Updates

The Mosher website has been updated numerous times from January to mid July, including:

• All plug-ins have bee updated.
• Contact info. has been updated.
• SEO improvements made.
• Added article “New Acquisitions—Assoc. copies, Vellum Imprints & Cosway Binding”. 
• Several pages have been newly edited.
• Census for vellum imprint holdings was updated.
• WordPress version was updated.
• Updated site to PHP 8.0
• Updated all themes.
• Commissioned a complete performance report.
• Optimized images, and optimized site for best performance.
• Eliminated inactive themes and plug-ins.

March 7, 2022

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip,  R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. A picture laden essay on an important sixth Broca binding to enter the Bishop Collection of Thomas Bird Mosher and The Mosher Books, entitled “ The Weight of the Wait The Backstory to a Broca Binding’s Acquisition.” This also includes more information on the owner F. T. Hubbard of Harvard and the Charles E. Lauriat Co. of Boston.

February 2, 2022

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. Three essays are here presented:  (1) John Quinn’s copy of The Bibelot, with an appendix of advertisers across all 20 volumes of The Bibelot, (2) The Story of Amis & Amile, Illuminated by Marie Hoke, and (3) Other Acquisitions and Updates. These write-ups present the latest to enter The Bishop Collection of Thomas Bird Mosher and The Mosher Books.

August 4, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. The Personal Side of a Collector’s Acquisitions—The H. W. Poor / C. F. Bishop Copy #2 on Vellum of FATHER DAMIEN from the Club Bindery. This is the newest of Mosher’s vellum printed books to enter the Bishop Collection, bringing the total up to 40 vellum Mosher books. In this case it’s in a magnificent binding from the Club Bindery.   Presented is the story behind the acquisition. Also included is a gift of Mark Samuels Lasner to the collection. 

Two entries added to Books Printed on Roman Vellum in the Bishop Collection:

• Anodos {Miss Elizabeth Coleridge]. FANCY’S FOLLOWING, 1900. Copy No. 3 of 4 printed on American vellum. Bound in flexible vellum with ties. Vellum proof of spine and cover decorations bound at the rear. The Gertrude Cowdin copy.
• Stevenson, Robert Louis. FATHER DAMIEN—An Open Letter to the Reverend Doctor Hyde of Honolulu from Robert Louis Stevenson, 1905. Copy No. 2 of 4 printed on Roman vellum. The Henry William Poor – Cortlandt Field Bishop copy. Bound by the Club Bindery in 1906 in full red crushed morocco with extra gilt tooling, inlaid ornaments, and red morocco doublures. Signed by Mosher.

Updated the Vellum Census PDF (Vellum Printed Books in Major Mosher Collections).

Updated the number of books printed on real vellum from 38 to 40.

June 27, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “A. A. Turbayne’s Designed Bindings Executed by Lucy Gilchrist Wrightson.” The newest binding to enter the Bishop  Collection is on a Mosher’s edition of In Praise of Omar. The binding’s background was thoroughly researched leading to a very interesting connection to A. A. Turbayne which is now firmly established. The binding is indeed designed by A. A. Turbayne, the Boston born, Canadian educated, and designer whose professional life was established in England. It was bound by Lucy Gilchrist Wrightson for Turbayne, and the discovery is yet another example of Turbayne’s evolving design style around 1905. It is hoped this essay may lead another researcher to do a fuller treatment on Turbayne as designer. It is also hoped that Wrightson will also receive more attention as an accomplished binder.

May 8, 2021

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “A Unique Rockwell Kent Designed Binding, and the Rockwell Kent Review Article It Prompted.” This unique binding design Rockwell Kent used on the text-block of Thomas Bird Mosher’s edition of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult(Mosher, 1922) is here presented along with the entire article as it just appears in the Rockwell Kent Review.  Kent’s own title-page was inserted in place of Thomas Bird Mosher’s, and the whole was bound by Donnelley of Chicago to Kent’s specifications. The editor of the Rockwell Kent Review notes, “…Kent designed the special binding for his wife’s personal copy of Tristran and Iseult, a simple graphic that would be repurposed to greater glory and mystery, as resolved here by Phil Bishop.”—p. [1]

August 27, 2020

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “LEAPS & BOUNDS: New Acquisitions after May 2020” updates the material which has entered the Mosher Collection since the end of May. Included are (1) a number of books from Mosher’s library, some of which are significant to the Mosher bibliography, (2) a Mosher association surrounding a three-volume set of The Idylls and Epigrams of Theocritus…, (3) two vellum printings, one being the William F. Gable copy of MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN with a lovely full-page inscription by T. B. Mosher, (4) an Arts & Crafts binding by Grace Parrish of St. Louis, and (5) other sundries including an announcement of an upcoming article in the Rockwell Kent Review. A new comparative census of vellum printings of the Mosher Books is also now newly provided.

Three entries added to Books Printed on Roman Vellum in the Bishop Collection:

• Symonds, John Addington. FRAGILIA LABILIA, 1902. Copy No. 3 of 5 printed on Roman vellum, signed by the publisher. Bound in decorated suede calf, doublures of brown morocco and elaborate gilt lotus designs. the Gertrude Cowdin copy.
• Tynan, Katherine. A LITTLE BOOK OF XXIV CAROLS, 1907. Copy #1 of 5 printed on Roman vellum, signed by Mosher. In sheet and slipcase.
• Whitman, Walt. MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 1912. Large quarto, copy No. 3 of 10 signed by Mosher, printed on heavy gauge Roman vellum and bound in classic vellum with silk ties. The William F. Gable copy with Mosher’s full page inscription to Gable on December 20, 1912: “My dear Gable, I feel much flattered that you should decide upon owning a copy of the greatest poem by the greatest poet upon the greatest American that ever lived. To have my name associated with theirs, as publisher only, is to my mind the most covetable thing I have done, or may ever hope to do in the years, few or many, remaining to me. Ever your friend, Thomas Bird Mosher.” Frontispiece photo-portrait of Lincoln on vellum. Mosher himself described it as a choice book “that princes may complete for but only Huntingtons can buy.”–Mosher to W. Irving Way, July 15, 1914.

