That House in Bloomsbury

Designer Alice Cordelia Morse American
Author Margaret Oliphant British, Scottish
1896
Not on view
A leading New York book-cover designer in the late nineteenth century, Morse studied at the Woman’s Art School of the Cooper Union, then under John La Farge before working for Louis C. Tiffany as a painter and designer of stained glass. In 1887 she began to concentrate on book-covers, fufilling eighty-three commissions for New York commercial publishers by 1905. Complementing the text, she chose imagery ranging from classical, to Renaissance, Celtic, Arabic, Gothic, Rococo, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. This symmetrical Arts and Crafts design is bound in light gold diagonal-rib reversed cloth with ivy leaves stamped in brown and the title in gold. This example must be a publisher's proof, since published copies are always bound in dark tan.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: That House in Bloomsbury
  • Designer: Alice Cordelia Morse (American, Ohio 1863–1961)
  • Author: Margaret Oliphant (British, Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland 1828–1897 Wimbledon, London)
  • Publisher: Dodd, Mead & Co.
  • Date: 1896
  • Medium: Tan cloth covered boards with black and gold decoration
  • Dimensions: Overall: 7 5/8 x 11 1/8 in. (19.3 x 28.3 cm)
    Front cover: 7 5/8 x 4 15/16 in. (19.3 x 12.5 cm)
    Front cover and spine: 7 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. (19.3 x 15.9 cm)
  • Classification: Bindings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Alice C. Morse, 1923, transferred from the Library
  • Object Number: 56.522.76
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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