Williamson, Emma S. The Book of Beauty (late Victorian Era): A Collection of Beautiful Portraits with Literary, Artistic, and Musical Contributions by Men and Women of the Day. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1896.

The Book of Beauty is a large gold encrusted text that includes portraits of England’s perception of beauty and what is not beauty. This text also includes one or two page introductions to the actual picture. The Book of Beauty is 39 mm by 30 mm. It weighs about ten pounds and is too large to leave the home. The front of the bind and the back of the bind has the same elaborate gold design on a black leather binding. There is a plane leather spot of the front that looks like the title belongs there. However, the title is stamped on the spine. Like Vanity Fair, The Book of Beauty has five raises leather separations on the spine for decoration. This could be a new binding or a binding that mocked an old design.

Many exerts are inspiration and include the message of hope. My favorite quote in this text is “No Man is lost who has not lost his hope.”  I believe this message represents the people of England in a very positive manner and brings me to believe this was the type of message Queen Victoria heard as a child. Many pictures in this text that were “not beautiful” were too modern for their time period. Woman who showed too much skin were provocative and labeled not beautiful.

Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford. A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1891.

A Thousand Miles Up the Nile is a book that’s binding and illustrations caught my eye. Made from leather, the cover art features many different color cobinations with black, brown, white, and gold. The cover features gilt lettering, gilt camels and pyramids and collided illustrations in a city streets.  This novel is about t is a about the Nile River and Egypt.  The author Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards travelled throughout Egypt at a time when most women didn’t leave home. This book looks like a modern novel in the way the words fit on the page and the size of the actual novel. 

The Art Journal llustrated Catalogue. London: G. Virtue, 1851.

The Art Journal llustrated Catalogue is a 32 mm by 25mm book that has leather and brown cloth bindings and has a stamped gilded design on the cover. Prior to the cover page, there is a frontispiece, which is a picture on the front. The pages are made from a thick cardboard and have gilded edges. Each page has about a 2 inch blank border.

The Art Journal llustrated Catalogue gives an insight to the different exhibitions of the Victorian era. One of the categories people could submit work to was called the decorative art. This book is a collection of the decorative art from exhibitions. Art Journal llustrated Catalogue was published in 1851 when decorative books were becoming popular. Because of this, I was surprised when the cover and binding seemed very plan. Other than the front illustration, there aren’t any other decorative designs on the cover.

Thackeray, William M. Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848.

Vanity Fair is bound in dark blue leather and with a thin gold border. There isn’t a design in neither the front nor the back. The spine of Vanity Fair is gold stamped with five raised leather separations. There are also gold decorations and gilded edges. The front and back inside panels have elaborate designs with almost a peacock feather look. The colors used are blue and browns with gold designed borders. The pages feel very tight and are hard to flip, which shows that this book was not read very often.

Vanity Fair is a novel about a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity. This is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things. This piece of work is still published and remains a popular novel. This novel is 21 mm by 13 mm. This is the size of a book you would find for sale at a book store today.

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1853.

Charles Dickens’ Bleak House is a collection of 20 numbers issued monthly, from March, 1852, to September, 1853. These are illustrated in blue paper covers. Each number contains two plates except number 9 and 10, which contain one and three. A printed note in number 9 explains the reason for this.  However, that issue is missing from the collection.

Bleak House is a novel published in 20 monthly issues. It known to be Dickens's best novel and includes several characters and sub-plots. A novel that is broke into several different paperbacks is something that is not seen today. However, I think that would actually be a great way to release a book as it less of a time commitment and suspenseful. 

Irving, Henry. The Drama: Addresses. New York: Tait, 1893.

The Drama is filled with knowledge about the Victoria period without even opening the book. The text is written on a small portion of the page with lots of white space, which shows that the owner of this copy was very wealthy. The pages are also manually cut because of the gather. This is called deckled edges. These books would come printed uncut and the buyer had to manually cut them. The text itself is written by Irving to describe personal experiences as an actor and to give advice to someone perusing a career in acting. “The cardinal secret of success in acting are found within, while practice is the surest way of fertilizing in these germs,” says Irving. He explains you cannot be taught how to be a great actor. While there are schools for acting, you must have the endurance on your own as well. This piece was very similar to Stage Confidences in the way that it did not play up the profession of the theater and did not make it overly glamorous. The edition is limited to only 300 copies. Each copy is signed and number, of which this is number 177. This means that this book was probably expensive and hard to come by. The Drama is a cloth bound with gilt decoration of the outlined face of Henry Irving, the author, on the front cover. The spine and front and back covers are stained. Before the title page, there is an illustration. This is called a frontispiece. My first impression of this book was very boring. There wasn’t much detail to the bindings or the cover pages. However, I found that the simple details provided information about its time.

