A binding fit for the Gilded Age

The War of the Roses binding is an extraordinary work of artistry and craftmanship Léon Maillard of the Club Bindery. So is the book that it houses: the Pavier quartos, an early attempt at printing a collection of Shakespeare’s plays. Learn the story behind this unique book and binding, now gracing journals and accessories produced in partnership with Paperblanks.

Fine bookbinding comes to America

In the late 19^th century, a group of wealthy American book collectors—all members of the Grolier Club, North America’s oldest bibliophilic society—founded the Club Bindery in New York. They wanted to bring fine bookbinding to the United States that could rival the finest binderies of Europe. Conveniently, it also meant that they no longer needed to ship their prized books overseas.

In 1897, Grolier Club member Robert Hoe, an extensive collector of rare books, silver, miniatures, and other objets d’art, brought artisan Léon Maillard to New York. Maillard was considered one of the finest book finishers in Paris at the time. As a finisher, Maillard specialized in the addition of decorative elements to bound books, from lettering on the spine to decorative elements on the covers to gilding the page edges. He used punches, stamps, and chisels to transform books into works of art.

At the Club Bindery, Maillard turned his exceptional finishing skills to the production of extraordinary bindings for Hoe and others. He worked with great intensity. He insisted on working in a room by himself. He produced bindings of outstanding quality, incorporating the very best materials, but they were expensive and only available to the most wealthy collectors.

Over time there was not enough work for Maillard and the other artisans at the Club Bindery. It dissolved in April 1909. Maillard and some of his associates moved to Cleveland where they reopened as the Rowfant Bindery. But that firm also encountered financial problems. Maillard was reduced to selling electric carpet sweepers. He took his own life in 1921.

Bindings created by the Club Bindery

The War of the Roses binding

Maillard created the War of the Roses binding for Hoe in 1907. It enclosed a copy of the Pavier quartos, an early attempt at publishing a collection of plays believed to be by Shakespeare. It was printed by William Jaggard in 1619 for Thomas Pavier, whose initials appear on the title pages of several of the plays. Jaggard would later publish the 1623 First Folio.

Sold singly as individual plays, the Pavier quartos could also be purchased as a bound-together set of all 10 plays. Today, there are only two complete extant copies, one at Texas Christian University and the other at the Folger—the Edward Gwynn copy which is still in its original binding.

The Folger collection includes multiple copies of the Pavier quartos. The copy bound by Maillard included two Shakespeare plays: The Whole Contention betweene the two Famous Houses, Lancaster and York—now believed to be a shortened corrupt version of Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3—and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The three Henry VI plays along with Richard III, sometimes referred to as the first Henriad, cover the entire Wars of the Roses saga. (The second Henriad includes Richard II; Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2; and Henry V.)

Maillard contrasted the volume’s red goatskin covering with 28 virtually perfect leather onlays of green goatskin in different shapes. Maillard’s artistry is seen in the detailed tooling—scrolls (volutes), flowers and leaves (fleurons), and elaborate borders—that fills the front and back covers. The decorative elements are luxuriously finished in 23-karat gold. Lettering along the spine says: “SHAKESPEARE—WHOLE CONTENTION AND PERICLES” near the top and “LONDON 1619” close to the bottom of the book, the text interspersed between decorative elements repeated from the covers. Additional lettering includes Robert Hoe’s monogram, the date and place of publication and artisan: “THE CLUB  BINDERY 1907” and “LEON MAILLARD FINISHER.”

Henry Folger acquired this rare book in 1912 at an auction of Hoe’s rare book collection. Interestingly, almost half of the items at the auction, including a Gutenberg Bible, were purchased by another great American collector, Henry Huntington.