Update counts on The Bishop Collection page:

• Increase books printed on real vellum from 34 to 38.
• Increase full and three quarter leather bindings exhibiting some of the finest work of English and American binders from 360 to 435.

June 8, 2020

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “New Acquisitions to the Bishop Collection of Thomas Bird Mosher and the Mosher Press” updates the material which has entered the Mosher Collection since September 2019. Included is a write-up on a special signed and inscribed copy of Deirdrê and the Sons of Usna by some of the attendees at A KELTIC EVENING in Manhattan, 1906; numerous special Mosher Press books; and three books from Mosher’s library, including one which is the original source text for his publication, The Dead Leman. The remainder of the article canvasses the newly acquired fine bindings on Mosher publications which have been added to the collection’s over 400 other bindings. Addendum: Yet another has entered the fold, this being a Morrell binding it took 27 years to acquire.

September 15, 2019

Entry added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

Bishop, Philip R. “Dating Two Bindings by Master Binder, Leonard Mounteney, on Mosher Press Vellum Books” which reveals an outstanding provenance of the Bishop Collection copy of The Germ and likewise the San Francisco Public Library copy of Marius the Epicurean. Includes the process of determining the approximate date of these two fine Leonard Mounteney bindings. The second article is “A Panoply of Acquisitions and Other Updates” with interesting detailed information on new books from Mosher’s library, some fine bindings newly acquired, the long path to acquiring a vellum printing of John Symonds’s Fragilia Labilia, and three association books with one being an interesting copy of a Mosher edition inscribed by Hilaire Belloc and another being a very charming inscription by Mosher to Horace Traubel. Lastly, several gifts to the collection are reported in detail.

February 3, 2019

Entries added to Research and Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

1. Bishop, Philip R. “Summary of Acquisitions to the Mosher Collection 2018 through January 2019” details 30 items (or groups of items) newly entered into the collection, and “Léon Maillard’s ‘La Flore Ornamentale’ Masterpiece / Exhibition Binding on one of four vellum copies of D. G. Rossetti’s Poems (Mosher, 1902)” which presents the binding itself and the acquisition process.

Entries added to Books Printed on Roman Vellum in the Bishop Collection:

1. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. POEMS, 1902. Copy No. 2 of 4. Bound by Léon Maillard of the Club Bindery. The William Henry Poor copy.
2. Symons, Arthur. LYRICS, 1903. Copy No. 3 of 10 printed on Roman vellum and bound by Eleanore I. Swerigen.

October 14, 2018

Entries added to Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

1. Bishop, Philip R. “Richard Jefferies launches an American Collector’s Passion” in The Richard Jefferies Society Journal—Richard Jefferies: The View from Abroad edited by Peter Robins and Jean Saunders, No. 33. Norfolk, England, [June] 2018, pp. 129-135. Mosher is also mentioned on pp. 7, 68, 139-143. The electronic online PDF version of the Journal is presently available. [Updated to include PDF link.]

February 25, 2018

Entries added to Publications by Philip R. Bishop:

1. Bishop, Philip R. “Richard Jefferies launches an American Collector’s Passion” in The Richard Jefferies Society Journal—Richard Jefferies: The View from Abroad edited by Peter Robins and Jean Saunders, No. 33. Norfolk, England, [June] 2018, pp. 129-135. Mosher is also mentioned on pp. 7, 68, 139-143. A link to the electronic on-line version of the Journal will be forthcoming in June.
2. Bishop, Philip R. “Acquisitions to the Mosher Press Collection” updates the items acquired for the Mosher Collection since July 2016, including books from Mosher’s library, Mosher letters added to the collection, some unusual miscellaneous items acquired, report on an article recently published, other assistance to scholars, the addition of another Mosher book printed on vellum, Mosher publications in fine bindings newly acquired, and the recent acquisition of two Mitchell Kennerley letters (including a copy of a rare privately printed book for Belle da Costa Greene of the Morgan Library). February 25, 2018
3. [Bishop, Philip R., subject] Sebastian, Pradeep. “Philip R. Bishop: foremost Mosher scholar and collector” in the “Books” column for The Hindu. Chennai (Madras), India, December 3, 2016. He also wrote a review of Rebecca Rego Barry’s book Rare Books Uncovered—True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places (2015) in which he selected Bishop’s specially bound vellum copy of The Germ as his “personal favourite” story in the book. That Dec. 5, 2015 review can be seen here. Pradeep Sebastian is a bibliophile, columnist, critic, and author of The Groaning Shelf and Other Instances of Book Love (2010) and most recently The Book Hunters of Katpadi: A Bibliomystery (2017).

Entry added to Books Printed on Roman Vellum in the Bishop Collection:

1. Villon. BALLADS DONE INTO ENGLISH FROM THE FRENCH OF FRANCOIS VILLON, 1904. Translations by D. G. Rossetti, A. C. Swinburne and John Payne. Copy No. 3 of 10. Bound by Stern & Bess in full burnt-orange crushed morocco with gilt rules on board edges, gilt across raised bands and around all compartments.