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MACDONALD, James, bindery and CLUB BINDERY. A VERY FINE COLLECTION OF APPROXIMATELY 2800 19TH-CENTURY BINDING TOOLS OF MACDONALD AND THE CLUB BINDERY, A UNIQUE GROUP OF BINDING TOOLS FROM TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BINDERIES IN THE UNITED STATES.
The binding-tools include:
HAND-TOOLS. Approx. 1840 finishing hand-tools most with the original wooden handles and an enormous variety of tools, including: gouges, dots, pieces of straight line, florals, roses, tulips, leaves, large floral sprays, vases, arabesque, insects, coat-of-arms, semi-circles, circles, stars, fleurs-de-lys, suns, birds, cupids, dogs, guns, flags, large ornamental tools, corner pieces, lozenge-shaped tools, numerous pairs and oblong tools, blind tools and many others. A group of turn-in signature stamps include: Bound by Macdonald, E.P. Dutton and Co., Charles Scribner's Sons, Brentano's, Moore & Son, Edgar H. Wells and Company, The Brick Row Book Shop, Gotham Book Mart.
BINDERS' BRASSES. Approx. 900 binders' brasses including: approx. 90 border frames incuding 56 traditional, 30 floral, and 5 Art Nouveau; 36 full brass plates, including 15 Art Nouveau; 40 central ornaments, including floral, geometric and arabesque designs; 170 single-, double- and triple-rule border frames; 172 corner pieces mostly comprised of sets-of-four including 24 with floral designs, numerous Art Nouveau designs and some composite central ornaments of two or four pieces, including a large spray of fleur-de-lys; 162 pieces for composite borders, including wide Art Nouveau designs, traditional designs and numerous short pieces; 66 composite rule border frames, and numerous other pieces including flags, portraits, crowns, animals, etc. all in various 8o and 4o or 2o sizes.
ROLL-TOOLS. Group of 108 roll-tools, most with the original handles including 24 with wide floral or leafy designs; 23 single fillet; 10 double fillet; 7 triple fillet; 12 with doted rule; 3 drawer-handle rolls; 2 with greek key pattern; 2 dog-tooth rolls; 1 wavy tine roll; 1 of stars within a double rule; and 25 others. The manufacturers of the roll- and hand-tools include: DeLacy; R. Gorden, Fl.; H. Griffin & Son, New York; R. Hoe; G.A. Hoffmann, New York; John R. Hoole, New York; Knight, London; Sever, Paris; Sperry, Philadelphia; Timbury, London; P. Souze, Paris.
LETTERS. Hundreds of letters for covers and spines in various sizes.
FURNITURE. Most tools are housed in contemporary furniture: chest with 10 drawers by Robert Hoe; chest with 2 drawers by Robert Hoe; chest with 16 drawers by The Hamilton MFG Co.; 9 glass-fronted lawyers' cases. [With]: 1 sewing frame; 2 finishing presses; gold-beaters hammer and block; 2 polishers; 1 composing stick.
JAMES MACDONALD (1850-1920) was born in Scotland and trained as a bookbinder. In 1873 he came to the United States and worked with William Matthews, one of the pre-eminent binders. He left Matthews when he had saved enough money to start his own binding business. The Macdonald bindery, established in 1880, soon became one of the most sought-after binderies in this country. In an interview with the New York Herald in November 1910, James Macdonald acknowledged that hand- binding in the industrial age was a dying art, "...the world is moving away from the art of the book lover. The world is swifter now, but it is not so thorough in many things as it once was. The average man has become used to the product of the machine. Today he knows no other standard. He has lost his touch for half-tones - for the cover of a book has its half-tones."
After the Club Bindery closed in 1909 "James Macdonald purchased the largest part of the tools" (Thompson). Unaffected by the changing developments of the book and binding industry, the Macdonald bindery produced some of the finest bindings of its time both for themselves and for publishers and bookstores such as: Brentano's, Scribners, E.P. Dutton and Co., Gotham Book Mart and others. The bindery continued to flourish under Ida Macdonald, Ronald Macdonald and Jacques Desmonts. Desmonts, a bindery employee since 1962, became President of the company in 1971 when Ronald Macdonald retired. For a century the Macdonald bindery had maintained a New York City address. In 1980 Jacques Desmonts moved the bindery to its present location in Norwalk, Connecticut.
