Binding for Thomson's The Seasons
Albert Warren, designer
1859
Elaborate gilt blocking on Sherwood green cloth.
8¾ x 6 inches
Warren specialised in bindings for collections of rustic poetry, and his elaborate interlaces of vines, creepers, flowers, ivies and wheat-stalks are put to good use in this self-consciously beautiful confection. Decorative in effective, the design is deployed in celebration of the seasons, with each corner showing an emblematic flower from the four periods of the year. The framing device, with rosettes in each junction and a generic flowering plant in the border, conveys the message that nature, whatever its changes, always continues and regenerates. The pastoral themes of Thomson's poems are thus embodied in a distinct (and touching) iconography.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]