Bookbindings, and a tragic tale.

The monthly NADFAS lecture was on bookbinding - British bookbinding specifically. I enjoyed it hugely. Possibly I was one of the few who did. I saw some heads amongst the audience nodding after a while. The enthusiasm of the lecturer, himself a bookbinder of note, and the excellent slides of fine bindings through the ages, from 1458 onward, reminded me of the best parts of being a secondhand bookseller. Fine bindings rarely came my way, but there were enough to make me greedy, want to buy them for myself (I still wish I had) and ruefully dream of being amongst the echelons of long-established, wealthy bookshops who could afford to stock such precious items. 

One of the books I wish I had kept was a lovely edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. There have been many beautifully bound editions of that selection of quatrains, elegantly translated by Edward FitzGerald, which has been described as a string of jewels. It was especially popular after the first World War when people were reaching out for comfort in spiritual paths, (not necessarily religious, the Rubaiyat is almost atheist in places). I had a customer who collected them and came back every year to see if I had found another. The price didn’t seem to matter. One he bought for £480, which was small beer compared with prices some copies can go for, but big for my small shop. 

The lecturer related the heart-breaking tale of a fabulously expensive binding for the Rubaiyat, designed and executed by an English binder. It was rich with inlaid gold leaf and actual jewels. Commissioned by an American, the finished book was carefully packaged and sent off by sea to its destination - on the Titanic. Some years after this tragedy another binder made a replica from the paper designs left by the original craftsman. This was again packaged carefully and stored in a bank vault in London. In the Blitz the bank was totally destroyed; even the vaults where decimated. 

An ill-fated design indeed. 

I don’t have a single copy of the Rubaiyat any longer but I have a few books whose boards or dust jacket designs I’m fond of. 

A bizarre dustjacket for a very bizarre book

An impressive series for the shelves.

Very 1950's but clever and effective IMO


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A lovely Folio edition.