The Parasite - A. Conan Doyle - Newly Attributed Book Cover Design

A. Conan Doyle
The Parasite. A Story.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers
1895
190 x 130 x 21 mm
Unsigned

I first spotted this book in a local library and immediately speculated that Morse designed it as the design is similar to other designs in Morse's grotesque style. Later, a collector sent me a photograph of the cover as well. Neither of us has been able to prove that it is Morse's design. If anyone does find a reference, I'd appreciate it if you would comment on the blog or send an email.

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First in the Field

First in the Field
George Manville Fenn
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1894
20.2 x 14.5 x 3.4 cm
Unsigned

Reference: A. C. McClurg & Co. Illustrated Holiday Catalogue of Books, 1894; p. 372. (identified by Valinda Carroll).

A recently attributed to design my Alice C. Morse, not published in The Proper Decoration of Book Covers.

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A New Design and Its Adaptation: The Song of the Rappahannock and The American Idea

The Song of the Rappahannock
Ira Seymour Dodd
Dodd, Mead and Company, 1898
175 x 115 x 27 mm
Signed

This publisher's binding is signed with Morse's monogram, a conjoined "AM", near the eagle's foot (right side). Song of the Rappahannock is another design recently discovered (by Valinda Carroll). The photograph here looks slightly different than my copy which has darker navy blue cloth with no linen weave appearance and red white stamping (not tan). The eagle design on this book was later used on another book, The American Idea, by Joseph B. Gilder. Dodd Mead, 1902.

Design by Alice C. Morse for a Series of Books by H. A. Guerber

Since the publication of The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse, I have discovered additional book cover designs, design variants and adaptations. This beautiful design adorns the covers of a number of books by H. A. Guerber. One set with this binding about opera are Stories of the Wagner Opera and Stories of Famous Operas and Stories of Popular Operas. This set was popular and reprinted at least once, issued in the same binding and color scheme. While the cover is unsigned, its design was attributed to Morse in a Dodd Mead publications list in Ian Maclaren's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, 1895.

Titles seen in this binding to date (as of April 2016) are:

Stories of the Wagner Opera. 1895. (green cloth)
Stories of Famous Operas (green cloth)
Stories of Popular Operas. 1904. (green cloth)
Legends of Switzerland. 1899. (brown cloth)
Legends of the Virgin and Christ. 1901. (blue cloth; red cloth)
Stories of Shakespeare's Tragedies. 1911. (green cloth)
Yourself. 1902. (green cloth)



Buy a copy of The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse
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