wider reco nition, as hisname is chosen to designate societies of bliophiles inlcountries distant from the place of his birth, He was inhis day statesman, financier. scholar, and, for the qualitiesdistinguishing each of these phases of his intellect, he waspraised by his friend, Erasmus, who represented him aslearned, modest, courteous, a model of integrity and theornament of France. Grolier, whose biography is i noredby many for whom his name as a bibliophile is a a ouse-hold word, was born in Lyons toward the end of the fif-teenth century, and bore the title of Vicomte d Aguesy.At that time, the relations between France and NorthernItaly were close and uninterrupted, owing to marriagesbetween princes, treaties and commercial enterprises, andGrolier received the apof Milan: an office w intment of treasurer of the duchyfYch he occupied for nearly twentyyears. During his residence in Italy, he made the acquain-tance of Aldus Manutius, the scholar printer of Venice,assisting him and his successors financially in the produc-tion of beautiful volumes, several of which were dedicated



17/62

10 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

to Grolier and bound in the Aldine workshops. Onceduring his tenure of office at Milan, he was sent byFrancis First on a political mission to Pope Clement VII.,and, while in Rome, became familiar with the treasuresof the Vatican library. On his return to France, he wasmade treasurer-general of the kingdom, and establishedhimself in Paris ; carryincles of that capital the into the court and literary cir-re ining influences which he hadiderived from the mother-country of the modern arts, Hedied in 1565, at his sumptuous residence, where he had

athered his library, the result of infinite pains and theBighest development of taste, These priceless booksreached the number of three thousand, of which all but asmall fraction have been either totally destroyed, or arelurking under the disguises of newer bindings in libraries,or the shops of antiquarians ; three hundred and fifty vol-umes only being recognized as the authentic possessionsof this greatest of historic bibliophiles. The marks ofGroliers ownership so eagerly welcomed by the seekerafter value, whether aesthetic or commercial, are the in-scription printed in a sinthe front cover, JO. GR d le line across the lower part ofLERII ET AMICORUM (theproperty of Jean Grolier and his friends), and also theBible quotation adopted by him as a personal motto, orlegend : PORT10 MEA, DOMINE, SIT TERRAVIVENTRUM (0 Lord, let my portion be in the land ofthe living!) But though every leaf of his most cherishedpossessions should perish, the inspiration and patronagewhich Grolier gave to book-printers and book-binderscould never be forgotten, since the assistance lent by himwas one of the most potent factors in the advancement ofart and learning, active in sixteenth century France. Andfurther, the passion for beautiful books, which formed sostronf 8, an element of his life, was with him, as it will beoun m ever case to be, the accomplishment, the coun-terpart, and t E: contrast of hard labor in the most seriousand prosaic fields.



18/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 11

As the arts of printing and ofbook-binding are too closely allied to be considered separately, a few notes upon the life of Aldus Manutius andupon the publishing house of which he was the founder,will not be amiss in this place. Aldus (to use the nameby which he is best known) was first a scholar, andafterward a craftsman. His early studies, pursued atRome and Ferrara, were for the most part in the Latinlanguage and literature. He became the instructor of anItalian prince, and brilliantly fulfilled the duties of his office.But it was not until he reached mature age that he beganthe study of Greek, through which he was destined to gainhis greatest fame. In turning toward the language ofphilosophy, he yielded to the influence of the New Learn-ing, whose tide swept over Europe in the latter half ofthe fifteenth century, awakening terror in the minds of thelong-established intellectual and spiritual authorities, andgiving rise to the warnin : Beware of the Greeks, lestye be made heretics. # ith the acumen, thoroughnessand singular diligence that distin uished him, Aldus mas-tered the great difficulties of his /zl est study, and becameso well versed in Greek literature that his judgments uponthe authenticity and purity of the texts which he after-ward edited, came to be accepted by the learned world.To him are due twenty-eight first edif ions of the Greekclassics, as well as a much mater number of works inLatin. But sincere as were efforts in furthering the2scause of classic learning, his services to the art of typography were infinitely mater.

aHe reformed and re-

modeled the type which e found in use, on the establish-ment of his press at Venice, in 1488. In place of theGothic characters which practically reproduced those ofthe latest illuminated manuscripts, he substituted theRoman alphabet in tunremitted, for he fe t as few have done, the shortness ofpe of his own design. His toil washuman life. And to the end that he might accomplish allthat he knew to be latent within him, he had placed over



19/62

12 BEAUTIFUL BOOKShis desk, in his work-cabinet, a tablet warning away aIIintruders and idlers. The Medici gave him high tokensof their regard, and the Pope, Leo X,, favored him withnumerous privileges. But at Iast jealousy wrought itswork and he died at the hands of Venetian assassins.The books issued from theAIdine press during the life of its founder were the finestin the world, and, until 1560, Italian bindings were markedbr graceful, free designs, which even the technical skiIla ready gained by the French could not outbalance. Ayoun er son of Aldus, known as Paul Manutius, con-tinue 8 ,the work begun by his father, but publishing theLatin somewhat in preference to the Greek classics. Hewas led to this choice partly by his perfect knowledge ofthe former, which enabled him to write with the purityand elegance of the Augustan age, and partly by the com-mission of the Holy See, which directed him to publishthe writings af the Church Fathers, and attached him tothe Library of the Vatican. Paul was a worthy suc-cessor of his father, and his to-day priceless edition ofCicero can be compared with any of the earlier master-pieces of his house. Again the press was continuedby the son of a-Ij eat scholar and craftsman, but this timedisastrously. he Aldus third in succession had not thepractical gifts of his predecessors, and, furthermore, com-petitors in his art had arisen, both at home and abroad,He provided scantily for himself and his family by teach-ing languages in Venice, Bologna, Piss and finally inRome, where he died at the end of the sixteenth century,in abject distress, after being forced to see the great enter-prise by which his name had become famous, pass intothe ownership of strangers. The arts relative to the print-%. and binding of books flourished in Italy with theme press for less than a century, But in proportion asthey rapidly declined in Italy they rose in NorthernEurope.



