ne illustration of books, or are intended to exemplify
them, and by their means, by lectures, and exhibitions of fine book-work,
this society has contributed much toward the diffusion of correct taste.
More care has been bestowed upon fine binding in New York than in London
itself. In fact, elegant book-binding is coming to be recognized as one
of the foremost of the decorative arts.

The art of designing book-covers and patterns for gilding books has
engaged the talents of many artists, among whom may be named Edwin A.
Abbey, Howard Pyle, Stanford White, and Elihu Vedder. Nor have skilful
designs been wanting among women, as witness Mrs. Whitman's elegant
tea-leaf border for the cover of Dr. O. W. Holmes's "Over the Tea-cups,"
and Miss Alice Morse's arabesques and medallions for Lafcadio Hearn's
"Two Years in the French West Indies." Miss May Morris designed many
tasteful letters for the fine bindings executed by Mr. Cobden-Sanderson
of London, and Kate Greenaway's many exquisite little books for little
people have become widely known for their quaint and curious cover
designs. A new field thus opens for skilled cultivators of the beautiful
who have an eye for the art of drawing.

Mr. William Matthews, the accomplished New York binder, in an address
before the Grolier Club in 1895, said: "I have been astonished that so
few women--in America, I know none--are encouragers of the art; they
certainly could not bestow their taste on anything that would do them
more credit, or as a study, give them more satisfaction." It is but fair
to add that since this judgment was put forth, its implied reproach is no
longer applicable: a number of American women have interested themselves
in the study of binding as a fine art; and some few in practical work as
binders of books.

There is no question that readers take a greater interest in books that
are neatly and attractively bound, than in volumes dressed in a mean
garb. No book owner or librarian with any knowledge of the incurable
defects of calf, sheep, or roan leather, if he has any regard for the
usefulness or the economies of his library, will use them in binding
books that are to possess permanent value in personal or public use. True
economy lies in employing the best description of binding in the first
instance.

When it is considered that the purposed object of book-binding is to
preserve in a shape at once attractive and permanent, the best and
noblest thoughts of man,