![]() Dunstan editions, Sproul also envisioned an ambitious set of Charles Dickens’s complete works as a lavish later addition to the St. Sproul seems to have been undeterred, however, and simply brought in both Turner and Leoni from the beginning on his next project. Together, it seems likely that Sproul overestimated the time and effort it would take to illuminate so many volumes, and was forced to bring in another illuminator and abandon the plan to illuminate each edition in a different style. foliation flourishing far outside the bounds of the capital, and a sort of interstitial butterfly a close-up of another butterfly, accompanying Sonnet 134 Dunstan edition of The Rubiyyat of Omar Khayyam notes that it features “intertwined floral and foliated effects.” 6 A comparison of illuminations from parts I and II shows that Turner’s style evolved over the course of his work-part II includes foliation that is more expansive and more medieval, and some fairly realistic butterflies. (For more examples of Leoni’s work, see the Special Collections & Archives at Mizzou tumblr.) Descriptions in sale catalogs suggest that floral initials may have simply been Turner’s illumination style a description of the illuminations for the St. In contrast to Leoni’s more ornate, traditional style, Turner uses a simpler, floral style. Nestore Leoni’s title page illumination (left courtesy of the University of Missouri Libraries) Ross Turner’s (right Folger copy) 5 Leoni’s artistic style, as shown below left on the title page of Missouri’s copy, is quite different from that of Ross Turner, as shown in the Folger’s copy, below right. It seems that not all of Sproul’s planned details would be carried out as expected: the book’s record in WorldCat indicates that the University of Missouri’s copy, as well as a copy at Rhodes College, were illuminated by an Italian artist named Nestore Leoni. The slight glare at the bottom right, and the text from the next page faintly visible through this one, are signs that this is printed on parchment. Ross Turner, a well-known watercolorist and marine artist who also devoted years to the study of illumination, is listed as the sole illuminator, meaning that he would have had to illuminate at least 300 volumes by hand. The prospectus provides descriptions of ten schools of illumination, each of which is to be used for a different volume. Dunstan editions, named for the 10th-century clergyman noted for his skill in painting, would be printed on Italian parchment 3, bound in intricately-designed leather bindings by the Trautz-Bauzonnet Bindery 4, and of course, extensively illuminated by hand. In his prospectus, Sproul marketed his luxurious editions as “a revival of the lost art of illumination,” an art which was “of the most remote antiquity,” having been made a “superfluous luxury” by the advent of the printing press. By the turn of the 20th century, however, handlettering and illumination had begun a successful comeback: Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts, of which artist and illuminator Ross Turner was a member, declared in a 1907 exhibition guide that “there has been a distinct improvement in both illumination and in lettering the principles of which are better understood now than ten years ago.” 1 Some earlier Arts & Crafts-era presses commissioned illuminations for their volumes-notably the Essex House Press-but most limited their artistic value to their typographic components and illustrations. Sproul and coincided with a wave of renewed interest in book art, coming on the heels of the Arts and Crafts movement. Dunstan editions were conceived of at the turn of the century by publisher George D. Dunstan Sonnets (colophon, part I) A revival of the lost art of illumination Goodwin and signed by the illuminator, the publisher, and a representative of the University Press. Dunstan edition, specially illuminated for Howard T. Dunstan Sonnets (front covers part I on left) On a whim, I did a quick search to see if the Folger also had a copy of this set-and we do! It was photographed for our Bindings Image Collection and is now fully cataloged in Hamnet ( Folio PR2848 1901a Sh.Col.). ![]() I can almost guarantee, though, that few were as opulent as the contribution from the University of Missouri Libraries Special Collections Tumblr: a beautiful leather-bound set of Shakespeare’s Sonnets with some striking illuminations. If you’re a regular user of the internet, you probably saw a multitude of images posted for the Bard’s birthday a few weeks ago.
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