20/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 13

Among these distinguished pub-lishers, three families claim especial attention: the Ebze-virs, the Estiennes, and the Plantins. The members ofthe first group were Hollanders, who, establishing theirpress in 1583, continued for a century to send out fromLeyden and Amsterdam an uninterrupted course of fineeditions of the classics. They distinguished themselves,as is generally known, by the ele ante of their duodecimoand even smaller volumes. + heir editions of Virgil,Terence, the New Testament, and the Psalter-alladorned with illuminated initial letters-became and haveremained models, by reason of great correctness of textand rare typographical beauty. They were less learnedthan the Estiennes of Paris, who were somewhat earlierthan they, and their works in Hebrew and Greek will notbear comparison with those of the French house. Criti-cism has been made recently also by the best Englishtypographers upon their compressed and somewhat wirycharacters which have served largely as models for themodern Roman type, to the neglect of the more legibleand lo cal designs of the fifteenth century Venetian print-ers, A dus, and more especially Nicholas Jenson, the mas-fter and guide of William Morris. Still, the fame of theElzevirs is so justly great that it can not be materiallylessened, and their beautiful productions are among theprincipal treasures of public and private libraries through-out the world. The Estiennes are known to-day to a much more limited circle of bibliophiles. Theywere descendants of an old and noble family of Provence,the first printer and publisher of which braved disinheri-tance to enter the exercise of his chosen craft at the be-ginning of the sixteenth century. Five generations ofEstiennes, working principally in Paris and in Geneva,rendered great services to the cause of learning. Like allthe celebrated early printers, they were scholars of con-tinental reputation. The most noted of them, the first



21/62

14 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

bearing the name of Robert, added to his intellectualpowers artistic ability of a high order, and the alphabetwhich he invented is yetcorrectness of text, he postedgreatly admired, To ensurehis proofs publicly, and of-fered rewards to those who should discover errors in hisreadings. I n re Iigion he was a protestant, which fact wasthe occasion to him and to his accomplished son Henryof many financial losses and of exile from France. Themost permanently valuable productions of the Estienneswere dictionaries in the ,Latin and Greek languages, whichhave served as bases for standard modern works. Thehistory of the Estienne house runs arallel to that of theAlduses and the Elzevirs, in that tR enterprise lasted acentury, and the fortune acquired by the elder membersof the family wasted away in the hands of the Iater gen-erations.famous throu The Plantin press was madebirth, althoug1h the agency of a single man, French byhis work was accomplished at Antwerp.His life was a short one, but within its limits he foundeda publishin7 house which ranked first amonha# the establishments o its kind, active in the latter of the six-teenth century. He differed from the Alduses, the Elze-virs and the Estiennes in possessing a wide acquaintancewith the modern languages and in recognizing their func-tion in education. He frequently gave employment totwenty presses, and his collection of type was the richestthen known; so that he was able to print works in all thelanguages of Europe. His books are magnificent speci-mens of printing, correct in matter, and elegant in execu-tion, although his type falls under the criticism alreadyquoted as having been made upon the alphabet of theElzevirs: that it is compressed laterally, that it has toomany joined or compound letters, and that it loses char-acter and legibility by being too slender or wiry.To examine the extant master-pieces of these early printers and binders is to experience



22/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 15

a pleasure approaching in degree that which is felt in thepresence of a picture by an old master. As a brilliant ex-ample, we may take the Elzevir Virgil, published in 1676,and called the greatest book ever issued from the press ofthose perfect craftsmen ; a work which called forth in its.time the quaint description: The tin lettersin blackness. The paper is equally w K rival pitchte as snow. Or,as a thing of beauty, we may prefer the exquisite religiousvolume sent out by the same house, entitled, Laimablemere de Jesus.inches in length.

It is in shape a narrow rectangle, a fewIts back is rounded in that swellingcurve which is the ideal of binders; the five divisions ofthe back bein shaIts cover, of t e leat ly marked by horizontal projections.g K r known as crushed Ievant, hasa superb deep green tone, and shows the grain of the skinto the exact point desired by experts. Finally, the middleof the front cover is ornamented by a long, straight lilybranch, which emphasizes and echoes the form of thekLe;t $.. same time that it symbolizes the purity of theI .

rthe graces of whom are celebrated in thecontents of t ebook. The masterpieces of historicbook-making, printing apart, and considered only as tobinding, are most often found in France, where the artwas persistently practised ; twent individuals of the samefamily sometimes obtaining a we ITearned reputation, eitherfor general excellence in the exercise of their craft, or yetfor the skilful manipulation of a single tool. To the latterclass of workmen belonged Le Gascon, who lived in the

latter half of the seventeenth century, and whose influenceextended to England, Holland, German , and Italy. It isestimated that it would to-day require s Eilled labor to theamount of one hundred pounds in time-value to copy the tooling upon a certain beautiful book bound in hisworkshop. His instruments have been accurately copiedin the hope to equal his effects, but the delicate hand ofthe master is wanting, and thus far attempts at reproduc-



23/62

16 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

tion have failed. This elaborate gilding, first learned fromItaly, was separated in France into a number of divisions,or methods. It was applied in intricate arabesques, insmall repeated isolated designs, in continuous patterns appropriately named dentelles, or laces, in unbroken line,or in stipple. Each of these methods had its master, andeach, when examined alone, seems the height and perfec-tion of art. Another beautiful method of ornamentation(today brilliantly illustrated by Marius Michel, the mod-ern French binder) was the socalled leather mosaic-work,in which several colors with gold were combined on thebook-cover, sometimes into a continuous arabesque, or arepeated all-over design, but most often into a geome-trical figure occupying the middle of the cover.In French book-binding, as timewent on, the designs changed, according to the influencesdominant for the moment at court. Under Louis XIV.they were symmetrical and sober ; under Louis Fifteenth,in the work of Pasdeloup, the favorite binder of Madamede Pompadour, they were delicate and exquisite, as isevidenced by the beautiful book : The Loves of Daphnisand Chloe, which was sold a few years since for theequivalent of three thousand five hundred dollars.For a period, the religious move-ment of the Jansenists was reflected in the art of whichwe are treating, for its promoters were scholars and edu-cators, and the classics took on a sombre dress. But forthree centuries and more, far down into the reign ofNapoleon First, collectors and craftsmen fostered in Francethe art of book-binding; being materially aided in theirefforts by the Gild of St. John, which was founded in1401, which included scribes, illuminators, printers, book-binders, and booksellers, and which continued active un-til suppressed by the Revolution. To-day, the art is repre-sented in France by a group of art-artisans of exquisiteand patient skill, chief among whom ranks M. MariusMichel, who is both craftsman and writer.



