Spine for Milman's The History of Christianity
1867
Full leather binding with black and red plus gold stamping and embossing
7 x 4 1/8 inches
This elegant three-volume set of Victorian classic book on ancient Christianity by the Dean of St. Paul's bears the seal of Magdalen College, Oxford deeply embossed in gold, on both covers. I do not know if the publisher or college had the book bound, but the college seal would have been added after purchase if Magdalen had not used its own binder. This luxurious binding, distinguished by precise stamping, provides an interesting contrast to both the inexpensively bound Newman volume and the decorated red and gold covers of Hemans' poems.
Note (1) the faded ribbon book-marks visible beneath the first and third volumes and (2) the difference between the short title that appears on the spine and that on the title page [see references below].
Photograph and text by George P. Landow.