The Book Witch

This post is a departure from my normal approach, but I just have to share this with the Morse blog readers. I'm sometimes known as the 'book witch' to my colleagues at work. That's because I often have uncanny luck or experience a coincidental act that is surprising. Last week, such an event happened in relation to Alice C. Morse and thankfully, several of my colleges were with me to see it. It left us speechless.

Every third Saturday in July is Tivoli (NY) yard sale day. Tivoli is a little village on the Hudson River. There's not much there but houses, a post office, churches and a few restaurants. No school, no gas station, no grocery store. I usually prefer to be a participant and shop, but this year, several of my friends joined me in my front yard to sell stuff. One of my co-workers and her fiancé drove up from Staten Island to go to the sale and stay over. With so much company I didn't get to go to the sale at all, but suggested that we go to the church thrift shop because they were having a big sale.  I went along to show them the way. There were a lot of cars near the church, so we parked quite far away. I got out of the car in front of a suburban home. Their yard sale was almost over, with only a few things left. Mark commented that there was a gaming chair (not that I knew what that was) so we walked over.

On a folding table in front of the house there were two objects -- a bee bee gun and three books. There was a two-volume set of The Woman's Book (designed by Alice C. Morse) in good condition and a 19th century cook book by Marion Harland. I was in disbelief. We all were. I told the woman I wanted them and asked how much she was asking. She said, "I have to call my son, they're his." I waited for the call, then received an answer. "Five dollars for all three" she said.

There are only two or three of Morse's books that I know of, but don't have in my collection and The Woman's Book was one of them. It is the one I discussed in a post on House and Home. The Woman's Book is  Morse's original design; House and Home is an adaptation of the design. For reasons unknown, was issued with two titles. Here is the post if you'd like to read more about it:
http://alicemorse.blogspot.com/search?q=house+and+home

This experience reminded me of the day, over twenty years ago, that I found Alice Morse's book covers in a box in the Met's print department. I was just snooping around, as usual, looking for book-related treasures. It was a life-transforming experience which took me on a very long journey, and really, it's not over yet, as I'm still finding Morse designs, as this blog shows. Since then, I've always felt Alice by my side, and in a way she's become kind of a relative, a mentor and a friend (if that's possible). I feel as though I have helped her to be known again, as she was in her heyday, and she has helped me become a better scholar, historian, and writer. I've learned discipline and patience from Alice and to hold myself to a high bibliographic and artistic standard. So thank you Alice and thank you for sending me the books for my birthday!

Scenes from the Life of Christ in a 'New' Color Variant

Jessica Cone. Scenes from the Life of Christ Pictured in Holy Word and Sacred Art. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1892.

Scenes from the Life of Christ is one of Morse's least seen designs from my point of view. It's a beautiful gift book, origianlly stamped in gold on off-white or tan bookcloth. Before the age of the Internet, it took me many years to find any copy of this book. I was recently suprised to see this copy on Ebay, and despite it's rough condition, I purchased it. The dark blue stamping on this color variant clearly shows Morse's drawing acumen. The pages of this book have black, decorative borders that may have also been designed by Morse, but that is unproven at this time. She isn't mentioned on the title page. This book is described in The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Work and Life of Alice C. Morse, entry 92-7, pages 61-62.

Found, Yet Lost - An Adaptation of the Design from the Portia Series




E. P. Roe. Found, Yet Lost. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, n.d.

This adaptation of Alice C. Morse's design has recently been identified on the front cover of Found, Yet Lost . The original use of this plate was on the Portia Series, a five-volume series of self-help books for women, published by Dodd, Mead in 1891-1892 . Even within the Portia Series, several variants of Mores's design were used.  A detailed description of the binding variants for Dodd Mead's Portia Series can be read in The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse, entry 91-2, p. 54.

'Crown of Straw'; Is 'Majesty of Man' a Series Binding?

Thanks go to Richard Minsky and John Lehner who both let me know about this Morse-designed cover for Allen Upward's Crown of Straw (Dodd Mead, 1896). It is the same cover for Alien's Majesty of Man, also Dodd Mead, 1896. So, it is probably a series binding (if two constitutes a series -- or set?) but more homework is required. Below is a photograph of Alice C. Morse's own cover for this book that she left to the Museum in 1924. Link to MMA catalog record. I admire this design so much that you may have noticed that I used it for the cover of my book on Morse, only in red. Notice how there is a problem with the green stamping on the reverse diagonal-rib bookcloth.

A clue to the fact that this may have been a series cover is that the lettering is not hand done, but stamped from type.

A Puritan's Wife - (Almost) Everything Makes Sense

The binding for A Purtian's Wife (I.A.N.A., 1901; Dubansky entry 01-1), never made sense to me. It looks like a later adaptation of Morse's design. The mystery is at least somewhat solved by the appearance of the book cover shown here, that has Morse's lettering and spine design. I still feel that there may be an earlier variant of this cover somewhere out there because something still irks me about this one. The color of the stamping in relation to the cloth doesn't work well and I don't think it would have been Morse's choice. The copyright date on this book is 1896. That's where I think another design will eventually surface. Just a guess. Both books, entry 01-1 and the one shown here have the same title page.

Max Pemberton
A Puritan's Wife
180 x 112 x 22 mm
Signed

A Newly Discovered Design - In Honor's Cause

Browsing recently on Ebay, I serendipitously discovered this book. Immediately, I recognized it as a possible Morse design and I started to look closely for a signature. Fortunately there was one, signed A. M., embedded in the title panel in the lower left corner and you can see a detail of it below, In Honour's Cause is a children's book and  looks very much like the cover published a year later for The Missing Prince (Dodd Mead, 1897; Dubansky entry 97-3). It is the second book found for a work by Fenn; the other being First in the Field, posted two entries ago. There are very few pictorial covers designed by Morse and these are logically found on books of children's literature. What stands out to me about their design is the wiggly (for lack of a better word) character of her drawing, the way she blocks out form and also the lettering style. If you look at enough of her designs, you will recognize them as well. 



George Manville Fenn

In Honor's Cause. A Tale of the Days of George the First.

Illustrations by Lancelot Speed

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1896

Burr Printing House, New York

202 x 140 x 30 mm

Signed

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

http://alicemorse.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html

Morse's Design for The Giunta Series - New Binding Variant Identified

The Giunta Series, 1890-1893
Charles Reade
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company
167 x 103 mm
(Dubansky Entry 90-1, p. 49)

The new information in this reference is that the Giunta Series was also available in leather binding variant. I have not seen an example of this variant. From the Publisher’s List at the back of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, Dodd, Mead and Co. 1895; see p. 239 on Harvard’s copy on Google Books:

Including the classics of literature. Named after the great Florentine printers of the fifteenth century, the brothers Giunta, the books are made at the University Press, Cambridge, on type imported from France, and are models of typographical excellence. 16mo, cloth, per vol., $1.00, Also in a variety of dainty bindings in leather at various prices.

Photograph: Eileen Travell

Buy a copy of The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse
http://alicemorse.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html