BOOKBINDING.. Exhibition of Modern Bookbindings by the Chief European Craftsmen, at The Caxton Head, 232, High Holborn...1891

J. & M.L. Tregaskis, Caxton Head. First Edition, 4to, 16pp., coloured frontis., 1 coloured plate, orig. printed wrappers (detached), uncut. In 1891 booksellers James and Mary Lee Tregaskis staged this unusual exhibition of 41 bookbindings. Copies of Charles Kingsley's "Water Babies" had been dispatched to the chief bookbinders of Europe seeking representative specimens of the art. They came back bound in morocco, calf, pigskin, vellum, and kid, with a varying decoration of gold or blind tooling, displaying a variety of design, from the plain straight line around to the delicate pattern of lace, or the geometrically interwoven. Each of the 41 bindings are priced individually and the whole collection could be bought for £150.