Baynes, Robert Hall The Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems. Cassell. 1867.

 Upper cover and spine

Lower cover

This is my copy of this book. It is typical of Cassell's production of the 1860s; first produced in parts and then bound into cloth, and into leather. The British Library copy has the parts bound in, each of which has blue paper covers. The  BL shelfmark is 11651k3, and is described in the British Library database of bookbindings.

 Baynes, Robert Hall

The Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems. Edited by the Rev. Robert H Baynes M.A., Vicar of S. Michael, Coventry, Editor of “Lyra Anglicana,” &c. Illustrated by J.D. Watson [ i.e. John Dawson Watson], H. C. Selhous [i.e. Henry Courtney Selhous], E. M. Wimperis [i.e. Edmund Morison Wimperis], H. Pixis, M. E. Edwards [i.e. Mary Ellen Edwards], R. P. Leitch [i.e. Richard Principal Leitch], W. Small [ i.e. William Small], R. T. Pritchett [i.e. Robert Taylor Pritchett], T. Macquoid [i.e. probably Thomas Robert Macquoid], J. W. North [i.e. John William North]. [Monogram of Cassell, Petter and Galpin.]

 London and New York: Cassell Petter and Galpin ,[1867].

London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, Belle Sauvage Works, Ludgate Hill, E. C.

200x267x30mm. 392p. 4 plates. With two pages of publisher’s titles bound at the end. 

 The design is not signed. The upper cover of part XI of the British Library copy (which is  bound with parts in blue paper covers)  advertises the ‘Complete volume of Cassell’s Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems: “…published at 7s.6d. cloth gilt, 10s 6d. full gilt cloth, and at 21s full morocco antique. It will form one of the most beautiful gift books of the forthcoming season.” The half title page shows the same design as blocked on the full gilt cloth binding. Gilt edges. Bevelled boards. Dark green endpapers and pastedowns. Dark red sand grain cloth. The lower cover is blocked in blind only. Three fillets are blocked on the borders. The inner rectangle shows an imitation wooden frame, with rows of candles to head and to tail, quatrefoils on the centre sides, and an oval frame at the centre. The upper cover is blocked in gold and in black. Two gold fillets are blocked on the borders, within between them a pattern of groups of three gold dots, and semi-circles blocked in black. On the borders, ‘ivy like’ stems, leaves and buds are profusely blocked. They surround the ornate central rectangular frame, which has a ‘wheel circle’ blocked on each corner, each of which has a leaf and stem pattern blocked in relief within it. On the left of the frame, a crown, an urn, a cross are blocked in gold. On the right hand side a repeating pattern of thin stems and two leaves is blocked in relief within a wide gold fillet. Near the head, the title: “/ The/ Illustrated Book/ of Sacred Poems/” is blocked in gold in gothic letters. Underneath more gilt decoration of repeating curling stems and leaves, the quote: “O all ye [blocked in red]/ works of the Lord bless [blocked in green]/ ye the Lord praise him and [blocked in red]/ magnify him forever [blocked in green]/” – all are within diagonal gold lettering-pieces. Beneath these quotes, the publisher: “/ Cassell, Petter and Galpin./” is blocked in gold in gothic letters. The spine is blocked in gold in black and in relief. From the heads downwards the decoration is: ivy leaves and buds in gold; a crown and two five pointed stars in gold within and oval formed by ‘a branch-like’ fillet, which also continues down the spine to surround the title words: “/ The/ Illustrated/ Book of/ Sacred/ Poems/ Edited by/ the Rev. R. H [blocked in gold]/ Baynes M. A./”  are blocked in relief within seven diagonal rectangular gold lettering pieces; a cross and rays around in, blocked in gold, witin an oval formed by a ‘branch-like’ fillet; ivy stem and bud decoration; just above the tail, the publisher: “/ Cassell/ Petter & Galpin/ London & New York/”is blocked in gold; at the tail two gold fillets. 

Edmund M B King

 

Alfred Tennyson. Enoch Arden. Moxon 1866. 

With illustrations by Arthur Hughes. 


London: Edward Moxon & Co., Dover Street, 1866 London: Bradbury, Evans and Co., printers, Whitefriars.

W: 180 H: 223 T: 23

Pagination:  [6], 81p. with one leaf and then sixteen pages of publisher’s title bound at the end.

References:

Ball, Douglas. Victorian publishers’ bindings.1985, p. 87.

Goldman, Paul. Victorian Illustrated Books 1850-1870. The heyday of wood-engraving. The Robin de Beaumont Collection. London, British Museum Press, 1994, p. 113.

Houfe,Simon. The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914. Woodbridge, Antique Collectors Club, 1978, pp. 347-348.

McLean, Ruari. Victorian book design and colour printing. 2nd edition. [London] Faber & Faber [1972], p. 169. Reproduces the title page and frontispiece.

McLean, Ruari. Victorian publishers’ book-bindings in cloth and leather. London, Gordon Fraser, 1974, p. 134-135. Reproduces the upper and lower covers of a copy bound in blue morocco grained cloth.  

Notes:  This copy has green coarse pebble-grain cloth. The text is sewn on three tapes. The design is by Arthur Hughes. Printed on the title page verso: “The illustrations and cover from drawings by Arthur Hughes. The frontispiece engraved by J. H. Baker, from a medallion by Thomas Woolner. The book produced under the superintendence of [monogram of J B P i.e. James Bertrand Payne].  ” On page four  of the list of books published by Edward Moxon bound in at the end , this work is described as: “ In foolscap 4to, elegantly printed and bound price 21s.” Gilt edges. Bevelled boards. Original yellow pastedowns. Full gilt to both covers and spine. On the lower cover, stalks and ears of corn are blocked between ‘branch like’ fillets blocked on the borders. A diagonal pattern is interspersed with butterflies, with a windmill’s sail blocked in gold on the centre. A single bell and its shell is blocked on each centre side. The spine is blocked in gold. The upper cover has sea motifs – sea shells on corners; ship’s chains and ropes on the borders; a ‘fish net' diagonal pattern with many fish caught inside. An anchor is blocked on the centre. A bell and its wheel is blocked on the centre of each side and on the centre tail. A single ‘rope’ fillet is blocked on the perimeter. A sea shall is blocked in gold at the head and at the tail. Another ‘rope’ Fillet forms a cartouche on the centre of the spine, with the title words: “/ Enoch Arden/” blocked in gold, in ‘rope like’ letters within it. Above and below the cartouche, rope knots and small stem and leaf decoration are blocked in gold. 

The British Library copies are at C.134.d.2 and C129.d.2. The copy at C.134.d.2 has green pebble-grain cloth. The copy at C.129.d.2 has blue sand-grain cloth and is bound in gutta percha. Both the BL copies have the same blocking at the copy illustrated here. However, all of the decorative elements of the blue sand-grain cloth copy are blocked in relief. This implies the use of a different block from the one used for the copy at BL C.134.d.2., and the copy illustrated here. Intriguing...