Four works by Dutch author Louis Couperus in Art Nouveau bindings by publisher L.J. Veen, 1895-1910.

Neth 6299.89

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

It’s time for another Publishers’ Binding Thursday post! This week I’m sharing The Happy Prince and Other Tales by famous Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). This edition of this collection of short stories was published in 1913 in New York by G.P. Putnam's Sons. It features art-nouveau-esque illustrations by British book illustrator Charles Robinson (1870-1937), who came from a family of illustrators including his father and brothers. This book is part of our Historical Curriculum Collection of books for children. 

The cover features the statue of the titular Happy Prince and the swallow who befriends him in the story (which is quite sad) stamped in gold on purple book cloth. The spine is highly decorative, featuring floral motifs and the title, author, illustrator, and publisher. I find it interesting that the title on the cover is “The Happy Prince and Other Stories” but on the title page it’s “The Happy Prince and Other Tales.” I wonder if there was a miscommunication or change that happened that led to them being different!

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-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

Charles Vess - Original Cover Art for Books of Magic: Bindings featuring Neil Gaiman's Death, Fairy Queen Titania and Tim Hunter (DC, 1995) Source

The Pantazzi Collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Re-binding the Disintegrating Book

I am not blogging this book today, but merely its binding, or rather its re-binding. More than once now I have gotten my hands on a hardcover or a softcover books whose binders should have been ashamed of themselves. Said book’s binding disintegrated upon reading. And with cookbooks and craft books, this is especially annoying as you hoped to use them repeatedly.

There is a solution: get yourself to your local copy shop and see that they can do for you. If there is enough of an inside margin, they will offer you a few options for re-binding and for what to do about the cover, and, voila, your book is back in good shape.

I will be blogging this book by Margaret Radcliffe, so stay tuned.

the.vintage.library

Policy Updates for my Work

Hey all -- there’s been a lot of discussion in our fandom lately around some creative ways folks have been profiting off fanworks (NOT. OK. Read your fandom history!) and even though I am not a big enough fish to be part of these specific circumstances, I just wanted to speak up and throw my official policies out there preemptively. I’ve also updated my bio on AO3 to reflect these.  

Thank you to my dear readers and all the creatives who have taken inspiration from my works to make AMAZING THINGS for nothing but love and the desire to spread joy. 

xoxo ~SM

PERMISSIONS AND POLICIES

- I welcome all translations of my works. I just ask for a heads up that you are doing it, credit on the translated work and that you link back to the original version on AO3. I also love to see translations once they're in process/done, so please send me a link! I can be most easily reached via Tumblr DMs.

- I give permission for my work to be typeset and/or bound for non-profit use (and also love to see pictures of any bindings!). Do not reproduce my works in whole or part for commercial gain, including posting reproductions on paid membership platforms.

- If you feel like doing art of my work, GO OFF! I love it so much. Please send it my way and I'll put it up on tumblr and in my Discord server.

- Trans rights are human rights. Gender diversity is fucking beautiful. Queerness is sacred. If you don't understand that, please don't read my stuff or interact with me in any way. You won't like it or me anyway.

#Repost @sedlacek.guitars with @use.repost ・・・ no.85 - THE PRESIDENT (2023) --- body - 16" / Loar Style scale – 24.750“ top – dolomitian spruce (Italy) back and sides – flame maple (Slovakia) neck – flame maple (Slovakia) fingerboard – african ebony headstock – african ebony interior – spruce, linden and spanish cedar bridge – african ebony nut – bone tuners – Waverly 3-On-Plate bindings – ivory celuloid finish – alcohol varnish / light sunburst frets – Jescar EVOgold tailpiece - Sedlacek deep body trapeze tailpiece pickguard - handmade solid acrylic tortoise strings - Optima Jazz Flatwound --- #body #Loar #top #dolomitianspruce #back #sides #neck #flamemaple #fingerboard #headstock #bridge #ebony #interior #linden #spanishcedar #tuners #Waverly #bindings #ivory #celuloid #finish #alcoholvarnish #sunburst #frets #Jescar #tailpiece #pickguard #tortoise #JazzFlatwound --- @stefanpoliacik @stewmac_guitar @rivoltasnc @optimastrings https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvaT4cMI1B/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Our fall exhibition, At the Limits of the Book Bindings from the Houghton Library Collections reveals the vast diversity of bookbinding structures, materials, and designs in Houghton Library's collections. From treasure bindings crafted of precious metals to homemade covers stitched together from worn scraps of clothing, these objects tell us about much more than the pages they protect. More than 60 items are on display, comparing and contrasting the ways bindings simultaneously operate as mechanisms, preserve material culture, and enact the artistic vision of their creators.

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

This week’s Publishers’ Binding Thursday is a lovely floral binding in raspberry, green, blue, and gold. The book is Olive’s Story by Mrs. O.F. Walton, published in London by the Religious Tract Society in 1882. Mrs. O.F. Walton is Amy Catherine Walton, who published under her husband Octavius Frank Walton’s name and became well known for her religious stories. The Religious Tract Society was an organization founded by British evangelical Christians in 1799 that published periodicals and books most often with religious themes. This book is part of our Historical Curriculum Collection. 

The binding is a bid faded, but lovely, featuring raspberries, flowers, and leaves stamped in a raspberry color in alternating blue and green rectangular blocks. The title and author’s name sit in a gold rectangle—the title stamped in raspberry and the author’s name in blue. The spine features a similar design, with the insignia of the Religious Tract Society at the bottom. 

There's also a sweet Christmas card from one friend to another tucked in, and the evidence of the book owner's award for good attendance!

View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts.

View more posts related to the Historical Curriculum Collection.

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

Fake Dating is a solid concept for a Bindings 3 quest in Chuubo's.

Books, old and new; a pile long since dispersed. Paolo Mancosu and I were in graduate school together. Portraits d’hier was a long series of brief biographies, each with a portrait. The two volumes you see here contain two hundred or so. All of them fine books; Mancosu, Harbison, and Stafford are my favorites among the recent ones. Now that I have time on my hands, maybe I’ll get to the rest. — Who knows what’s in that folder?

Hey, PSA for younger/newer transmascs:

Tumblr has been showing targeted ads for "FTM binders" off Amazon. They look like this:

Do not buy these.

A binder is a piece of medical equipment. If you use one incorrectly, or use a poorly made one, you can really fuck up your ribs. This article from the Cleveland Clinic talks about how to bind safely.

A $14 binder is guaranteed not to be safe. There's a reason reputable companies charge more- sometimes a lot more. They have to carefully design binders so they don't crush your ribs or make you sick.

You know how everyone says Don't Bind With Duct Tape? Don't bind with Amazon binders.

I'm like super normal and not unhinged in the slightest (I spent 3 days formatting, printing, and binding a niche internet story about sci fi football into a 280 page physical book)