Over 100 years in Batsford book covers
Fancy a journey through Batsford’s history? Enjoy a tour of Batsford book covers below that takes you on a journey through over a century.
by Paul Dimond.
Instances of Accessory Art
Lewis F Day, 1880
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With colour photolithographs by the proprietors of The British Architect, Day’s work shows his original designs and suggestive examples of ornament, with practical and critical notes. Two of the 30 sections of the book are on Japanese drawing and Japanese design, reflecting the strong influence of Japonisme at the time.
Historic Textile Fabrics
Richard Glazier, 1923
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This was the author’s second Batsford book, published posthumously. The publisher introduces the work as a survey of the evolution and changes of textile design, both woven and printed. Harry Batsford regretted in 1943 that this work had sold slowly, despite England’s greatness as a textile manufacturing country.
The Cathedrals of England
Harry Batsford and
Charles Fry, 1934
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Intended as a compact pictorial review of the cathedrals, with brief accounts of each, illustrated using the ‘resources of modern photography, with its transformed technique of lighting and effect’. The book has 133 plates. Thirty-two sketches and the jacket are by Brian Cook, and a colour frontispiece of Lincoln is by watercolourist Frederick Mackenzie. The book remains in Batsford’s backlist after nine decades.
Corsets and Crinolines
Norah Waugh, 1954
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Originally studying the history
of costume, the author taught costume work, joined the Ministry of Information in WWII and worked in the Press Department of the Embassy at Moscow, before returning to research at the Central School
of Arts and Crafts in London. The book traces the evolution of the fashion silhouette.
English Children’s Books
Percy Muir, 1954 and 1975
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The author was an amateur book collector turned antiquarian bookseller. He was President of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and later of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. The first edition of this book, in 1954, was dedicated as a colleague and friend to Dr Edgar S Oppenheimer of New York (‘My dear Oppenheimer’), a fellow collector to whom Muir had sold most of the Bussell Collection. Muir noted that this made him the owner of by far the finest collection in existence of children’s books of all nations. Muir’s book includes 107 illustrations, a few in colour, and in it he focuses on books intended for entertainment, from the 17th century to 1900. He concludes by describing the account as of the ‘gradual and often reluctant realisation that children were meant to enjoy life in their own right, and to a great extent, on their own terms’. The jackets of these two editions use the same Kate Greenaway illustration but on differing background colours and front cover decoration. The bindings are also in different colours.
Icelandic Folktales and Legends
Jacqueline Simpson, 1972
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The author was co-author with Professor G N Garmondsway of the Penguin English Dictionary and then wrote on medieval Icelandic literature. Preceding a long run of Batsford folklore books on the British regions later in the 70s, this work is a selection of translations from the two volumes of Icelandic tales of Jón Árnason in 1862–64. Simpson also wrote for Batsford Everyday Life in the Viking Age. The jacket is by Yvonne Dedman.
English Traditional Customs
Christina Hole, 1990
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A re-written version of this book, first published in 1975. The jacket was by Gay John Galsworthy.
More about The Book Cover.
The Book Cover is a stunning visual celebration of Batsford Books’ extraordinary design legacy.
Founded in 1843, Batsford Books are the UK’s oldest independent trade publisher with a reputation for publishing beautifully designed books in subjects including architecture, heritage, textiles, art, and design.
A unique celebration of Batsford’s rich heritage, The Book Cover has been curated by Paul Dimond, a former diplomat and collector who has spent the last forty years sourcing Batsford titles from bookshops across the globe to add to his 1200 copy collection. Including photographs of 150 years of iconic Batsford jackets, The Book Cover not only showcases the company’s distinguished history of design, but the history of the book cover as an art form in its own right.
