Binding for Gems from the Poets
Albert Warren, designer
1860
Elaborate gilt blocking on pale blue cloth.
10 x 7 inches
Another of Warren's concentric designs, with a rustic central panel surrounded by decorative devices in blind and a gilt surrounding frame. The curvilinear interlace in the border is unusually regular for work by this artist – who normally celebrates the irregularity of natural forms – and looks forward to the faux-Celtic patterns of British Art Nouveau.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Photograph and text by Simon Cooke