Lent starts this week, which reminded us of an ironic little indulgence in the collections. We have a copy of John Jackson's The Sinfulness of Little Sins: A Course of Sermons Preached in Lent from 1849 that contains a sermon on "Pride and Vanity." All well and good, nothing odd there. But, our copy happened to have been owned by none other than Queen Victoria. So it is bound in full morocco leather, with the crown gold stamped on the cover. The gold continued onto the edges, expertly gilded, of course. Open it up, and the inside flyleaf and paste down are beautifully patterned silk. Little sins? It is all in the context--this was surely one of the more modest books in her library.
To prepare for the season of denial, ask for Bindings 113.
Any chance there is a cool secret fore-edge painting there? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzOT7kd5t0s
ReplyDeleteNope, not on this book, but we have other books with very cool fore-edge paintings. Here is a particularly good one: http://raunerlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/01/elizabeths-court-revealed.html
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