24/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 17

As to printing,pure and simple,the primacy was gained late in the nineteenth century forEngland by William Morris, whose influence, extendingthroughout the United Kingdom and America, wroughtthe most radical improvements in typography.The Kelmscott Press, as one ofthe most worthy and practical ente risescraftsman, deserves the attention of of the greata i? to whom printingappeals, either as a fine art, or merely as a medium for thetransmission of knowledge, thought, or sentiment; sincethe eye is largely responsible for the impression made uponthe brain, and since the ease, comfort, pleasure, or pain,attendant upon the act of readindesign, color, and composition of results largely from thethe printed page.By competent critics it is saidthat the books issued from the Kelmscott Press are, con-sideration being made for their aims and intentions, thefinest and most harmonious ever produced. They werethe result of ceaseless experiment and the highest intelli-gence. Th ey b rought fame to England in an art in whichshe did not early excel-owing to political and socialcauses. The Hundred Years War with France and theWars of the Roses destroyed the native school of illum-ination, so that when printing was introduced there wereno trained illuminators or scribes to further the productionof beautiful books, as was the case in Italy, France andGermany. The books printed by Caxton at his West-minster press were not comparable with those of his con-tinental contemporaries, and these beginnings, of necessityinartistic, retarded the development of printing as a fineart. Another unfavorable condition resided in the factthat Richard Third excluded the book-trade from the protection which he granted to other commercial and indus-trial enterprises. The first advance gained by the print-ers of the continent was only with difficulty overcome bythe En lish, whom it continued to affect for centuries. itwas, t erefore, an accomplishment for England not



25/62

lb BEAUTIFUL BdOKS

easily estimated when Morris produced his KelmscottChaucer, which has been called by enthusiastic admirers,the noblest book ever printed, the finest book everissued, the greatest triumph of English typography,and which, even if these opinions shall be modified, willalways remain an epoch-making work.It is interesting to study thesteps by which Morris attained his happy results as aprinter. He has related his experience in a note, writ-ten in his direct, simple style, in which, at the very begin-ning, he sums up, as if unconsciously, the qualities of goodprinting :

I be an, he writes, with thehope of producing books whit a should have a definiteclaim to beauty, while, at the same time, they should beeasy to read, and should not dazzle the eye, or troublethe intellect by eccentricity of form in the letters. I havealways been a great admirer of the calligraphy of theMiddle Ages, and of the earlier printing which took itsplace. As to the fifteenth century books, I had noticedthat they were always beautiful by force of the mere typo-graphy, even without the added ornament, with whichmany of them are so lavishly supplied, And it was theessence of my undertaking to produce books which itwould be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing andarrangement of type, Looking at my adventure from thispoint of view then, I found I had to consider chiefly thefollowing things :tive spacing of the paper, the form of the type, the rela-the letters, the words, and the fines ; and.lastly the position of the printed matter upon the page.For raw materials and for work-men to fashion them readlong and patiently ; taking i: for his use, Morris soughtis models of paper and typefrom the early books which he so admired, and adaptingthem to modern needs and requirements.His experiments in alphabetsare particularly interesting, as he relates them. By in-



26/62

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS 19

stinct, he first turned toward the Roman letter, pure inform ; severe, without needless excrescences ; solid, with-out here and there an arbitrary thickening or thinning ofthe line, which is the essential fault of the ordinary mod-ern letter. He afterward set himself to produce a fountof Gothic type which should not be open to the charge ofillegibility so often, and with reason, preferred a ainsta it,He expressed himself to the effect that letters s ould bedesigned by artists and not by engineers, and with theprinciples of clearness and beauty as his ideals, he per-fected three founts named from the books in which theywere destined to be used. The first, based upon Romancharacters, became known as the Golden, from the twelfthcentury sto x of saints and martyrs, called The Goldenprd, w ch it was Morris purpose to edit and pubs . The second, the Troy type,which its designer preferred to either of the others, showsthe influence of the beautiful alphabets of the early print-ers of Mainz, Augsburg and Nuremberg. At the sametime it has a strong individuaIity,and could never be mis-taken for any of the mediaeval founts. It has been piratedon the continent, and remodeled in America, where, invarious modifications, it is known as Venetian, Italian, or Jenson. It received its name from theFrench cycle of heroic romances which William Morristranslated, and issued under the name of The Recuyellof the Historyes of Troye.

The third type used at theKelmscott press, called the Chaucer, differs from the Troyonly in size,-the first being Pica, and the second GreatPrimer. It is seen in the book which is, by far, the mostimportant achievement of the Kelmscott Press.These studies and experiments intype occasioned heavy expenditures in time, energy, andmoney,-such as the purchase of rare incunabrrla (speci-



27/62

20 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

mens of early printing: the word derived from the Lath,cradle) ; the destruction of castings which proved unsuc-cessful or inartistic ; and photography upon an extensivescale, by which the enlarged forms of the letters might bestudied, not only individually, but also as to the causes oftheir share in the effect of the general composition of thepage. The Kelmscott Press, set inoperation in 1891, produced its masterpiece, the works ofChaucer, in the spring of 1896, a year and nine monthsafter the great book had been begun. This is in form afolio, the pages containing double columns of text, andeach surrounded by floriated borders, of which there arefourteen variations. It is further ornamented by eighty-seven illustrations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, in thatartists most characteristic Pre-Raphael&e style. As thecrowning perfection of the Chaucer, Morris was to havedesigned special bindings, but owing to his failing health,the only scheme that he was able to complete was for afull white piB skin covering, which has been executed atthe Doves indery upon forty-eight copies of the work,including two printed upon vellum.To afford a worthy comparisonto the Kelmscott Chaucer, it was Mr. Morris intentionto issue Fro&arts chronicles, in Lord Berners transla-tion, This was to have been in two volumes folio, withbeautiful initials and heraldic ornaments throughout, anda large frontis iece drawn by Sir Edward Burne-Jones,A few pages l!a d been t in type, but no sheet had beenprinted, when the deat Rof William Morris occurred inthe autumn of 1876. The Kelmscott Press was closedin 1898, after an existence of less than seven years, andthe completion of a comparatively small number of books,But its influence is today universal, and is constantly in-creasing in strength. Through the clearness and beautyof the printed page, it was a vital power toward makingknowledge amiable and lovely to all mankind.



28/62

COBDEN-SANDERSON AND THEDOVES BINDERY

THEemptation that usually assails one in writing ofa man for whom he has certain well-defined en-thusiasms is that of forcing his readers into a too con-scious allowance for the personal equation. But as acraft-worker speaking to fellow-craftsmen, I feel confidentthat Cobden-Sandersons is a name to conjure with, whenone is striving to create fervor for the best craft ideals. Fromtime to time, there rises up in the very heart of a move-ment an individual who reduces its abstract principles totheir concrete form ; realizing in his daily life those idealsthat exceed the grasp of most idealists, and winnin tentscause by his forceful example more adherents 8athe precepts of the wisest could gain for it.When Cobden-Sandersonchanged his barristers wig and gown for the beret andblouse of the workman, he gave a very strong im tus tothe craft movement that Morris had set oing an , at thea 8same time, definitely ranged himself on t e side of laborand social democracy : a position at variance with bothcircumstance and training. But though his universitycareer had been one of more than average distinction, andhis social graces were such that he individualized hisplace in the complex world of London society, yet it is asmaster-craftsman that he wields an influence which hasstrengthened and broadened all craft development.When it was su ested to methat a description of Cobden-Sanderson an&El s work, byone who had come into close touch with both, might bea helpful inspiration to craftsmen,1 wrote, askin his per-mission to make such use of my experience. d r. Sand-ersons reply was such a characteristic one, and expressedso concisely his idea of the true craftsman, that I count it



