Updates – 2021

August 4, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. The Personal Side of a Collector’s Acquisitions—The H. W. Poor / C. F. Bishop Copy #2 on Vellum of FATHER DAMIEN from the Club Bindery. This is the newest of Mosher’s vellum printed books to enter the Bishop Collection, bringing the total up to 40 vellum Mosher books. In this case it’s in a magnificent binding from the Club Bindery.   Presented is the story behind the acquisition. Also included is a gift of Mark Samuels Lasner to the collection. 

Two entries added to Books Printed on Roman Vellum in the Bishop Collection:

  • Anodos {Miss Elizabeth Coleridge]. FANCY’S FOLLOWING, 1900. Copy No. 3 of 4 printed on American vellum. Bound in flexible vellum with ties. Vellum proof of spine and cover decorations bound at the rear. The Gertrude Cowdin copy.
  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. FATHER DAMIEN—An Open Letter to the Reverend Doctor Hyde of Honolulu from Robert Louis Stevenson, 1905. Copy No. 2 of 4 printed on Roman vellum. The Henry William Poor – Cortlandt Field Bishop copy. Bound by the Club Bindery in 1906 in full red crushed morocco with extra gilt tooling, inlaid ornaments, and red morocco doublures. Signed by Mosher.

Updated the Vellum Census PDF (Vellum Printed Books in Major Mosher Collections).

Updated the number of books printed on real vellum from 38 to 40.

June 27, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “A. A. Turbayne’s Designed Bindings Executed by Lucy Gilchrist Wrightson.” The newest binding to enter the Bishop  Collection is on a Mosher’s edition of In Praise of Omar. The binding’s background was thoroughly researched leading to a very interesting connection to A. A. Turbayne which is now firmly established. The binding is indeed designed by A. A. Turbayne, the Boston born, Canadian educated, and designer whose professional life was established in England. It was bound by Lucy Gilchrist Wrightson for Turbayne, and the discovery is yet another example of Turbayne’s evolving design style around 1905. It is hoped this essay may lead another researcher to do a fuller treatment on Turbayne as designer. It is also hoped that Wrightson will also receive more attention as an accomplished binder.

May 8, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “A Unique Rockwell Kent Designed Binding, and the Rockwell Kent Review Article It Prompted.” This unique binding design Rockwell Kent used on the text-block of Thomas Bird Mosher’s edition of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult(Mosher, 1922) is here presented along with the entire article as it just appears in the Rockwell Kent Review.  Kent’s own title-page was inserted in place of Thomas Bird Mosher’s, and the whole was bound by Donnelley of Chicago to Kent’s specifications. The editor of the Rockwell Kent Review notes, “…Kent designed the special binding for his wife’s personal copy of Tristran and Iseult, a simple graphic that would be repurposed to greater glory and mystery, as resolved here by Phil Bishop.”—p. [1]