Blindstamped Blindstamped Full Calf Album, With Gilt Impressed Name "Pauline" in Centerpiece. With One Hand-Colored Print, Otherwise Unused. Probably French

Publication Date: 1890

About this Item

Lovely full morocco binding, cordovan colored, with a variety of blindstamped decorative features, the most interesting of which bent lines that flare out as they move towards the edges. We would date the album to the mid-19th century if but for these, which strike us as most in keeping with Art Nouveau, a style that didn't really get started until the 1890s and specifically 1893, but of course ornament isn't always so easy to date genreally styles don't really start and finish but rather evolve gradually, so it is quite possible a designer came up with ornament decades before the particular look flourished. All the other decoration on the binding conforms to the prevalent style of the mid-19th century. Oblong, 21 by 27 cm. Unpaginated, about sixty leaves, in gatherings of different colors -- blue, brown, olive, white and/or manila -- and also some variation in their thickness, with most having a substantial weight that might be regarded as card. Print is two boys in dress on a stately four poster bed with a dog in the corner. The boys and the the small dog are alert and possibly alarmed at something from outside the room. One boy is in what looks like Renaissance attire, the other, in what looks like priestly dress from the 17th century. The historicism, if that is what it is supposed to be, is rather a-historical. But the print is richly hand-colored, with gum arabic enhancement, and ther are two neatly ruled gilt lines bordering it serving as a frame. Joints heavily rubbed. Edges rounded, worn, rubbed. Some rubbing here and there besides. Interior is tight and blank leaves, clean. And binding still very pretty.

Seller Inventory # 19872

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blindstamped Blindstamped Full Calf Album, With Gilt Impressed Name "Pauline" in Centerpiece. With One Hand-Colored Print, Otherwise Unused. Probably French
• Publication Date: 1890
• Binding: Full Calf
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bindings -- Fine and Curios
  • Albums and Sketchbooks