The Riviere Bindery was one of the most notable and prolific shops in London's West End from about 1840 through 1939. Many binders who served apprenticeships at Riviere went on to work in other firms or to set up on their own. The bindery turned out vast numbers of leather bindings, and rare book collections are so filled with volumes "BOUND BY RIVIERE & SON" in full goatskin with gilt spines that we have come to regard them as rather commonplace. As the examples here show, however, the finishers at Riviere were capable of marvelous work.

British, twentieth century, Riviere Author: Keats, John, 1795-1821 Title: Endymion: a poetic romance. Published: London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 1818 Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3809.332.14 c.1 Spine height: 23 cm



British, twentieth century, Riviere Author: Homer Title: The Iliads of Homer, prince of poets. Published: London: Printed by Richard Field for Nathaniell Butter, [1611?] Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 2681.333.611 Spine height: 30 cm



British, twentieth century, Riviere Author: Juvenal Title: Decimus Junius Juvenalis, and Aulus Persius Flaccus, translated and illustrated, as well with sculpture as notes. Published: Oxford: Printed by W. Downing, for F. Oxlad senior, J. Adams, and F. Oxlad junior, 1673. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: Oversize 2873.2673q Spine height: 30 cm



British, twentieth century, Riviere Author: Milton, John, 1608-1674. Title: Eikonoklastes. Published: London: Printed by M. Simmons, 1649. Location: Rare Books: Robert H. Taylor Collection (RHT) Call number: 17th-414 Spine height: 18 cm



In the 1890s, members of the Grolier Club in New York, lamenting the dearth of fine binding in America, established the Club Bindery in an attempt to make available luxury bookbindings that could rival those of Europe. Several European-trained binders were brought to New York to begin work in 1895. In 1897, Grolier Club member Robert Hoe was instrumental in bringing Leon Maillard to the bindery from France. The temperamental Maillard turned his exceptional finishing skills to the production of wonderful and expensive bindings for Hoe and other collectors. The Club Bindery was dissolved in 1909. Briefly reincarnated as the Rowfant Bindery in Cleveland, it closed again owing to financial difficulties. Maillard was reduced to selling carpet sweepers, and in 1921 he committed suicide.

American, twentieth century, Club Bindery Author: M¯alik ibn Anas, d. 795. Title: Bust¯an al-muhaddis¯in. Date: ca. 1802 Location: Manuscripts Division Call number: C0723.304 Spine height: 23 cm



American, twentieth century, Club Bindery Author: Suckling, John, Sir, 1609-1642 Title: Fragmenta aurea. Published: London: Printed for Humphrey Moseley, 1646. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3948.7.335 c.2 Spine height: 20 cm



American, twentieth century, Club Bindery Author: Lederer, John Title: The discoveries of John Lederer. Published: London: Printed by J. C. for Samuel Heyrick, 1672. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 1230.571.11 Spine height: 18 cm



American, twentieth century, Club Bindery Author: Omar Khayyam Title: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Published: New York: The Grolier Club, 1885. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 2472.379.6 Spine height: 23 cm



The revival of interest in printing with the hand press that came with the late nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts Movement in England, brought with it a renewed interest in hand bookbinding. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, a friend and associate of William Morris, took up bookbinding in the 1880s and set new standards for design and workmanship that would influence many followers in the succeeding decades. He established the Doves Bindery in 1893, and although he did no more binding himself, he continued to shape many of the binding designs at Doves. William Morris had his own copy of the famous Kelmscott Chaucer bound by the Doves Bindery, and a number of other copies of that book were bound there as well.

British, twentieth century Author: Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892. Title: In memoriam. Published: London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3955.349.114 Spine height: 22 cm



British, twentieth century Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400 Title: The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, now newly imprinted. Published: Upper Mall, Hammersmith, England: William Morris, 1896. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: Oversize 3674.1896f c.1 Spine height: 44 cm



British, twentieth century Author: Rossetti, Christina Georgina, 1830-1894. Title: Poems. Published: Boston: Roberts, 1870. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3913.3 1870 c.2 Spine height: 18 cm



British, twentieth century Author: Rossetti, Christina Georgina, 1830-1894. Title: Poems. Published: Boston: Roberts, 1870 Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3913.3 1870 c.3 Spine height: 18 cm



British, twentieth century Author: Milton, John Title: Comus, a mask by John Milton. Published: Newton, England: Greynog Press, 1931. Location: Rare Books: Graphic Arts Call number: Greynog 1931 Spine height: 29 cm



American, twentieth century Author: Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822 Title: Rosalind and Helen: a modern eclogue ; with other poems. Published: London: Printed for C. and J. Ollier, 1819. Location: Rare Books (Ex) Call number: 3928.378.11 c.2 Spine height: 23 cm



American, twentieth century Author: Ruskin, John, 1819-1900. Title: The seven lamps of architecture. Edition: New edition. Published: Sunnyside, Ornington, England: G. Allen, 1880. Location: Rare Books: Graphic Arts Call number: Bindings Spine height: 28 cm

