#illuminated books

“Come, and take choice of all my library…”
Titus Andronicus, Act 4, Scene 1

During his birthday week we’re thinking of William Shakespeare, and we’re excited to share this recent acquisition. Here you see a first edition copy of William Noel Humphreys’Sentiments and Similes of William Shakespeare, published in London in 1851. The elaborate chromolithographed border on the title page was printed in Paris then returned to London to be overprinted with the text. A black papier-mâché binding over gold foil contains a terracotta portrait of Shakespeare. The commercially-produced binding would have been created with the use of a mold.

These beautifully-produced books were popular in the Victorian era, and they come in a variety of sizes. In addition to this quarto, which could have been used as a gift or prize book, the Library collections contain Owen Jones’ Psalms of David, an oversized folio with a similar binding and illustrations.