Cloth binding

W.H.Rogers

1853

Dark blue cloth with a gilt design

7 x 4½ inches

This small, rare, elegant binding is not listed in any of the authorities on Victorian covers and is illustrated here, in all likelihood, for the first time. The front board consists of floral patterns embossed ‘in blind’, while the central design is a bouquet of lilies (a conventional sign of the flowers of posy/poetry) with an aureole of stars crowning the arrangement (emblems of inspiration). [Continued below]

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Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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