Collection: Illustrated Cloth

The advance of the publisher's dust-wrapper, even more so the illustrated one, 'killed' the illustrated cloth binding, a typical Victorian invention, which lingered on a bit into the 20th century. A reviewer of one of Lady Brassey's books (offered in this collection) eulogized as follows in the highest tones.

'It is surely an encouraging sign to see Art applied to such worthy ends as this. We may now look forward to deriving a twofold enjoyment from our libraries. If, for any cause, the interior of a book fails to please us, we have but to close it, and straightaway our eyes will be captivated by the charms of the outside. Our book-shelves must now be arranged upon a new plan, enabling us to see the whole of the bindings of the volumes at once, instead of only the backs, as heretofore. Or perhaps the covers can be so contrived as to come off, and then, by framing them and hanging them on the walls, we shall be decorating our rooms with one hand, so to say, while we instruct our minds with the other. Ultimately, books may come to be bought and sold on the strength of their exteriors only, and literature will assume the position of a vehicle for the dissemination of bindings' (Spectator, January 3, 1880, p. 27f.). 

Dip into the twofold enjoyment!