29/62

22 COBDEN-SANDERSON ANDno breach of faith to reproduce it as a whole, but rather aduty which I owe my fellow-workers to give them a finethought as an inspiration to finer effort :

Dear Miss Preston : I hardly know what to sayour request to write about me. Such a proposa{ toin-valves so much, and the question is : What of me do youpropose to write about ? I do not want to be writtenabout as mere copy to satisfy for an infinitesimal momentof time the insatiable hunger of journalism, but this, I amsure you do not propose. If, on the other hand, my workcan be made the opportunity of giving one little push inthe right direction, then why not? So use your owndiscretion, and do your best for the cause, and rememberthat the cause is not book-binding, nor a handicraft, nora pattern, nor ettina a a living, but that sound view of lifeas a whole, w ch s all make all other sound things pos-sible, and among the sound things, some that may bebeautiful. Book-bindin & is but the illustration.ery truly yours,T, J. Cobden-Sanderson.The cause certainly has neverhad a stronger or warmer adherent than this one whowrites so eloquently of it. Mr. Sanderson joined the groupof men who were following Morris at a time when therewas inspiration in the very enthusiasm which that greatleader created. It is said that he chose book-binding ashis work rather to express his conviction that manual

labour dignified mans existence, than for any attractionthis special craft had for him, but those who feel the charmof his binding count this choice to have been somethingmore than chance. It is of Cobden-Sanderson, thecraftsman, that I wish to write, but the salient points ofhis career may be of interest to readers who know littleor nothing of his personality. By birth, he belongs to



30/62

THE DOVES BINDERY 23that upper middle class English life which has an inflexi-ble standard of education and environment, and along thisline, he had his early trainin a .for his university degree, w He went up to Cambridgeere his intimates were ratherthe opposite of democratic, and after vacillating betweenthe Church and Medicine, he finally entered the MiddleTemple as a Barrister-at-Law, and was for years inParliamentary practice. His social charm gave him muchpopularity, and his rich cultivation and ready wit gainedhim access to all that was best in artistic and literary Lon-don. Thus he drifted on until he had rounded forty,when his whole scheme of life changed. He married abeautiful and brilliant woman, whose name he hy hen-ated with his own in deference to her fathers w , andlfmade a home for himself at Frognell, near Hampstead.Gradually both Mr. and Mrs. Cobden-Sanderson grewradical, and probably it needed just Morris influence topush them across that sharp1Socialism from other olitica 1ydrawn line which separatescreeds. At all events, someseventeen years ago, Ke suddenly ave up the practice oflaw and went intoDeCoverlys boo a to learnthat trade. -binding shoHe must have been an apt pupil, as Ki s coursewas not of many months duration, and, on Ieavinup his own workroom in his library at , he setFrogne 4 Pic-turesqueness always appealing to him, he adopted the bluelinen blouse of the French workmen and the white beret,as if to make the outer man conform as nearly as possibleto his convictions. Mrs. Sanderson s e w e d t hebooks, and their two little children were brought to playin the workshop, in order that they might imbibe the newmode of living and become small Apostles of the Gospelof Labor as soon as possible. Here he was sought outby his friends, who numbered all that group of Pre-Raphaelites so precious in the annals of English art, andby a steadily increasing circle of admirers who found inhis work a certain quality of charm that did not lie alto-



31/62

24 COBDEN-SANDERSON ANDgether in the perfection of fechniqrre, It was at this timethat the Society of Arts and Crafts was founded inLondon, and the name now so familiar that it seems tobelong to all time, was a happy inspiration of Cobden-Sanderson. It pleases him greatly to dwell upon the num-ber of gilds that have adopted the name, but I wonder howmany of these clubs in the United States know that theman who first made the happy combination is still thehonorable secretary of the society he christened.Just at the time when the artof printing was revived by Morris in the founding of theKelmscott Press, Cobden-Sanderson decided to expresshis social convictions and, at the same time, to widen hisown sphere by establishing a model work-shop in whichemployer and emplo e should share alike the toil and thehonor. So it was tK, t the Doves Bindery was started,called the Doves, because it is neighbour on the river tothe little public house of that name, which every Varsityman knows well in connection with the Oxford and Cam-bridge boat races; for all through the trainin , one seesrecorded that such and such time was ma e betweeniHammersmith bridge and the Doves. It may have beenfrom youthful appreciation that Mr. Sanderson chose thatname, but it was the last word which caught the Britisheye and the British scent for what is the langua e of theirkinsmen over the sea! Whence the word? $ ithout au-thority, proper English authority ;-without the sanctionof usage ; evidently an Americanism!The bindery opened with astaff of three-a finisher, a forwarder and collator, and oneapprentice, the latter now one of the most successful bind-ers in London. In the ten years of its existence but twochanges have been made in the personnel of the Doves :Mr. Cockerelf finished his apprenticeship, and at the endof five ears, set out on his own way, while a younwas ta % n in to assist in sewing and mending, girlw a o isnow the fourth on the regular staff. Pupils have come



32/62

THE DOVES BINDERY 25and gone, but have always gone with a pang, for it is aunique and rare experience to make one of that little com-munity. The Upper Mall, Hammer-smith, like many London roads, is respectable in spots andsqualid in others; but it is picturesque all its Ien h. TheDoves Bindery stands just on the outskirts Frespecta-bility, in a shabby enough little slum, but within a stonesthrow of Kelmscott House,-the home of both GeorgeMacDonald and Morris-and River House, which, withits neighbor, formed a part of the palace of Katherine ofBra anza.H To the street the Bindery presents a ratherunp easing aspect, but when one enters the house andpasses through it to the garden, evePicture a neat, well-kept En 7 thing changes.lish garden ull of bloom andfragrance : a low stone J on the river side, againstwhich the water washes at high-tide; shade-trees that castlong, cool shadows in the afternoon, with all the windowsopening upon this and the river beyond, and the lovelySurrey shore opposite.with no foreman hoverin It is a very merry work-shop,Honor is the only guar about to watch the employes.&.an of his rights that Mr. San-derson sets over the Doves,-the individual honour ofeach workman,-and a very good watch-dog he hasfound it; for although there is a no little talking in thecourse of the day, work goes on, and good work is turnedout, whether he is late in cominat home or on the Continent. + or early, whether he ishe house has two lar erooms on each floor, those below being occupied by t a epupils and by the forwarder and finisher of the bindery;above, is Mr. Sandersons private room, where he worksout his designs and settles all details of all branches of thework-and another room in which the sewing and coIlat-ing are done; and all the time, there is the sound of sing-ing and laughter, which are good witnesses to the spiritthat pervades this model workshop. The hours at theDoves Bindery are those required by the Trades Union :



