15th Century Woman’s Heart (And Soul) Won With Extravagant Book
Books have been given as tokens of love for centuries, even before the invention of printing. Illuminated books of hours like the one pictured above were precious objects commissioned from highly...
View ArticleTypography Geeks and Font Snobs
Are you one of those people who check the colophon of the bestseller you just finished reading to see what type was used? Me too!! Do you also lose all respect for people who use Comic Sans in...
View ArticleFamily Feuds, Curses, and Treasures
A jeweled Sangorski & Sutcliffe binding for Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh"Noir" week continues on Booktryst with a story of sibling rivalry, a cursed creation, and bejeweled treasures. Our story...
View ArticleSecrets of Edgy Book Art Revealed
[Voice-over, preferably by James Earl Jones]: "Who knows what lurks beneath the gilt on the fore edge of that book? The Bookseller Knows!" [Ominous dunh-dunh-DUNH music]Actually, even a bookseller...
View ArticleA Book Marketing Ploy Worthy of “Mad Men”
Let's say you're a bookseller with a pile of unsold--and seemingly unsaleable--biographies of an 18th century British portrait miniaturist. What do you do? "Accidentally" drop a match? Make a very...
View ArticleBinding Women
Women have worked in book binderies for centuries--wives and daughters assisting husbands, fathers, and sons, and sometimes taking over the bindery when the patriarch died--but not until the Arts &...
View ArticleShe’s Into Leather*
Last week, we looked at bindings by women of the Arts & Crafts movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. This week, we look at the work of three women currently practicing the art. The...
View ArticleThe Feminists and the Financier: The Ladies Who Built J. P. Morgan’s Library
Belle Da Costa Greene, 1911.Image courtesy of the Morgan LibraryIn the 1890s, financier J. Pierpont Morgan began building a collection of art, rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts that would surpass...
View ArticleA Custom-Bound Library: The Ultimate Biliophilic Luxury
A genuine Apollo and Pegasus Binding by Marcantonio GuilleryCan you imagine having every book in your library in matching bindings that were especially designed for you? No half-hearted half calf,...
View ArticleHow the Other .0001% Lives, Part I
Chatsworth House, seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. Image courtesy of WikiCommons.Who among us hasn't at some point gazed wistfully at pictures of the beautiful homes of the rich and famous, fascinated...
View ArticleGarbo Speaks: I Vant To Read Alone
I'm going to begin by using three words I really hate having to utter: I. Was. Wrong.In the lively discussion that took place in the comments to Stephen Gertz's provocative post on e-books vs. print...
View ArticleHow the Other .0001% Lives, Part II: Celebrating in Style
Fireworks at one of the Sun King's parties at VersaillesLike many women--and some men--of a certain age, I set my alarm for 3:00 AM on July 29, 1981, to watch the televised wedding of Lady Diana...
View ArticleA Slightly Pre-Joan Rivers Red Carpet Fashion Report, 1800-1815
A chic ensemble from Dalvimart's Costume of Turkey As we've seen in recent Booktryst posts on stately homes and the "lower orders," color plate books were very much the "in" thing in the early 1800s. A...
View ArticleDown With Industrialism! William Morris and the Private Press Revolt
Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (Kelmscott Press, 1892)The Industrial Revolution had a profound effect on the world of books: mechanization made it possible to produce thousands of copies of a work...
View ArticleThe “Other Man” Behind the Private Press Movement
Walker, photographed by George Bernard Shaw.Photo courtesy of the Emery Walker TrustMany people have heard of William Morris. Those with an interest in fine printing or fine binding will know the names...
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