All about the Folger Library, Owned by a Long-Time director and in a Fine Binding by Former Conservator John Franklin Mowery

INFINITE VARIETY. EXPLORING THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY.

(BINDINGS - MOWERY). (FOLGER LIBRARY). FERRINGTON, ESTHER Editor.

(Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2002). 220 x 280 mm. (8 3/4 x 11"). 222 pp., [1] leaf. FIRST EDITION.

LOVELY OCHER GOATSKIN BY JOHN FRANKLIN MOWERY (stamp-signed "JFM 2002" on rear turn-in), covers with blind-ruled frame surrounding seven columns of increasing height, filled with a dense geometric pattern featuring small inlays highlighted in red and green, smooth spine ruled and titled in blind. In a black slipcase with matching goatskin lip.
Numerous color photographic plates in the text throughout. Bookplate of Werner L. Gundersheimer on front pastedown (see below). A VERY FINE COPY--virtually unworn, and internally pristine.

This beautifully produced celebration of the Folger Shakespeare Library comes from the personal collection of its Emeritus Director, and is offered in a fine binding executed by its former Head Conservator. Our binder, J. Franklin Mowery, studied bookbinding under Professor Kurt Londenberg at the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste (Academy of Art) in Hamburg, and trained as a paper conservator under Otto Wächter in Vienna, before returning to the U.S, where he served as the head of conservation at the Folger for 37 years. At the same time, he continuing to take private binding commissions, for which he was highly acclaimed, even having a solo show of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1982. Produced on the 70th anniversary of the Folger Shakespeare Library, "Infinite Variety" aims, as the introduction says, to fill the "long-felt need" for a "comprehensive survey of [the library's] collections and activities for the general public," with contributions from many of the library's staff members, including Mowery. The binding demonstrates Mowery's skill, the buttery goatskin tooled with precision to a design that is elegantly designed, complex, and yet slightly whimsical (not unlike the works of Shakespeare). According to Mowery's article "A Binder's Training" ("Guild of Book Workers' Journal," XX, 1981-82), the blind-stamping technique seen here was "particularly favored by Professor Londenberg" and often employed by Mowery for the range of design possibilities it offers. The method uses dies to stamp the patterns: "a photographic process can transfer any black and white image onto zinc plates that are deeply etched and mounted onto type-high metal blocks for heated impressions or onto wood for cold embossing." Former owner Werner L. Gundersheimer (b. 1937) served as the director of the Folger from 1984-2002, and has served as Director Emeritus since 2004. His tenure was marked by growth in the library's collections as well as increased academic fellowships and public outreach. (ST21189)

Price: $6,000.00