THE CLUB BINDERY was founded in 1895 by the leading members of the Grolier Club. Robert Hoe and Edwin Holden were the driving forces behind the bindery. Together with a team of highly skilled workers, the firm sought to produce first class bindings for their thirteen shareholders and other collectors, employing such craftsmen as R.W. Smith, Henri Hardy, and Leon Maillard, who had emigrated to the United States from Paris in 1897. Under Maillard's skilled craftsmanship, the bindery produced many of the most elaborate and beautiful bindings of its time. The New York Times praised the Bindery in April 1900 "for the completeness of its equipment and the artistic nature of its work. The Club Bindery is probably inferior to no establishment of its kind, either at home or abroad." Unfortunately the bindery was not profitable. By March 1909 Robert Hoe was the sole patron of the Club Bindery and the main shareholder. In an attempt to save the bindery, Hoe tried to sell it to its staff. Unfortunately the employees were not able to raise the required sum. Eventually Maillard, Hardy and Holmes left the Club Bindery to follow Willis Vickery who planned to open a bindery in Cleveland. Vickery's attempt to purchase the Club Bindery tools failed because the price he offered for the tools was not accepted. "The tools were eventually purchased from [Hoe's] estate by the New York binder James Macdonald" (Antonetti).
We are not able to establish which tools are from the James Macdonald bindery and which are from the Club Bindery. According to its conservator, the New York Public Library is in possession of approximately 1300 Club Bindery tools. Little is known about how the Library acquired the tools (all lacking their wooden handles). See lots 30, 33, 34, 204 and 411 for bindings from the above mentioned binderies.
LITERATURE. ANTONETTI, Martin. The Club Bindery and Its Later Incarnations. In: Gazette of the Grolier Club. New Series. Number 47, New York, 1996; THOMPSON, Elbert A. and S. LAWRENCE. Fine Binding in America, the Story of the Club Bindery. [Urbana, IL.], 1956; DOOLEY, John and James TANIS, editors. Bookbinding in America 1680-1910. From the Collection of Frederick E. Maser. With an essay by William Spawn. Bryn Mawr, PA, 1983; New York Herald 27 Nov. 1910; The New York Times 21 April 1900.
The binding-tools include:
HAND-TOOLS. Approx. 1840 finishing hand-tools most with the original wooden handles and an enormous variety of tools, including: gouges, dots, pieces of straight line, florals, roses, tulips, leaves, large floral sprays, vases, arabesque, insects, coat-of-arms, semi-circles, circles, stars, fleurs-de-lys, suns, birds, cupids, dogs, guns, flags, large ornamental tools, corner pieces, lozenge-shaped tools, numerous pairs and oblong tools, blind tools and many others. A group of turn-in signature stamps include: Bound by Macdonald, E.P. Dutton and Co., Charles Scribner's Sons, Brentano's, Moore & Son, Edgar H. Wells and Company, The Brick Row Book Shop, Gotham Book Mart.
BINDERS' BRASSES. Approx. 900 binders' brasses including: approx. 90 border frames incuding 56 traditional, 30 floral, and 5 Art Nouveau; 36 full brass plates, including 15 Art Nouveau; 40 central ornaments, including floral, geometric and arabesque designs; 170 single-, double- and triple-rule border frames; 172 corner pieces mostly comprised of sets-of-four including 24 with floral designs, numerous Art Nouveau designs and some composite central ornaments of two or four pieces, including a large spray of fleur-de-lys; 162 pieces for composite borders, including wide Art Nouveau designs, traditional designs and numerous short pieces; 66 composite rule border frames, and numerous other pieces including flags, portraits, crowns, animals, etc. all in various 8
ROLL-TOOLS. Group of 108 roll-tools, most with the original handles including 24 with wide floral or leafy designs; 23 single fillet; 10 double fillet; 7 triple fillet; 12 with doted rule; 3 drawer-handle rolls; 2 with greek key pattern; 2 dog-tooth rolls; 1 wavy tine roll; 1 of stars within a double rule; and 25 others. The manufacturers of the roll- and hand-tools include: DeLacy; R. Gorden, Fl.; H. Griffin & Son, New York; R. Hoe; G.A. Hoffmann, New York; John R. Hoole, New York; Knight, London; Sever, Paris; Sperry, Philadelphia; Timbury, London; P. Souze, Paris.
