1900 · London
by [Fore-Edge Painting]; [Fine Binding - Ramage]; John Ruskin
London: George Allen, 1900. Complete edition. Small octavo (7 1/8 x 4 3/4 inches; 181 x121 mm.). xxxvi, [ii, blank], [1]-228 pp. Pages 60-64 partially or wholly printed in red. Bound ca, 1900 by Ramage (stamp-signed in gilt on lower front turn-in). Full dark green crushed levant morocco, covers elaborately tooled with gilt lilies and inlaid red morocco hearts. Spine with five raised bands similarly decorated with gilt lilies and inlaid red morocco hearts, lettered in gilt in compartments. Gilt-ruled board edges, elaborate gilt turn-ins, cream watered silk liners and end-leaves, all edges gilt. Housed in a custom made felt-lined, red morocco edged, red cloth slipcase. The joints have been expertly and almost invisibly strengthened - still a wonderful example of an inlaid Ramage binding with a double-fore-edge painting. With a superb contemporary 'double' detailed fore-edge painting depicting two fine and colorful views of London Bridge with St. Paul's Cathedral and The Tower of London as viewed from the south side of the River Thames. The fore-edge paintings were most probably executed sometime between 1940 and 1960.
The London-based bindery, John Ramage and Company helped "restore the fine hand-craft of bookbinding, in an era when that process was increasingly mechanized" (Morgan Library). John Ramage (1836-1911) apprenticed with both English and French binders before buying his first binder business in Edinburgh 1860. He opened a London bindery three years later (Gertz). "Though the range of their designs is broad, Ramage bindings are celebrated for their remarkably delicate, careful, and elaborate gilt work" (Gertz).
The critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one of the most important voices in 19th century England. Known for his scholarship and championing the work of J.M.W. Turner, as well as artists in the Gothic Revival, Pre-Raphaelite, and Arts & Crafts movements. Ruskin's cultural critique extended to social issues as well, particularly regarding what he saw as the moral degradation of the Industrial society. Sesame and Lilies (first published in 1865) contains three lectures: Of King's Treasures, Of Queen's Gardens and The Mystery of Life and its Arts. "It would become notorious in the late 20th century as a stock example of Victorian male chauvinism. In fact, Ruskin was using the conventional construction of the feminine, as pacific, altruistic, and uncompetitive, to articulate yet another symbolic assertion of his anticapitalist social model" (Britannica). (Inventory #: 6289)
The London-based bindery, John Ramage and Company helped "restore the fine hand-craft of bookbinding, in an era when that process was increasingly mechanized" (Morgan Library). John Ramage (1836-1911) apprenticed with both English and French binders before buying his first binder business in Edinburgh 1860. He opened a London bindery three years later (Gertz). "Though the range of their designs is broad, Ramage bindings are celebrated for their remarkably delicate, careful, and elaborate gilt work" (Gertz).
The critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one of the most important voices in 19th century England. Known for his scholarship and championing the work of J.M.W. Turner, as well as artists in the Gothic Revival, Pre-Raphaelite, and Arts & Crafts movements. Ruskin's cultural critique extended to social issues as well, particularly regarding what he saw as the moral degradation of the Industrial society. Sesame and Lilies (first published in 1865) contains three lectures: Of King's Treasures, Of Queen's Gardens and The Mystery of Life and its Arts. "It would become notorious in the late 20th century as a stock example of Victorian male chauvinism. In fact, Ruskin was using the conventional construction of the feminine, as pacific, altruistic, and uncompetitive, to articulate yet another symbolic assertion of his anticapitalist social model" (Britannica). (Inventory #: 6289)