[Paul Elder Rarity- In Original Glassine Wrappers and Box, Designed by Robert Hyde] Guest Book

San Francisco: Paul Elder & Company, 1909.

First Edition. Oblong folio (11 Ω x 8 Ω inches). In full ochre yellow fine silk cloth binding with glassine wrapper and matching two-part box lined with same cloth fabric. Smaller than variant below, in wrapper and box. Fine condition. Illustrated endpapers. A fabulous production, and excessively rare, this illustrated guest book has verses by Guiterman, a popular humorist poet of the day, and with exquisite color double-spread title page with large gilt-blocked background and bold, vibrant colorations, and design-work repeated on every page in green and black, all by Robert W. Hyde. Each page with a different verse by Guiterman at the top, in red. Unpaginated, but circa 100pp. Fine Condition. Robert Wilson Hyde combined the style of medieval book illumination with modern purposes to create popular works of art. He met Susan McKee, who urged him to pursue his artistic interests, and in 1902, the Hydes arrived in Santa Barbara where they found a burgeoning arts and crafts colony. Hyde produced one-of-a-kind volumes with leather covers and pages of parchment, written in beautiful Gothic calligraphy and illustrated in luminescent colors. He produced wedding albums, guest books, family registers, and special volumes for holidays. As one writer put it, Hyde was adapting ìto modern purposes and ideas, the work of the monks of the Middle Ages.î Hyde developed a national reputation. A most scarce and desirable item. In fine condition.

Price: $1,750.00   Item #6156