Holmes, Richard. Queen Victoria. London, 1897.

The novel titled “Queen Victoria” is the story of the Queen of England beginning with her mother’s pregnancy and ending with Queen Victoria’s death. The author, Grace Greenwood, writes a fact driven story that emphasizes how the people of the Victorian era perceived their high royalty. This book was originally published in London in 1883, but was also printed again in New York.

The author mentions the way the Queen viewed herself as a child as being “dull.” However, the text reveals that her life was anything but that. Her days as a child were filled with studying, working, exercising, and recreational playing.  She was a very modest woman in comparison to other woman in power. The book also explains that the ““the lack of fortune in the family [as a child] was not an unmixed evil; perhaps it was even one of the those disagreeable blessings in disguise.” She was a thoughtful courteous woman from day one and was very family-orientated, making sure to stay close with her siblings and mother. The text also quotes one of Queen Victoria’s loyal subjects mentioning what a kind woman Queen Victoria really was. 

This piece of work portrays the queen as the exception in Victorian royalty. The text repeats what a humble role model she was for England and the random acts of kindness she gave to her country. This specific text targets an English demographic, which is at least college level.

The title of the book is printed red and black ink and is illustrated by reproductions from pictures in royal collections. This book is bound in a paperback format, which is very cheap and flimsy. However, I do not think this was the original binding. “Queen Victoria” has deckled edges that were once bound together. There is lots of white space on each page, which shows the price. Also, the paper used is a very thick cardboard. This book is 31 mm by 25 mm.

Rowton, Frederic. Cyclopedia of Female Poets, Chronologically Arranged With Copious Selections and Critical Remarks. Philadelphia: Lippinocott, 1850.

Cyclopedia of Female Poets is a 24 mm by 16 mm cloth bonded book. It has gilded pages and has elaborate stamping in gold and black. It also has large white borders, leaving lots of extra space. This book is filled with illustrations and poems from women poets. 

Paul, Howard, and George Gebbie. The Stage and Its Stars Past and Present: A Gallery of Dramatic Illustration and Critical Biographies of Distinguished English and American Actors from the Time of Shakespeare Till To-Day. Philadelphia: Gebbie, 1890.

The Stage and Its Stars Past and Present is a hardcover large book published in 1890 that shows illustrations from theatrical performances and includes biographies of English and American actors from Shakespearian time. This book is bonded with leather and is stamped with gold. Also on the front cover, is a design with fireworks and dramatic faces. Each page is a thick high-quality paper and has lots of empty space. Usually, books that had empty space on the pages were more expensive. 

The edges of the paper are gilded and are very flashy. There is no design on any of the inside covers of this page. The Stage and Its Stars Past and Present weighs around twelve pounds, which leaves me to believe that this book stayed in one place more often than not. Books that were published in this size were to be shown off in homes as a prized possession. The gilded papers, leather bindings, and stamped design, show the high price to others. Unlike other books for the Victorian era, The Stage and Its Stars Past and Present has survives its years. The book is left in very good conditions with only little wear and tear. It is evident that the publisher or binder assembled the text block and the binding of this book separately via hand. There is gold stitching around the edges of the leather. Inside the book, the illustrations resemble photographs. Each photograph belongs to a play description. With the production of “Gladiators in the Amphitheatre,” there are several drawings that fit certain key scene. These illustrations make feel as if you are watching the play through the book. Because of the lack of technology during the Victorian era, books were the closest thing to reliving the actual event. 

The Comic Almanac: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest Containing “All Things Fitting for Such a Work.” London, 1839-1842.

The Comic Almanac included short jokes and riddles along for each month in one. It also included things like the sunset times, days of lent, recipes, and advertisements. Inside was also detailed art that went along with the text. These were very cartoony drawings and usually an over exaggeration of pop culture. This piece of work was something that every household had in their living room and played a large role in the sense of entertainment. The front of this binding is a red, white, and blue design with a red and gold spine. Because the interesting designs, it could have easily been a book on display in a family’s home. The cover of this book is made out of a paper material, but the spine is red leather. For this book, a family could look up their birthday and find a joke. It was something for everyday entertainment. Today, the Internet has replaced The Comic Almanac. We no longer need a book to tell us about holidays or recipes, which is why this book has now become an artifact.