ART DECO GIFT BOOK — 1915

Nesbit, Wilbur D.

Friend O’ Mine • Art Deco Gift Book with Decorative Endpapers and Publisher’s Box • 1915

New York • Joliet, Illinois • Boston: P. F. Volland Company, 1915.
FRIEND O’ MINE — ART DECO GIFT BOOK IN ORIGINAL BOX

A charming and visually refined example of early 20th-century American gift book production, combining poetic sentiment with highly stylized illustration in a compact, decorative format.

Written by Wilbur D. Nesbit and illustrated by Marie Honré Myers, the work embodies the soft, lyrical aesthetic of the Art Deco–influenced period, with restrained color palettes, flowing linework, and Japanese-inspired compositional elements.

The volume is particularly notable for its decorative endpapers and continuous fore-edge attachment, a format reminiscent of Japanese stab-bound and accordion-influenced presentation styles, adapted into Western gift publishing. The result is an object that feels as much designed as read—intimate, tactile, and visually cohesive.

Housed in its original publisher’s box, this is a scarce survival in such complete form.
DETAILS:
+++ Small oblong format gift book; Approximately 5.5 x 6.5 inches (box size) 12 unnumbered pages; accordion-style (orihon-influenced) binding with joined fore-edges
+++ Illustrated throughout in color; Decorative endpapers with continuous branch-and-bird motif. 
+++ Text printed in stylized display typography
+++ Original publisher’s illustrated box present

CONTENT & DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS:
+++ Poetic text centered on themes of friendship, memory, and nostalgia
+++ Full-page and vignette illustrations in a restrained Art Deco palette
+++ Strong Japanese aesthetic influence—minimalist space, asymmetry, nature motifs
+++ Continuous visual flow across pages, including joined fore-edge structure
+++ Harmonious integration of typography, illustration, and page design
+++ Example of Volland’s high-quality gift book production

CONDITION:
Book: Near Fine
+++ Binding tight and square
+++ Text clean with light, even age-toning
+++ Appears unread
+++ Minor wear at spine ends
Box: Very Good
+++ Structurally intact
+++ General handling wear to edges and illustrated lid
+++ Noticeable sun-toned shadow along outer edge

HISTORICAL CONTEXT —
The P. F. Volland Company was among the most innovative American publishers of illustrated gift books in the early 20th century, known for combining fine printing, decorative illustration, and thoughtful design into cohesive artistic objects.

Works such as Friend O’ Mine reflect a period when bookmaking blurred into decorative arts, drawing influence from both Art Nouveau and emerging Art Deco styles, as well as Japanese print aesthetics, which had a profound impact on Western design.

These volumes were often given as keepsakes—tokens of sentiment as much as reading material—and were produced with a level of care that elevates them today into collectible examples of American graphic and book design history.

SUBJECTS: Art Deco decorative arts, illustrated gift books, early 20th-century American poetry, Volland Press publications, Japanese-influenced design in Western printing, fine printing and book design, sentimental and presentation books.



Item #21856

Price: $75.00