Some books should be judged by their covers. This is true in the case of many titles on our bookshelves, ten of which we list here. Though beauty may well be in the eye of the beholder, unique details such as hand-painted illustrations, dazzling gold-leaf decorations and ornate designs and patterns; intricate craftsmanship demonstrated through embellished lettering, gilt edges and marbled endpapers; and the use of the highest quality materials, from soft Morocco leather to handmade paper, universally contribute to the aesthetics of the most beautiful book covers.
Read on to discover more about the most beautiful bindings Peter Harrington has in its collection, as chosen by our discerning experts. These books are not just for reading, they are works of art.
The Birth, Life, and Acts of King Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory; illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley
Top of the list is this rare set of Sir Thomas Malory’s Arthurian epic The Birth, Life, and Acts of King Arthur. These painted covers are especially scene-stealing, handmade in 1893 by famed binder Cedric Chivers using his signature “vellucent” technique (a process Chivers would patent in 1898). Each volume features a figure panel of one of Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations for Malory’s work, designs which took him 18 months to produce when he was just 20 years old; both vignettes are sweetly framed by soft floral borders. Chivers’ binding style is produced by hand-painting the backing sheet of the binding, which is subsequently covered in vellum that has been shaved to transparency then tooled in gilt.
Catherine de Medicis, Henri Bouchot
This opulent first edition of Bouchot’s historical biography of Catherine de Medici is a fine example of the 1,000 copies initially printed on handmade paper by Blanchet Frères et Kléber, bound in timeless burgundy morocco by Lucien Durvand, with gilt edges, marbled endpapers and a tricolour silk page-marker. The book was printed and engraved by Jean Boussod for art dealer Goupil & Cie in 1899, and showcases an elaborate interweaving pattern, deeply satisfying in its symmetry. The dazzling cover incorporates ornamental strapwork, fleur-de-lys, a central roundel with Catherine and Henri II’s conjoined ciphers inside a wreath of twined olive branches, as well as a banderole bearing Catherine’s motto “Bringing light and peace of mind” in Greek.
Epithalamion, Edmund Spenser
Francis Sangorski and George Sutcliffe were pioneers of jewelled leather bookbinding, their most famous of which, the “Great Omar” (1910), was lost with the Titanic. Their first jewelled binding covered an edition of Edmund Spenser’s Epithalamion (held by the British Library) and many of its design elements are found on this manuscript of the same poem. On a backdrop of brown morocco, the front cover is set with garnets and turquoise, while Tudor-style roses on the centre of each side are composed of white, red and green onlays, within elaborate borders of scrolling vines. White cinquefoils decorate the spine alongside gilt lettering. Put simply, this exquisite binding is as precious as the stones adorning it.
A book of common prayer
Another example of preeminent bookbinder Cedric Chivers’ “vellucent” style, this elegant prayer book was likely so finely bound for presentation and includes an ink inscription indicating that it was indeed a very special gift. Bound in midnight-blue leather, its gold floral tooling is strikingly art deco before Art Deco, resonating with motifs one might find in the work of Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was prolific in Scotland at the time. The showstopper here, however, is the prayer book’s front board, featuring two hand-painted angels flanking a mother-of-pearl cross, radiantly resembling stained glass. A truly heavenly item.
Ulysses, James Joyce
Expertly crafted in 1960 by Bennett Book Studio in New York, this first first edition, first impression of James Joyce’s Ulysses is bound in russet half-morocco leather with geometrically patterned paper covers in deep-sea green and cream, finished with a Jackson Pollock-worthy smattering of pink and blue; the compartmented spine also displays futuristic geometric designs alongside titles, all in gold leaf. An unusual and exciting design appropriate for a triumph of modernist literature.
Le Livre D’Amour, Blanche Butterworth Haggin
Bound by one of the best-known and most influential fin de siècle French binders, Léon Gruel’s atelier, this romantic cover perfectly complements its contents. A book of French love poetry including works by Charles Baudelaire, Christine de Pizan and Victor Hugo, it was compiled by San Francisco socialite Blanche Butterworth Haggin who dedicated the work to “A mon mari” – her husband. Bound in contemporary morocco in a shade of tan, it features intricate depictions of roses and tulips in pink, white, and blue, forest-green leaves, delicate posy bows in burgundy, and is completed with board edges also tooled with delicate blooms. Floral patterned endpapers and a silk book marker provide a finishing flourish.
Lord George Gordon Noel Byron: The Love Affairs of Lord Byron, by Francis Gribble
“Whether a book is called ‘The Love Affairs of Lord Byron’ or ‘The Life of Lord Byron’ can make very little difference to the contents of its pages. Byron’s love affairs were the principal incidents of his life, and almost the only ones” – Francis Gribble’s statement in his preface to this collection is difficult to deny, thus Byron’s heroic portrait on this front cover seems perfectly apt for a collection of his amorous adventures. Framed by a Cosway-style binding by Bayntun Riviere, the oval miniature of Byron’s noble profile sits behind glass, his surrounds complete with red moiré silk endpapers, gilt edges and two scarlet silk bookmarks.
Cosway bindings are called after the famous Regency miniaturist Richard Cosway (though having no connection with him). Cosway binding was a style originally executed by Rivière & Son in the early years of the twentieth century for the London booksellers Henry Sotheran’s, Imitations are designated “Cosway-style” bindings.
Chansonnier dédié aux Demoiselles, Blanche Marguerite
An enchanting example of French glass binding, this songbook typifies the fragile binding technique. Father and son Pierre-Étienne and Louis Janets were well-known engravers and publishers of ephemera in luxury bindings, but of the Blanche Marguerite verse collection specifically, we can trace just one other copy at the Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Library in New York, part of the prestigious Corning Museum of Glass. Encased in gilt metal with three-dimensional leaf and polka-dot details, thin glass panes cover grey and white marbled paper boards; a hand-coloured engraved illustration beneath the front panel depicts a cherubic winged woman delightedly posing in front of a looking glass, her attendant smiling behind her.
The Times Atlas of the World, Stuart Brockman (binder)
An excellent binding belonging to the renowned Wardington collection of atlases, this modern cover was crafted in 1993 by the celebrated Stuart Brockman of Oxfordshire’s Brockman Binders. Classic red morocco is boldly inlaid with black and green, tooled in gilt, and neatly finished with small gilt crests in the design’s corners and on spine ends. Stuart Brockman has received numerous accolades for his work, is a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders and has work held in the British Library as well as among private collections.
