Unsigned binding for ‘Golden Leaves’.

An ornamental ‘tortoise-shell’ binding.

1865.

9 x 6½ inches

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Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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The binding’s luxurious effect is belied by the fact that it is made out of pulped paper bound together by an industrial gum. The finishing is created by applying a dark stain and a thick varnish or lacquer. The end product is remarkably durable; protected from the air by the lacquering, the boards are as hard as wood. Like many others of its type, the book is an accomplished piece of illusionism, in which even the spine is fake: pretending to be leather, it is really burnished cloth. Such publications were intended, in modern British slang, to be ‘classy’; designed to express cultural capital, they sat impressively on the ‘brown furniture’ bookcases that were popular at the time of issue.

References

Golden Leaves: Chaucer to Cowper. London: Griffin, 1865.

Created 14 October 2015