#renner type

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

While doing research on publishers’ bindings (as one does), I came across mention of this book, A Translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Life of Dante by G.R. Carpenter. I decided to see if we held a copy and, lo and behold, we do! It’s such a pretty binding I couldn’t help but share it. 

Bound in vellum over boards that has been stamped in orange with an art nouveau peacock design by Edward Edwards (1873-1946), the book features endpapers patterned in the same color in which the cover is stamped. The book also includes fancy headpieces, tailpieces, and floriated initials that are printed on handmade paper in red. It was published in 1900 by the Grolier Club in an edition of 300 copies printed at the De Vinne Press. This is the first book printed using De Vinne’s Renner type. The paper used for the book features a watermark that says “Grolier” as pictured here. 

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View more posts about the Grolier Club.