Cloth casing in maroon, with an elaborate gilt device.

H. N. Humphreys.

[1865]

Elaborate gilt device on maroon cloth.

8¾ x 6 inches

A dense, heavily worked, ornamental design which symbolizes the stages of life in terms of growth, fruition, and decay. In part neo-classical and in part Pre-Raphaelite, it stresses the legibility of mid-Victorian bindings and their importance as proleptic signs which prepare the reader for the book’s content.

  • Henry Noel Humphreys as a Designer of Cloth Bindings

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    Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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