1899 Silent Partner Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Sarah Wyman Whitman Cover Art Design

The Silent Prayer. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1899. 302 p. Decorated cloth binding by Sarah Wyman Whitman measures 7 x 4.5”, 8vo. In good condition. Boards normally scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Head and tail of spine scuffed; gilt lettering bright and clean. Pencil and ink marginalia found on front end-page. Normal toning in margins. Binding tight and intact. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. Sarah de St. Prix Wyman Whitman (1842–1904) was an American stained glass artist, painter, and book cover designer. Successful at a time when few women had professional art careers, she founded her own firm, Lily Glass Works. Her stained glass windows are found in churches and colleges throughout the northeastern United States. As a member of the board of the Harvard University "Annex," she helped to found Radcliffe College. Although her aesthetic drew heavily on the Arts and Crafts Movement, her designs were almost radical in their minimalism, leaving substantially more negative space than was typical. Her spare designs featured elegant linear drawings or silhouettes (usually of plants) and sometimes an asymmetrical composition. Colors tended towards a muted palette of greens, golds, and deep reds. Her designs helped to spark a trend towards a more minimal aesthetic for book covers. COLI1899BDFX - 03/26 - HK3452.