Binding for “The King’s Own”

A. A. Turbayne, designer

1896

Elaborate gilt blocking on blue cloth.

7¼ x 4¾ inches

A dynamic design in the form of a rich arabesque made up of rhyming lines that emanate from under the ship’s prow and seem to want to burst out of the frame. Publishers of the nineties competed for markets using elaborate bindings to attract audiences, and this book announces Turbayne’s association with Macmillan, with the company motif in the crow’s nest and the artist’s monogram between the heads of the fantastical, abstracted sea-monsters.

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Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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