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The
Oriental Influence
All
things Oriental were in vogue toward the end of the 19th century,
and this influenced every aspect of art and design. From the
Arabic and Moorish geometric patters and those of India to the
asymmetry of Japanese art, we have many cover designs that
either utilized these styles directly or incorporated them into
Western binding designs. All the Art Nouveau style bindings are
influenced to some extent by this. Some of the designs were on
books with Oriental subject matter, and others showed the more
general influence of Oriental motifs and concepts on design in
general. The
artists had a lot of references for influence, and not just in museums
and collections. Many books on Oriental art and design*
were published in the second half of the 19th century.
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Fly
Leaves
by C. S.
C. [Calverley, Charles Stuart]
With additions from the author's earlier volume of "Verses
and Translations"
NY: Holt and Williams (Leisure Hour Series), 1872
17 x 11.5 cm.
This
binding was recognized early on as an important departure from
existing cover designs. In the landmark 1894 exhibition Commercial
Bookbindings at The Grolier Club, this book was chosen as
...an excellent example of the beginnings from
which came the modern commercial cover of the first class. This
is the "linen-duster" cover in which Messrs.
Henry Holt & Co. bound their Leisure Hour series. The cloth
is light drab linen, cool and inviting as a hammock, and is
stamped in black, the title enclosed in a single border line,
with a cobweb and a leisurely spider in the lower right-hand
corner. This book was published in 1872, and since then the art
of designing ornamental covers has flourished like a bay-tree;
yet it is doubtful if any more popular cover has been made. It
seems exactly suited to its use.
1
This
design was kept for several years, and was replaced by a variant
in mustard cloth that showed a greater oriental influence.
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Fly
Leaves
by C. S.
C. [Calverley, Charles Stuart]
With additions from the author's earlier volume of "Verses
and Translations"
3rd Edition; with a New Poem
New York: Henry Holt (Leisure Hour Series), 1872 (but 1882, read
why below)
16.9 x 12 cm.
The
1872 spider web design morphed into this version. Here
we see the tree branch and asymmetrical design, both
characteristics of Japanese art that become standard elements in
American cover design. This became the uniform cover design for
Holt's Leisure Hour Series, which included many titles, at least
through Turgenev's Annals of a Sportsman (1885).
It
is dated 1872 on the title page. The first "Leisure Hour Series" edition of this book
(1872) did not have this cover. The Publishers Note (between title page and contents) indicates this (third) edition is January 1873.
There is a lengthy (undated) pencil inscription titled "A new Fly Leaf to go with the Book" occupying the entire flyleaf,
ending "Excusez les fautes de / L'Auteur." The endpaper
ads include the "Recent Leisure Hour Volumes" in the back, among
which is Stevenson's New Arabian Nights, which was
issued in 1882.
This
points out a difficulty in dating cover designs. If it were not
for the endpaper ads, we wouldn't be able to place this copy
later than January, 1873. We don't yet know if the 1873
issue had this cover. I have seen
an 1875 "Leisure Hour Series" title with the earlier
cover, so this design may be later than that.
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The Alhambra
by Washington Irving
In Two Volumes. "Darro Edition."
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1891.
22.4 x 16.1 cm.
[unsigned, Alice C. Morse]
These
two Alice Cordelia Morse designs
are marvelous interpretations of Mediterranean motifs.. The Alhambra,
while evoking Moorish
design, has elements reminiscent
of the bindings commissioned by Jean Grolier at the
beginning of the 16th century, and is also influenced by
Art Nouveau.
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Chronicle
of the Conquest of Granada
by Washington Irving
Author's revised edition. Agapida edition. 2 volumes.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893
22.5 x 14.5 cm.
[unsigned, Alice C. Morse]
Granada
adds an Arts and Crafts touch to a synthesis of Arabic
and classical European bookbinding design, which is
somewhat redundant, as much of European binding design stems from
Arabic models. 2 |
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*
Owen Jones classic The Grammar of Ornament
was issued in London by Day & Son in 1856 and was immensely
popular, being reissued by Day in 1865 and reissued by Bernard
Quaritch in 1868. His sequel The Grammar of Chinese Ornament was
published in 1867. During this period many magazine articles and books
were devoted to Oriental art. Among the texts the designers may have
referenced:
| 1870 |
Raphael
Pumpelly, Across America and Asia, with a chapter on Japanese Art by John La Farge (New York: Leypoldt &
Holt) |
| 1876 |
J.J.
Jarves, A Glimpse at the Art of Japan (New York: Hurd
and Houghton) |
| 1880 |
Thomas
Cutler, A Grammar of Japanese Ornament and Design
(London: Batsford) |
| 1888 |
Franz
Meyer, Handbook of Ornament (New York: Bruno Hessling) |
| 1891 |
Louis
Gonse, Japanese Art (Chicago: Morrill, Higgins & Co) |
| 1897 |
Edward F.
Strange, Japanese Illustration. A History of the Arts of Wood-Cutting and Colour Printing in
Japan (London: George Bell) |
1. Commercial
Bookbindings, New York, The Grolier Club, 1894, p. 9.
2. Also see Mindell Dubansky, "The Proper Decoration of
Book Covers and Alice Cordelia Morse," Gazette of
the Grolier Club, No. 52, 2001, pp 60-78.
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