Understanding Rare Books

The binding and cover design of Candle-Lightin' Time is an example of "publisher's binding." The term refers to book bindings designed by artists for publishing houses like Dodd, Mead (Gullans and Espey 1991, 6). For much of book history, bookbinders have been craftsmen, crafting book covers out of materials like leather or vellum (Reithmayr n.d.). But during industrialization in the 19th century, industries like publishing became more interested in producing books faster and more efficiently (Reithmayr n.d.). Instead of outsourcing to craftsmen, publishing houses took responsibility for binding their own books, and did so with cheaper and more abundant materials like cloth (Reithmayr n.d.). To ensure that the bindings were still visually appealing, publishing houses employed artists (like Candle-Lightin' Time's Margaret Armstrong!) to design beautiful patterns and illustrations for the books' covers (Gullans and Espey 1991, 6). Some other examples of publishers' bindings in JCU's collection are Caliban by the Yellow Sands (1916), In the Forest of Arden (1898), By the Light of the Soul (1907), and The Debtor (1905).

From left to right are the publisher's bindings for: Caliban by the Yellow Sands, In the Forest of Arden, By the Light of the Soul, and The Debtor. MacKaye, Percy. Caliban by the Yellow Sands. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1916. PS3525.A25 C25 1916. Mabie, Hamilton Wright. In the Forest of Arden. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1898.  PS2353 .I5 1898. Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. By the Light of the Soul. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1907. PS1712 .B9 1907. Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. The Debtor. New York; London: Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1905. PS1712 .D4 1905.

These new illustrations also coincided with the Art Nouveau movement, a style of art and illustration that used many flowing lines and natural imagery like flowers (Encyclopedia Britannia n.d.). Art Nouveau achieved the most prominence between 1890 and 1910. It has roots in the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley and the Arts and Crafts Movement in England (Encyclopedia Britannica n.d.). With the rise of new, Atlantic liners, books and other paraphernalia illustrated in the Art Nouveau style made their way to America from Europe (Gullans and Espey 1991, 8). Publications like The Yellow Book, a British literary periodical, featured these types of Art Nouveau publishers' bindings (Gullans and Especy 1991, 8). JCU actually has ten editions of The Yellow Book in Special Collections!

From left to right are four editions of The Yellow Book, from October 1894, July 1896, January 1897, and April 1897. The Yellow Book. London: E. Matthews and J. Lane; Boston: Copeland & Day, 1894-1897.  AP4 .Y4  v.3;  AP4 .Y4  v.10; AP4 .Y4  v.12; AP4 .Y4  v.13.

The cloth binding and the colored illustration designed by Margaret Armstrong demonstrate that Candle-Lightin' Time is an example of publisher's binding. The book is bound in green linen cloth. There is some damage to the top of the spine, called the headcap, exposing the interior of the spine lining, which refers to the paper between the binding and the book's pages. The illustration that decorates the book's cover is stamped into the cloth and is contained in a frame bordered in stylized dark green flowers. The term "stylized" refers to the distinct and not entirely realistic way that Margaret Armstrong illustrated the flowers; viewers can identify the image being illustrated, but it is illustrated to conform to a particular style rather than to how the image looks in real life (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.). This term is used in library catalogue records when describing the features of books like Candle-Lightin' Time. Within this stylized frame is a design, also stamped, of a stylized crescent moon, white flowers, and dark green vines. The three-petaled white flowers resemble the American wildflower called white trillium (Stritch n.d.).

From left to right on the cover of Candle-Lightin' Time: the stylized white flowers, the gold crescent moon, and the stylized vines.  Dunbar, Paul Laurence. Candle-Lightin' Time. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1901. PS 1556 .C2 1901. 

Also within the frame is the title of the book, stamped in gold. Below the frame is the author's name stamped in maroon, in a font that substitutes the letter "U" for the letter "V." The letter R features Armstrong's signature swash descender, or flourish. 

Dunbar's name on the cover of Candle-Lightin' Time.

The spine features a gold variation of the cover's stylized flowers and vines. The name of the book, Dunbar's last name, and the name of the publisher also appear on the spine. At the top and bottom of the spine, referred to as the head and tail, is a design called "bead-and-reel," which is meant to mimic a pattern found in classical architecture. Something readers might have noticed is that the colors used to describe the illustrations are relatively simple, like green or white. For the sake of simplicity in library catalogue descriptions, more specific color names, like "aquamarine" or "fuchsia" are not used. 

The spine of Candle-Lightin' Time.

Because publishers' bindings are meant to make books look visually appealing without being incredibly costly to produce, sometimes they replicate older styles of bookbinding. The top of Candle-Lightin' Time's pages are painted with gold in a feature called the top-edge gilt, where only the top edge of the pages are gilded (Carter and Barker 2006, 115).

The top-edge gilt of Candle-Lightin' Time.

According to the digital edition of the Princeton Library's exhibit "Hand Bookbindings: Plain and Simple to Grand and Glorious," gilt edges date back to at least the 16th century (Princeton University Library 2004). JCU Special Collections has quite a few books with gilt edges, like Johann Bissel's De pestiferis peccatorum mortalium fructibus exempla tragica from 1679. The edges of this book are not only gilt, but gauffered, or embossed, with a scale pattern.

The gauffered edges of De pestiferis peccatorum mortalium fructibus exempla tragica. Bissell, Johann. De pestiferis peccatorum mortalium fructibus exempla tragica : per anni M. DC. LI. quadragesimam pro suggestu, exposita. Dilingae : Typis & Sumpt. Joann. Casp. Bencard ... Per Joannem Michaelem Spörlin, 1679. BV4625 .B5 1679.

Another book in our collection, The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare from 1983, has gilt edges of a much lighter and more artificial color, illustrating how this practice of mimicry has persisted.

The gilt edges of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare. Shakespeare, William. The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare : the complete works annotated, edited by Howard Staunton ; with annotations and commentary by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Samuel Johnson, and others ; the illustrations by Sir John Gilbert and Ray Abel ; engravings by the brothers Dalziel ; with a foreword by Solomon J. Schepps. New York : Greenwich House : Distributed by Crown Publishers, 1983. PR2753 .S8 1983.