33/62

26 COBDEN-SANDERSON AND

from half-past eiwith Saturday

ht to one, from two until half-past six,f ternoons free the whole year round. Atfour, a tea-table is spread in the pupils room, where tea,bread and butter, and cake are served through the bountyof Mrs. Cobden-Sanderson, who often comes in to sharethe afternoon tea which herthis table every one gathers ull of good cenerosity su plies.K Aroundthe pause that lets him express it. eer, and glad ofOften the paper is readaloud,-the Daily Chronicle of course,-for every one is,or becomes a Radical in this environment, and the talk is

of books, for the most part: the last sale, the Kelmscottprices,-always a source of wonder,-the new presses;indeed the Doves is a training school in bibliographica.When summer comes and the air grows fragrant withthe sweetness of the hay, tea is served in the garden downat the river end, but long before this is possible, and withthe first breath of spring, doors and windows are flungopen to the garden and the sordid life of the other side inthe Mall is forgotten. This is the life at the Doves Bind-Listen to the ideals which sustain that life, as ex-;ZGsed in Mr. Sandersons own words : It is not somuch the form, as the spirit and conception of the work-shop, as at present constituted, which I conceive to requireamendment. A man may well be set to work by another,and many men and women may well cooperate in theproduction of a single work. The important thing is thatthere shall be a common and well understood notion ofwhat the work is, or ought to be, and that there shall bea common and energetic desire to contribute to the com-pletion of that work, each in due degree for tI4e workssake and the workmanship, and even for the shops sake.And if in this field, I might suggest a practical reform, itwould be the transformation of the work-shop from aplace in which to earn a wa e or to make a profit, into aplace in which the greatest p easure and the greatest honorin life are to be aimed at: pleasure in the intelligentwork of the hand, and honor in the formation and main-



34/62

THE DOVES BINDERY s7tenance of a great historic tradition. This cheery sideof labor is a pleasant thing with which to come in con-tact. It makes one more hopeful of the ultimate result ofthe present struggle, to see the confidence of the mastermeet with the ready response of good work for fair treat-ment. Mr. Sanderson doubtless has exceptional work-men, both for skill and intelligence, but they are workmenwhen all is said: apprentices first, then journeymen,-sothe experiment is robbed of none of its success because ofunusual material. Three times in the year are holidays-a fortnight at mid-summer, a week at Christmas, andanother week at Easter, and, although the wage goes onas usual, a substantial sum, by way of personal recognitionof faithful service, gives to each employe the means to gofor an outing with his family, with no need to draw uponthe Savings Bank. Certainly if Altruism is the bestrelation between self and others, Cobden-Sandersonmight be reckoned a first citizen of Altruria! The cooperative system has never been tried at the Doves Bind-cry,-doubtless for some very good reason,-but the scaleof wage is such that the workmen have comfortablehomes, and are able to keep their childrenat school a suf-ficient time to equip them with a good common schooleducation, as a foundation for a trade. Hospitalities arefrequently exchanged on both sides : pleasant little teas inthe workmens homes returned in kind; excursions on theriver; parties to the theatre when a good piece is Iayin ;a thorough acquaintance with the children of eat K m&,aand an interest in each one individually ;-these are theties of human intercourse that give a different tone to therelation of capital to labor.It is not strange that much book-lore is learned in the Bindery, for only the rarest and bestcomes here for beautifying and protecting : first editions ofreat writers ; stray volumes that are known only to the!?lbliophile; the books printed at the Kelmscott Press,andat others that have sprung up since Morris aroused public



35/62

28 COBDEN-SANDERSON ANDinterest in fine printing, *-these are the books which arebrought to the Doves, and, as the workman uncon-sciously glances here and there at the contents of the bookhe is binding, he adds to his knowledge of bibliographicaa certain familiarity with the best literature. When I firstwent to the Bindery, the books then in work were ratherdistasteful to the staff, being a series of photogravures ofgreat personages who had attended a fancy dress ball ata great house during the sixtieth J&&e, This limitededition of fifty volumes then binding, apto the workmen who scorned the who e enterprise, andpea

led in no waytheir comment on that portion of the nobility with whomthey were becoming so familiar, was as outspoken andsKntaneous as that which one hears on the MaIl whent e Sovereign holds a Drawing-Room. This work, how-ever, gave Mr. Sanderson a breathing-time at the momentwhen the Tri-Annual Exhibition of the Arts and CraftsSociety absorbed much of his time and thought. But itwas, I feeI sure, with a sigh of relief that he saw the lasttrace of aristocracy removed from Hammersmith.That exhibition at the New GaI-lery,-the first since the death of Morris cast a gloom overthe opening day of the exhibition of 96-was a si aItriumph for the Doves Bindery. Every book offereCYorsale in Mr. Sandersons case was sold on the afternoon ofthe private view. And how proud we all were of thissuccess, and how quick his executants were to discoverin other cases the slightest imitation of the tools or pat-terns with which they were so familiar 1

One of the lectures given at theNew Gallery during this exhibition was by Mr. Sander-son, his subject being Gilds. It recalled to man inhis audience a similar occasion, three years before, wKen,as a prelude to his lecture on Art and Life, he made ref-erence to the great loss that had befallen the Socie in thethen recent death of its President. When I tx ink ofhim, he said, I seem to see a great light shed upon the



36/62

THE DOVES BINDERY 29path in front of us, which waits only until we move, tomove onward too,-still onward, and to keep its postfronting the darkness. And theis this : that in the work of his eat light shed from him!C nds, aided, guided bythe work of the brain into shapes of everlasting beautyand utility, man, not certainly this man or that,-for eachmust contribute in an infinite diversity of ways,-but man,as a whole, man, which is human society, organized tounity, shall find delight as of summer seas-waking tosummer music, along the coasts of the world, under sum-mers sun and moon, and the still shining stars of Heaven.Work, incessant work, with beauty as our everlastingaim, this is the William Morris, this the memory of him,this the light shining upon the darkness of the future,which we all and especially we, of the Society whosePresident he was, ought to cherish and to abide by for-ever. Work ! and for our everlasting aim, Beauty ! The relation between Morrisand Cobden-Sanderson was one of close sympathy andfriendship, one that antedated the ties of political creed andcraft conviction. In the be inning, when the DovesBindery was starting, and the Krelmscott Press in need oflarger quarters, an upper portion of the former was occu-pied by Morris proofreaders. This brought Morris inand out many times a day, and with his marvelous in-terest in the detail of all craft-work, he made himself afamiliar fibrances oHure to the employes who have man remem-him as they knew him; and now it Las fallenupon Mr. Sanderson to uphold the Morris tradition in therevival of printing, upon him and Morris well-belovedfriend, Emory Walker. How well they do this is provenzesre beauty of the work that issues from the Doves. It was Mr. Walker who firstinterested Morris in fine printing, being himself a con-noisseur in 9 raphy, and when, as one of Morris exe-cutors, he close the Keknscott Press and turned over



