![]() One 1918 advertisement invoked General Pershing’s request for books for our boys fighting in Europe and offered “If you purchase 10 of our Little Leather Library volumes …… we will give you in addition a Kit Box containing 5 books, which can be sent to someone in the army or the navy.”Īdvertisements in national magazines in 19 feature bookends with the Little Leather Library sets. By 1918 multi-volume sets were sold by mail-order through full page advertising in nationally distributed magazines. Volumes originally sold at Woolworth’s for a dime each, and the brand was Innovatively marketed by including individual volumes in packages of Whitman’s Chocolates. The original publishers, Charles & Albert Boni, entered into a business arrangement with 2 advertising executives, Max Sackheim and Harry Scherman and Little Leather Library took off. The sets with bookends appeared about 1922. The books themselves were were published from 1916 to 1923. Other examples of small bookends are those that accompanied sets of small books sold by the Little Leather Library Corporation. Alas, we didn’t collect any of these very small bookends and therefore do not have a picture to show. We have seen bookends much smaller than these a pair of Lincolns and a pair of Dante and Beatrice, each about 1.5 inches tall. Roycroft Bookends, circa 1920, 3.25”, Hand-stamped and repousse copper. Collectors appreciate the handwork even though the bookends do not stand out at a distance. In addition, we see an engraved owl against a background of fine stipples in the metal. The bookends shown here exhibit curled corners, hammered surface, and exposed rivets that fasten the upright to the base. Most of these early bookends were decorated in low relief, or not decorated at all, but relied on their exposed construction for decorative appeal. Most of the bookends were made in an L shape from sheet copper, and these are the design of Roycroft and other metal workshop bookends from that era that we generally see today. ![]() Accordingly, bookends were designed and fashioned by artists working by hand. ![]() Roycroft became a collection of workshops dedicated to producing household items according to the principles of the budding Arts and Crafts Movement. The success of the print shop and its publications, which defined a burgeoning interest in what is known as the Arts and Crafts Movement, led to the establishment of shops – a bindery, leather shop, metal working shop and furniture shop. Hubbard established a print shop in East Aurora after a visit to William Morris and the Kelmscott Press. In 1895 Elbert Hubbard founded the artistic community of Roycroft in the upper New York state village of East Aurora. Roycroft Engraved Owl Bookends: Copper, Height 4 inches. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |