Doves Bindery, No. 828

A Cataloging Discovery!

Colophon detail. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

While cataloging one of our Kelmscott Press books, we came upon a beautiful but unusual Doves binding. Thanks to the knowledge and generosity of folks in the bookbinding community, we have identified it! This is binding no. 828 from the Doves Bindery, for John Ruskin's The Nature of Gothic, 1892.

Cover. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

We queried local bookbinder Tom Conroy who contacted Marianne Tidcombe, an authority on the Doves Bindery. We had already checked her book The Doves Bindery (Oak Knoll Books, 1991) but hadn't found our Ruskin listed. However, Marianne's email response was enthusiastically in the affirmative.

Spine. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

"Thank you very much for letting me know about this Doves binding at San Francisco Public Library. I recognized it at once! Blind-tooled, white pigskin Doves bindings being something of a rarity."

John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

"The reason you cannot find it in my book The Doves Bindery is because at the time of writing I did not know the author and title. However, it is described on p. 182, under No. 828, [Untitled. 8vo.], with references to the tools used on the Kelmscott Chaucer (3a and 9a) on pp. 55-57. It is, of course, not an 8vo., but a Kelmscott Press small 4to."

Lower cover. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

Here's MarianneTidcombe's full description from page 182 of her book The Doves Bindery:

"An apparently complete Pattern for a blind-tooled border and panel design by Cobden-Sanderson using William Morris tools. The borders consist of lines, and pencilled in open dots, a border of the circles tool, 9a, alternated with groups of four open dots, and a border made with tool 5d, round the panel; the panel is divided into lozenges, each containing a large fleur-de-lys, 3a, with tool 1i in the half-lozenges at the top and bottom."

The library copy of Ruskin has blind-tooled borders and panel design. It was decorated with tools 1i, 3a, and 5d, as shown on page 55, and 9a, as shown on page 56, of Tidcombe’s book.

Finishing tools designed by William Morris for a special binding of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896)

Above is a photograph of the finishing tools designed by William Morris for a special binding of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press.) The tools are in the collection of The Society Of Antiquaries Museum in London. These are the kinds of tools which would have been used for the decorative blind-tooling on the binding.

Bindery signature, inside lower cover. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892)

The Library acquired this book as part of the Max Kuhl Collection before January 1945. At some point it had been purchased from the Newbegin's Book Shop in San Francisco, as you can see from the bookseller's ticket on the back pastedown above.

Colophon. John Ruskin. The Nature of Gothic (Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, London, 1892)

It is such a pleasure to learn about the provenance, history, and design of these very special books. Many thanks to everyone for their help with the research. Enjoy the images.