37/62

30 COBDEN-SANDERSON ANDblocks and

xporris will,s to the British Museum, according to

e conceived the idea of another Press, which,with a different scope, should a ainsenting the highest typographicaH produce books repre-achievement. With thishigh standard, he prevailed upon Mr. Sanderson to joinhim in the enterprise, and for months these two workedquietly and zealously ; no announcement of the new Pressbeing made until type was designed and cut, and all plansperfected for printing the first book.The Doves Press is in Ham-mersmith Terrace, not a stones throw from the housesof both its founders ; the principles upon which it is con-ducted are the same as those of the Bindery, its nearneighbor, and the same perfection of detail that distin-guishes the workmanship of the Doves Bindery givescharm to the product of the Doves Press. The paperupon which the books are printed is of beautiful texture,thinner than the paper Morris used, but equall strong ;the water-mark shows two doves with the init& C. S.-and E. W. beneath. The type is Roman, and, sofar,no effort has been made toward decoration or illustra-tion. The charm of the books lies entirely in the beautyof the type and the perfection of spacing and placing uponthe page; the impression made by the whole is one ofpleasure in the beauty expressed by a perfect and dignifiedsimplicity. The first book printed at the Doves Presswas the Life of Agricola, by Tacitus, and before it wasprinted, it was larcident with this pu

elyt

over-subscribed+ Strangely coin-lication, is the fact that the first timeTacitus Agricola was printed in England, the press thatissued it was in Hammersmith Terrace. This, it is need-less to say, was manThe appreciation of K years before the present enterprise.t e Agricola was immediate;-indeed,there was no dissenting voice when approval was ex-pressed by collectors ; and this same estimate has beenawarded to the books that have followed. This first issue



38/62

THE DOVES BINDERY 81__ -_of the Doves Press was in January, 1901, and was atonce succeeded by a tract on The Book Beautiful, byCobden-Sanderson. Since then, but one book has beenprinted,-a lecture on William Morris by MackaiI,-buta great enterprise is on foot in the printing of the Bible, tobe in five parts, issued at intervals of a year, the size,small folio, From time to time, during the great under-taking, other books will be issued, the next one to beThe Paradise Lost, which is eagerly anticipated by thesubscribers. Before the Tacitus, a specimen page wasprinted by Mr. Walker and Mr. Sanderson,-an extractfrom a lecture by Cobden-Sanderson,-and it is counted arare possession by the friends to whom it was presented,Mr, Sandersons ideas upon theideally beautiful book are clearly set forth in his tractwhich closes with this concise summing up : Finally, ifthe Book Beautiful may be beautiful by virtue of its writ-ing, or printing, or illustration, it may also be beautiful,be even more beautiful, by the union of all to the produc-tion of one composite whole: the consummate Book Beau-tiful. Here the idea to be communicated by the bookcomes first, as the thing of supreme importance. Thencomes in attendance upon it, striving for the love of theidea to be itself beautiful, the written or printed page, thedecorated or decorative letters, the pictures set amidst thetext, and, finally, the binding, holding the whole in itsstrong grip and for very love again, itself becoming beau-tiful because in company with the idea. This is thesu reme Book Beautiful, or Ideal Book, a dream, a sym-boyf the infinitely beautiful in which all things of beautyrest, and into which all things of beauty do ultimatelymerge: This is the man and this hiswork, and both, I take it, are a stimulus to whosoever isstriving to sweeten his portion of labor by ennobling itwith that high ideal: Not for self only, but for the hon-our and reputation of the craft. To accept as a sacred



39/62

92 COBDEN-SANDERSON ANDlegacy the best traditions of the ast, of that mediaevalpast when the gilds created an dp upheld a craft idealthat made artists of artisans; to hold ones self above thedegradation of art and life that comes of self-advertisementand of unworthy work; to learn thoroughly ones craft,and to learn also that to excel is better than to succeed,-here is writ down the doctrine that Cobden-Sandersonpreaches and puts in practice. And, as we, in America pro-Bress in our craft ideals, we shall raise our standard andight loyally for this noble conception of handicraft devel-o ment !SR And so upon that stately theme : The life sbort, the craft so long to learn, shall be heard a sweetand rythmic variation,- Work, incessant work, andBeauty for our everlasting aim.



40/62

ON THE BINDING OF BOOKS

W TH the comina revival in tK of the new century has come alsoe work of the artist-artisan: a Re-nascence of handicraft in all its various branches ; a reactionfrom over production; a protest against cheap and time-saving labor, when such labor means products of whicheach part is inferior and the whoIe of no enduring value.Foremost amon the crafts inwhich art and manual skill are joined, we ind book-bind-ing springing into a new life of active interest. The bind-ings of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,fashioned as they were by men whose labor was one oflove, act as a standard of perfection toward which thebinders of today, working under less happy conditions,are tending. There is, however, one notice-able feature in the work of the present time which isworthy of consideration.the ori It is the independence of thought ;shown r l&y of ideas in the decorations of the book,y the breaking away from the influence of historicornament, and the working out, by the masters of design,of their own individual tastes and conceptions. The toolsused for these designs are no longer exact copies of theold, but are cut after patterns drawn, either to decorateharmoniously some special book, or suggested b variousforms in nature. Therefore, we have a certain reshness,a spontaneity in the ornamentations of the twentieth cen-tury books which promises as well for the art of the future,as the perfection of technical skill does for the craft thatis to be.

Three years ago, one of thegreatest binders of the present time, Mr. Cobden-Sander-son, said : Women ought to do the best work in book-binding, for they possess all the essential qualifications of



41/62

34 ON THE BINDING OF BOOKS

success : patience for detail, lightness of touch, and dextrousfingers, To one who has carefully followed the advanceof womens work in this direction, during the past fewyears, the truth of his words must show as an indisputa-ble fact. So widespread is the interest inthis subject that the followingbrief outlineof the processeswhich make up this exacting, but delightful craft, may, ina measure, satisfy the demand for more detailed informa-tion concerning it. Hand book-bindinrequire an unusual amount of physical strengt% does not. As longas the books to be bound are not of a size and weight tooextreme for a woman to handle, there is nothing in anyof the processes beyond the strength of the averageworker. The exactness of detail demanded is sometimesa strain on the untrained, unskilled worker; but whenonce the lesson of accuracy is learned, each process fitsinto the next almost without an effort.Beginning with a book alreadybound, the first thing to do in the rebinding of it is to takeitapart; viz: To remove the covers, to cut the thread whichbinds the sections t ether, and carefully take off the gluewhich adheres to t e backs of the leaves. The holesmade in the sheets by the previous sawing and sewingmust be mended with thin pieces of split paper pasted overthem and rubbed down. In this way the patch becomesalmost a part of the leaf and is scarcely discernible.The sheets-once more in asolid condition-are refolded, so that the ma s are even,and, were it possible to see through the boo/Y s a whole,the printing would show as a compact block of words,with perfectly matched margins fulfilling the requirementsof right proportion which are: that the top is wider thanthe back, the front still wider, and the bottom the widestof all, Most books, however, are so wretchedly printedthat this end is impossible to obtain, and the irregular



