ART NOUVEAU STYLE BINDING

Carleton, Will (1845–1912)

Songs of Two Centuries

New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publisher, 1902. First Edition, First Printing. BETWEEN TWO CENTURIES — CELEBRATING THE PASSAGE FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY INTO THE TWENTIETH.
Published at the opening of the twentieth century, Songs of Two Centuries gathers Will Carleton's popular verse around home life, holidays, rural experience, mountains, patriotism, memory, humor, and the changing American scene. The title is deliberately transitional: Carleton dedicates the volume 'To the Memory of the Nineteenth and the Success of the Twentieth.'

AN ESPECIALLY ATTRACTIVE TRADE BINDING.
Beyond its literary content, the book is notable as an appealing example of turn-of-the-century American publisher's cloth. The striking cover presents a full-length winged female figure holding the title banner, executed in black, cream/white, and gilt against light green cloth. The elaborate pictorial binding gives this copy particular decorative appeal.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: DECORATED PUBLISHER'S CLOTH.
Publisher's light green cloth over beveled boards, spine lettered in gilt. Front board with a large pictorial design of a winged female figure outlined in black, with cream-colored wings, gilt background behind the head, and a banner bearing the title and author's name in gilt. Tall octavo. 8.75 inches; 157 pages. Illustrated with eight full-page plates, accompanied by decorative typographic and ornamental elements within the text. 

CONDITION: Binding sound, with the decorative front cover remaining unusually bright and visually strong. Light shelf handling and small rubs at the corners and extremities. Gluing shadow in the upper gutters of Endpages. First Edition, published November 1902.

LITERARY AND BOOK-DESIGN SIGNIFICANCE: A POPULAR POET OF AMERICAN EVERYDAY LIFE.
Will Carleton built a substantial nineteenth-century readership through accessible narrative and sentimental verse centered on rural families, domestic relationships, social customs, humor, and ordinary American experience. 

The collection includes such groupings as songs of months and days, home life, and the mountains. Carleton's continued place in Michigan cultural history was substantial enough that the state long observed a commemorative 'Carleton Day.'

A TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY GIFT BOOK.
The decorative binding is arguably as collectible as the poetry itself. Its large allegorical female figure, stylized wings, restrained palette, gilt accents, and integrated title banner reflect the strong visual role publisher-designed cloth played in American commercial bookmaking around 1900.

SUBJECTS: Will Carleton, American poetry, nineteenth-century American life, domestic life, rural America,  American book design, publisher's bindings, pictorial cloth,  narrative poetry, popular verse, illustrated books, decorative bindings, first editions, Art Nouveau, decorative bindings.

Bibliographical References: Library of Michigan

Item #22438

Price: $75.00