Bookbinding in England and France / by W.Y. Fletcher.

  • William Younger Fletcher
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bookbinding in England and France / by W.Y. Fletcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    subject which are well worth quoting: “It does not require any profound critical insight,” he writes, “to perceive how futile are these attempts to revive a past style. No man can escape the spirit of the age in which he lives : the modern gilder, in imitating some old binding, is not able, as he supposes, to reproduce the spirit of the original ; he only betrays his own want of invention, and his copy remains, for all his labours, the mechanical production of his own time.” The difficulty, however, of escaping from the traditions of the past is not confined to the binders of France, but appears to be universal. The invention of a new style in binding seems as little likely as one in architecture. Still, we venture to hope that some genius may arise who will be able to unite originality of design with the marvellous accuracy and finish which distinguish the work of the present day, and thus make bookbinding once more a living art.
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