42/62

ON THE BINDING OF BOOKS 93marginal spacing remains to vex the eye of a true loverof well-made books. The public demand for artisticprintina has, however, brought about a wonderful advancein all t e details belonging to fine book-n&in . The in-fluence of William Morris and the Kehnscott F ress,-andlater, the ideally printed and arranged books sent out fromthe Doves Press by Mr. Cobden-Sanderson and Mr.Emery Walker, have so worked upon the dead level ofbad printing that the result has been one of the highestartistic excellence from many private presses over theworld, and soon the binder, whose hi h aim is to aid inthe production of the ideal book, w I find, close at hand,Yvolumes which show the solution of the problem of mak-ing beautiful and legible the printed book.Returning to the sheets, nowmended and refolded, we find that new end papers are re-quired. These are cut from paper chosen to match asnearly as ssible thebook. Tgnth color and texture of the paper of thee set ions are knocked up, so that thetops and backs are even, and the book is put betweenboards and under heavy pressure over night, when it isready to be marked up for sewing.The back of the book is firstmeasured off into five arts called panels, so that thebottom panel is larger tRan the top one, and each part isdivided by a penciled line drawn across the back of thebook. Through the top and bottom panels-a little morethan half wa above and below the middle of each, issawn the ket J e-stitch, about one-sixteenth of an inch indepth. Flexible sewing, which enablesthe book to open easily, is done with silk on the ordinarysewing frame, of which an illustration is given in thisarticle. The cords which are spaced to match exactlythe F nciled lines on the back of the book, are drawn tauton t e frame, and the sections, one at a time, are laid by



43/62

36 ON THE BINDING OF BOOKSthem. The needle is first put through the kettle-stitch atthe top from the outside in, then comes down through thelower side of the first cord, around which the siIk iswound once, and the needIe put back throu h the samehole again, comin out by the next cord%oo beFow. Whenthe bottom of the k is reached, another section is placedon top of the one just finished, and the sewing is con-tinued back to the top again. It is necessary to makesure that each section is firmly fastened to the one belowit ; so, as the ends of the book are reached in turn, a knotis tied in the silk and sunk into the kettle-stitch, when itshows no projection beyond the even surface of the back,When aIl the sections have been sewed, the cords are cut,leaving them from three to four inches in length, and thebook is taken from the frame.The English hand-made miIfboard, used for the covers of books,is of the finest quality,firm and solid. Two pieces of this are cut approximatingin size that of the book, and are lined up with onepiece of aper on the outside, and two on the inside; thedouble tLckness being used to counteract the drawing ofthe leather when the book is covered,The book is now t into ahand-press, and a thin layer of glue is sprea8 over theback and rubbed thoroughly in between the sections.When the glue is somewhat dry, backing-boards made ofhard wood and beveled on one side to a sharp angle, areplaced against the sides of the book, about one-sixteenthof an inch below the back, and the book is put into thepress so that the tops of the boards are perfectly even.The back is then hammered down over the edges of theboards, making a sharp joint into which the mill-boardcovers will fit easily. Great care must be taken in thisprocess, as thethe perfection oPerfection of a book depends largely uponits back : the roundness of its curve orits even squareness, A wise binder will leave the choice



44/62

ON THE BINDING OF BOOfiS 97between the two, in a great measure, to the book itself,which will fall easily into the shape which most naturallybelongs to it. The next few processes may bepassed over with brief mention. Squaring the boardsis to cut them with the plough, and press to the exactdimensions required by the size of the bock, so that theyshall project beyond the top, bottom and foredges suffi-ciently far to protect the book. The back edges of theboards are filed down to a bevel, so that the joints may liesmoothly over them, and the cords or slips, as they arecalled, on which the book was sewed, are frayed out thinand soft. These slips, thoroughly wet with paste, arelaced through two sets of holes, made about a quarter ofan inch from the back edges of the boards. The endswhich come out on the outside are cut off short, and theholes pounded flat both inside and out, thus making it im-possible for the cords to sli .

pr he book is now in boards, andthe lue which has served its purpose by holding the bookin sE ape while it was backed, must now be removed, andthe top, bottom and fored e cut so that a smooth surfaceis obtained, upon which ta e gilder may work at his craft,which is one entirely apart from that of the binder.to be rough gilt, When the edges of a book arethe margins are not cut, and thesheets are sent to the gilder before they are sewed. He knocks them up even, and gilds each edge in turn, andthe book, when sewed, has the rough, uneven look whichis much in favor. Wide margins are a delight tothe book-lovers educated eye, and to cut one down tothe quick is to commit the unpardonable sin, Perhapsno process among the many of which book-bindin ismade up, is more difficult than cutting the foredge, gr oget the ri ht curve and make it alike at top and bottom ;to take o f exactly the same amount of margin from both



45/62

38 ON THE BINDING OF BOOKSsides, and not too much : in a word, to cut a perfect foredge,is a difficult task, and it requires a true eye, a steady hand,and much experience. When the book is returnedfrom the gilders, it is ready for the little bands whichfinish the to s and bottoms of well-made books.are called x Theseead bands and are woven of silk over nar-row pieces of parchment, held in lace b the three or fourstitches put through the back of tE Iboo , coming out be-low the kettle-stitch, then up over the parchment, Whenthe last stitch is taken, the ends of the siIk are broughtthrough on the back, frayed out soft, and asted down.Over the top panel is glued a piece of han B made paper,which keeps the headband firm and prevents the silkthreads from showing under the leather. This process isknown as setting the headbands.The book must now be madeready for its leather cover, which has been previously cutabout half an inch wider than the book on a11 sides, andthe extra half inch pared down comparative1 thin,although the leather should always be left as thic & as isconsistent with its proper application. The portion thatcovers the back of the book is also pared, but not so thinas the margins, and the leather is then ready for use.After the bands on the back ofthe book have been straightened, so that they are at anequal distance one from the other, they are nipped upsharply with the band nippers, the back of the book ispressed down on the leather which has been thoroughlypasted, and the sides brought up to cover the sides of theboards. It is essential that the leather bestretched as tightly as possible over the book, and, for thispurpose, the book is placed on its foredges, and, with thethick of the hands, the cover is pressed down-away fromthe back, and the superfIuous fuIlness which comes from thestretching is worked carefuI.Iy over the edges of the boards.



