The Humming Bird, A Christmas and New-Year's Gift

The Humming Bird, A Christmas and New-Year's Gift

Edited by Ida Maitland,

Mrs. Gilman, Caroline Howard, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. E.F. Ellet, Krummacher, Mary Hemple, Miss C.W. Barber, and Jennie Elder

New York: Leavitt and Allen

1859

Tan leather over thick boards that have been beveled along all the outside edges. The covers have been deeply stamped in the blind with a line border surrounding a floral pattern around a shape reminiscent of Islamic-influenced 15th and 16th century European book design. In the center of the covers is the centerpiece worked in gold leaf of several different border-like designs around the central oval for the title. The title area is back-filled in gilt. Thae title, part of the floral design, and an oval circles all have remnants of blue paint on both the front and back. The spine has very different patterning with most of it being a blind-stamped of lilies with a shield of the title at the top. Here too are remnants of blue paint for the title. Part of the lilies look as though they had been gilt stamped.
The edges were painted with gold leaf, but the endpapers are plain yellow coated paper.
The paper is made of wood pulp and the plates and decorative title page are on thicker paper than the rest. The plates are protected by a thin piece of paper called a tissue (to protect the plates and catch any ink off-bleeding. Each page of text is surrounded by a double-line with a Fleur-de-Lis in each corner. The plates appear to be lithographs and their contents are themed appropriately to the book's audience - children.

Literature / Children's Literature

SPECIAL PZ10.7 .H925 1859

Hardcover book, 6.5 x 4.5 inches

English

This book has another record in the "Beautiful Books" Exhibit Collection.
This book can be seen in the photograph, Display Case 4.

Book