[Rarebooks] FS: Collection of over 300 Margaret Armstrong bindings

[Boston Book Company]

May we offer:

A collection of more than 300 items of the works of Margaret Neilson 
Armstrong, the preeminent designer of trade bindings in the United States.

According to her brother, Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Armstrong began 
her art career in 1883 at the age of 16. She created menus and other 
small pieces for local establishments. Helen soon followed in her 
footsteps, and the two began designing original Christmas cards for 
the family. In Those Days, Hamilton wrote that "Margaret was the 
better at design, Helen at figures." Armstrong's first book design, 
in 1890, was for the Chicago publisher A. C. McClurg.

During her long career, Armstrong designed for a variety of 
publishing houses, although she worked most frequently for Charles 
Scribner's Sons and G. P. Putnam. In 1893, the twenty-five-year-old 
designer won an award for her book covers, which had been exhibited 
at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. And the following 
year, the Grolier Club published a catalog of book artists that 
described her as a "designer of great versatility and eminent skill" 
whose "skill in adapting, combining, and creating designs which are 
almost flawless in excellence has made her book covers famous."

Many of Armstrong's book covers were groundbreaking, especially in 
the integration of type and image. She developed her own type 
alphabet, which can be seen in most of her designs from 1895 to 1910. 
The most readily identifiable aspect of her original typography is a 
capital R that has an exaggeratedly curving descender. In their 
invaluable reference Margaret Armstrong and American Trade Bindings, 
Charles Gullans and John Espey call Armstrong's handling of 
typography "eccentric, pleasing, and as recognizable as handwriting." 
It was during this period that the designer also began to incorporate 
her monogram (MA) into many covers and illustrations.

Armstrong's designs, which often include stylized floral motifs, were 
undoubtedly influenced by popular Art Nouveau styles of the day. In 
Artists of the Book in Boston, 1890-1910, Nancy Finlay also points 
out the specific influences of artists John La Farge, Elihu Vedder 
(another family friend), Walter Crane, and Kate Greenaway. 
Armstrong's covers often display a combination of bright, richly 
colored cloth and contrasting ink. Although her designs were popular 
and even copied in her day, Armstrong didn't always rely upon a 
standard formula. Her design for the 1903 Hans Brinker, for example, 
is quite unusual for her.

Armstrong's popularity led her to design multiple covers for some 
publishers. This sometimes enabled her to create a particular look 
for the repeated work of an individual author. Some of her most 
recognizable designs, including those for the books of Washington 
Irving, Frances Hodgson Burnett, George Washington Cable, Myrtle 
Reed, and Henry van Dyke, are examples of such designs. During 
Armstrong's most prolific period, from 1894 through 1896, she was 
busy designing covers (and sometimes interior illustrations) for a 
total of 78 different titles! Her success, which led her to design 
books by Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hardy, inspired 
many other women designers to join the field.

Today, Armstrong's books are included in the collections of UCLA and 
the Huntington Library. Her designs became scarce and rose sharply in 
value after UCLA's catalog of her titles was first published in 1968. 
They have continued to grow in popularity since the 1980s and are 
widely sought by private collectors. This collection includes 
examples of work from all periods of Armstrong's career, including 
books written by Armstrong, those designed in collaboration with her 
sister, and those mentioned in the above text. It also includes 
Armstrong's exceptionally fine bindings of works by Paul Laurence 
Dunbar, the Brownings, and John Greenleaf Whittier.

The price for the collection is $25,000.00.

To view images, please visit: http://www.rarebook.com/margaret.htm

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