Details
GOLDSCHMIDT, E. Ph. Gothic & Renaissance Bookbindings, exemplified and illustrated from the author's collection. London: Ernest Benn. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1928.
2 volumes extended to 5, 4°. With 113 half-tone and colour plates, 50 MOUNTED PHOTOGRAPHS. Green half morocco, lettering pieces (rubbed). Provenance: THE AUTHOR'S OWN COPY, interleaved and with autograph notes (including about where the bindings were sold), cuttings of reviews from English, German and Czech journals, A.Ls.s and T.Ls.s. by Willem de Vreese, J. B. Oldham, G. D. Hobson, Albert Ehrman, Ernst Kyriss, Victor Scholderer and other scholars.
One of the most important 20th-century studies of early decorated bindings. The methodology contained in the introduction is almost as valid today as 65 years ago. In his letter of December 1927, Goldschmidt wrote to the dedicatee, Stephen Gaselee: I hope you will accept this book and will even attempt to read some of the Introduction occasionally. I don't in the least imagine that all I have said on the subject is true, but I do honestly believe that none of it is cribbed from elsewhere and that it is based on personal observation ... perhaps I have succeeded in showing that there are a number of interesting points to be observed in old bindings and that a study of their details can advance our knowledge on several questions relating to monastic libraries, the medieval universities and to early printing and bookselling. (5)
2 volumes extended to 5, 4°. With 113 half-tone and colour plates, 50 MOUNTED PHOTOGRAPHS. Green half morocco, lettering pieces (rubbed). Provenance: THE AUTHOR'S OWN COPY, interleaved and with autograph notes (including about where the bindings were sold), cuttings of reviews from English, German and Czech journals, A.Ls.s and T.Ls.s. by Willem de Vreese, J. B. Oldham, G. D. Hobson, Albert Ehrman, Ernst Kyriss, Victor Scholderer and other scholars.
One of the most important 20th-century studies of early decorated bindings. The methodology contained in the introduction is almost as valid today as 65 years ago. In his letter of December 1927, Goldschmidt wrote to the dedicatee, Stephen Gaselee: I hope you will accept this book and will even attempt to read some of the Introduction occasionally. I don't in the least imagine that all I have said on the subject is true, but I do honestly believe that none of it is cribbed from elsewhere and that it is based on personal observation ... perhaps I have succeeded in showing that there are a number of interesting points to be observed in old bindings and that a study of their details can advance our knowledge on several questions relating to monastic libraries, the medieval universities and to early printing and bookselling. (5)