46/62

ON THE BINDING OF BOOKS 39

At the top and bottom of thebook the pared leather edge is folded down in under theback, leaving somewhat more than one-sixteenth of aninch to reject beyond the headbands. This is workedinto a fC t cap which covers the headbands and protectsthem. The book is now in leather,and, after a final nipping up of the bands on the back,and a judicious use of the band stick which leaves themsharp and square, the unnecessary amount of leather onthe inside corners of the boards is trimmed off, one edgelaid flat over another, and the book is put away, under alight weight, to dry. We have now completed allthe processes which make up the forwarding of a book.From the first, when the book is taken apart, until thetime when it rests in its leather cover, it remains in thehands of the forwarder, to whom is due, in a far eatermeasure than is generally accorded, praise for t ?e finemanual and technical skill, without which the finisher or decorator, would be unable to work to any advantage.A volume, well forwarded, without any ornamentationwhatever, is a delight to the true book-lover, while poorfoi;oig will render the best finishing useless and

. After opening up the coversof the book, the inside corners are mitred and workeddown smooth and flat, and the leather which has beenfolded over the edges of the boards is cut to make an evenmargin on all the sides. If levant morocco has been theleather used in covering the book, this is now crushed,which is done by putting each cover, one at a time andthoroughly moistened, between the crushing plates andunder great pressure, where they are left for a few min-utes, and when taken out, the leather shows a smoothand somewhat glossy surface, under which the fine tracery



47/62

40 ON THE BINDING OF BOOKSof the grain is plainly visible. A leather with the graincrushed out of it loses much of its durability and attrac-tiveness. The book is now in the handsof the finishers, and is ready for its decoration, which willbe done either in gold-tooling or blind, the latter con-sistin of a design tooled on the leather without the useof go d. The pattern is first worked outon a piece of hand-made paper the size of the book, withthe tools selected for this purpose, They are blackenedin a candle and their impression made on the paper wherethe design is finished as perfectly as possible in every de-tail. This is then pasted lightly on the side of the book,and the entire design pressed into the leather with thesame tools heated, after which the paper is removed andthe design gone over once more, in order to make it clearand distinct, The leather is then sponged with vinegarand water, and the design thorouA piece of cotton wool, into whit hIy penciled with glaze.a has been rubbed palmoil, or grease of some kind, is passed over the design.When the glaze is dry, and with another piece of cottonwool, the gold leaf is lifted from the cushion upon whichit lies, and is pressed over and into the pattern. Oncemore the design is one over with the hot tools, and theloose gold rubbed o% with a bit of soft rubber, leaving thedesign pressed into the leather, clear and brilliant.This is the method of tooling ingold. Whether it is a success or not depends upon manyconditions, and only years of practice, which give one atrue eye and a sure touch, and experiences of every kindby which one learns to know ones tools and how to dealwith all emergencies, can make a finisher worthy of thename : one whose work will be the final touch of comple-tion to a book perfectly printed and forwarded.There remains now but onemore process before the book is finished. This is the



48/62



49/62


50/62

ON THE BINDING OF BOOKS 41pasting back of the end papers, by which the fly leaves,folded back over the covers and cut to match perfectly theleather margins around the eding an attractive lining to ta es, are pasted down ; mak-e inside of the boards andhiding the rather unfinished look of the joints.Here then, is our hand-boundbook, the makin of which has been described in a some-what detailed ashion, though many important itemswhich play a large part in the work, have been omitted.The love of a beautiful book isa thing apart from the love of literature and reading, andakhou f h there is an unregenerate public who care asmuch or what a book contains as they do for its covers,yet even this public must own that there is an indefinablecharm in a perfect binding; one in which the visible and hetangible beauties are supplemented by honest workman-ship and honest material. And when to the charm ofthis perfected whole is added the oy of building up andcompletin each part of it, smabind f$ I/ wonder is it that theer a s a victim to the fascinations of his craft andforgets to read the words of wisdom for which his handshave fashioned a fitting covering that will live in throughthe centuries.



51/62

THE ART-HANDICRAFTS OF ITALY

I ALY, more than any other country of Europe, is thehome of local art-industries. It is necessarname her cities, in order to recall the peculiar fci :X&Sof each. Venice produces glass, mosaics and lace; Flor-ence, wood carvings and gilding, marble inlays andpainted parchment ; Rome, silks of characteristic designand pearl beads ; Naples, majolica, lava-carvings and tor-toise-shell work. Among the smaller cities and towns,Siena and Sorrento are known for their wood carvings ;Leghorn for straw-plaiting, and Bellagio for her silkblanket industry. The more modern and commercialcities, like Milan, in which art-handicrafts donot flourish,lack the interest, the animation, and the picturesque qualitywhich distinguish the cities of busy workshops.The traveler in Italy is liable toignore the artistic, as well as the social value of thesehandicrafts. He sighs as he studies the modern Italianbuildings and many of the modern paintings. He fails torecognize that the most picturesque and the best loved ofall the countries of Europe holds her past within her grasp.But this fact is plain, if Italy becompared with Germany. In Hildesheim and Nurem-berg, the most distinctive of Teutonic towns, the pastand the present stand far apart. The old buildings re-main, but the old life is gone. Wood and labor are bothtoo expensive for men to cover their houses with carvings,as they did in the days of Adam Kraft and Vischer andStoss, while smaller artistic ente rises are disdained.There, as in America, the artist is ost in the artisan. It

is almost impossible for the visitor to gain that vista intothe past and to experience that joy in the present whichcome to him almost at the moment of his entrance intoItaly. Venice has no longer the wealth, the materials andthe great artists to build a second Ducal Palace, but, still



52/62

THE ART-HANDICRAFTS OF ITALY 49

animated by the spirit of her great works of art, she makesbeautiful small objects and cherishes her small artists. Inthe lace schools, the glass and the mosaic factories, theworkers are not without claims to be regarded as artists.Each man or woman carries out his or her design, andchooses a color scheme, with results that are seldom crudeor unpleasing. It is never well to yield to theprejudice that the art of a country exists solely in itschurches, palaces and galleries. For it is in the shops thatone must seek much of the art of the present day. Inillustration of this fact, one may instance the Piazza SanMarco, at Venice, upon which fronts one of the greatestof mediaeval monuments. Within the shops of this squareare collected the results of the labors of the art-artisans ofthe city. Among the objects displayed, there is, perhaps,not a singleare few whit reat work of art, but, on the contrary, theregi, are not decoratively good; so that a strik-ingly brilliant general effect is obtained, which, when ex-amined in detail, is found to consist of many windows;each containing, as it were, a mosaic of harmonious formand color, composed of wares, many of them within thepurchasing power of the poor. What is true of the hand-icrafts of Venice is equallRome and Naples ; the corn true of those of Florence,Ll ed results of which producea decorative art which is infinitely superior to that ofother countries, with the exception of certain of the Swisscarvings, and the hand-made pottery of Switzerland andGermany. The visitor to the Italian cities who ignoresthe shops, who sees nothing of the artists working inthem, or in the small closet-like rooms behind them, failsto know one of the gr

the craftsman - 1902 - 04 - april

Documents