LETTERS. Hundreds of letters for covers and spines in various sizes.
FURNITURE. Most tools are housed in contemporary furniture: chest with 10 drawers by Robert Hoe; chest with 2 drawers by Robert Hoe; chest with 16 drawers by The Hamilton MFG Co.; 9 glass-fronted lawyers' cases. [With]: 1 sewing frame; 2 finishing presses; gold-beaters hammer and block; 2 polishers; 1 composing stick.
JAMES MACDONALD (1850-1920) was born in Scotland and trained as a bookbinder. In 1873 he came to the United States and worked with William Matthews, one of the pre-eminent binders. He left Matthews when he had saved enough money to start his own binding business. The Macdonald bindery, established in 1880, soon became one of the most sought-after binderies in this country. In an interview with the New York Herald in November 1910, James Macdonald acknowledged that hand- binding in the industrial age was a dying art, "...the world is moving away from the art of the book lover. The world is swifter now, but it is not so thorough in many things as it once was. The average man has become used to the product of the machine. Today he knows no other standard. He has lost his touch for half-tones - for the cover of a book has its half-tones."
After the Club Bindery closed in 1909 "James Macdonald purchased the largest part of the tools" (Thompson). Unaffected by the changing developments of the book and binding industry, the Macdonald bindery produced some of the finest bindings of its time both for themselves and for publishers and bookstores such as: Brentano's, Scribners, E.P. Dutton and Co., Gotham Book Mart and others. The bindery continued to flourish under Ida Macdonald, Ronald Macdonald and Jacques Desmonts. Desmonts, a bindery employee since 1962, became President of the company in 1971 when Ronald Macdonald retired. For a century the Macdonald bindery had maintained a New York City address. In 1980 Jacques Desmonts moved the bindery to its present location in Norwalk, Connecticut.
THE CLUB BINDERY was founded in 1895 by the leading members of the Grolier Club. Robert Hoe and Edwin Holden were the driving forces behind the bindery. Together with a team of highly skilled workers, the firm sought to produce first class bindings for their thirteen shareholders and other collectors, employing such craftsmen as R.W. Smith, Henri Hardy, and Leon Maillard, who had emigrated to the United States from Paris in 1897. Under Maillard's skilled craftsmanship, the bindery produced many of the most elaborate and beautiful bindings of its time. The New York Times praised the Bindery in April 1900 "for the completeness of its equipment and the artistic nature of its work. The Club Bindery is probably inferior to no establishment of its kind, either at home or abroad." Unfortunately the bindery was not profitable. By March 1909 Robert Hoe was the sole patron of the Club Bindery and the main shareholder. In an attempt to save the bindery, Hoe tried to sell it to its staff. Unfortunately the employees were not able to raise the required sum. Eventually Maillard, Hardy and Holmes left the Club Bindery to follow Willis Vickery who planned to open a bindery in Cleveland. Vickery's attempt to purchase the Club Bindery tools failed because the price he offered for the tools was not accepted. "The tools were eventually purchased from [Hoe's] estate by the New York binder James Macdonald" (Antonetti).
We are not able to establish which tools are from the James Macdonald bindery and which are from the Club Bindery. According to its conservator, the New York Public Library is in possession of approximately 1300 Club Bindery tools. Little is known about how the Library acquired the tools (all lacking their wooden handles). See lots 30, 33, 34, 204 and 411 for bindings from the above mentioned binderies.
LITERATURE. ANTONETTI, Martin. The Club Bindery and Its Later Incarnations. In: Gazette of the Grolier Club. New Series. Number 47, New York, 1996; THOMPSON, Elbert A. and S. LAWRENCE. Fine Binding in America, the Story of the Club Bindery. [Urbana, IL.], 1956; DOOLEY, John and James TANIS, editors. Bookbinding in America 1680-1910. From the Collection of Frederick E. Maser. With an essay by William Spawn. Bryn Mawr, PA, 1983; New York Herald 27 Nov. 1910; The New York Times 21 April 1900.