RAPLH RANDOLPH ADAMS. FINE BINDING. That bookbinding, so long recognized as one of the arts in Europe, should have advanced in this country no further than to be deserving of the term craft, seems strange in view of the rapid progress along the other lines of art; but so it has been up to within a year and the bibliophile has been compelled to send his treasured volumes to France or England, if he wished them clothed in fitting splendor or simplicity. Small wonder, then, that when at last there has appeared a binder with feeling for books, and knowledge of the artistic, which alone can advance binding to an art, that lovers of binding have taken the opportunity to show that they have not had their books bound abroad, simply to say they were bound abroad, but because they were compelled to, and that now when there is a binder of equal ability in this country, to prove, by having him bind their books, that they would have been only too glad to patronize the American binders had they had heretofore the opportunity. The "Viennese Inlaid Binding" reproduced in the Nov.-Dec. number, as the "Onlaid Mosaic Binding" in this number, are both the work of the binder of whom we speak, Ralph Randolph Adams, of The Adams Bindery. Real mosaic in leather, or, as Mr. Adams has styled it, "Viennese Inlay,' has never before in the history of binding, been successfully accomplished, and should be carefully distinguished from the "Onlaid Mosaic Binding." The latter, or, as it is commonly called, "Inlaid," is effected by paring the colored leather used in the design, as thin as possible, cutting it out with a pair of scissors to the desired shape, and pasting it on the leather in which the book is bound. In the "Viennese Inlaid" binding the work is in real mosaic, as the ground leather is cut through to the board, following the design, the pieces are lifted out and in their place are inlaid the other leathers. This method is sincere, the other an imitation.-The Book-Lover. The fact that such binding is done in this bindery is guarantee that the ordinary run of half or full Calf, Morocco, Pigskin, or Levant bindings are AT LEAST a little better than the work of other binderies. Plates inlaid, Books cleaned and repaired. Publishers, Book Dealers and Private Trade solicited. The facilities of the establishment permit of careful and prompt attention to out-of-town orders. Bookplates designed and made. 256 WEST 23D ST. The Adams Bindery, BET. 7TH AND 8TH AVES., NEW YORK CITY. |