Susanne Schulz-Falster - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

THIS COLLECTION presents forty particularly splendid examples
of presentation or festival books, celebrating ingressi and nozze, i.e.
the assumption of public office or the marriage of members of distinguished
families. These books of congratulatory verse were produced
magnificently, sparing no expense, with charming vignettes and fully
decorated engraved borders. Whereas in the earlier books only the
title page was surrounded with a decorative border, later productions
increased the number from a few to up to twenty different borders,
repeated not in a haphazard but carefully orchestrated order. Unified
themes run through the series of borders, both in subject matter and
in style. Similar books had been produced in the earlier part of the
century, but these later productions are of particular significance. Not
only was ever greater emphasis placed on artistic decoration, but two
features emerged which ‘may be proposed as distinctive Venetian contributions
to the modern history of the illustrated book: first the comprehensive
decoration of books through open, free-floating, figurative
borders enlivening every page, text as well as plate; and second, decorative
paper bindings especially created for individual books or editions.’
(Robison, p. 353). Hobson commented on it earlier: ‘the
charming wrappers printed in colours from wood-blocks [were] the
special contribution of Venice to Italian eighteenth century binding’
(A. R. A. Hobson, French and Italian Collectors and their Bindings, p. 168).
The highly decorative publishers’ bindings, paper wrappers or
boards, are decorated with woodcuts or stencil-printed armorial designs
or embossed patterns. These bindings demonstrate the other distinctive
Venetian contribution to book history, ‘the practice of
preparing a distinctive binding for individual editions ... which is generally
regarded a result of nineteenth century industrialisation. However,
as can be seen in the sample of the eighteenth century Venetian
books, this practice of edition binding began earlier.’ The individual
bindings were characteristically highly decorative. ‘The Venetian designs
had distinct sections for the front cover, the spine, and the back
cover. The cover designs always had borders framing reserved central
areas. An ornamental shield with the general monogram VV (Viva
Venezia), a figurative vignette appropriate to the family, or an ornamental
shield with the specific arms or monogram of the celebrant to
whom the book was dedicated is often found on the lower cover. The
front cover, however, always had an ornamental shield containing the
specific arms of the celebrated nobleman for an ingresso, or in the case
of a wedding, the arms of one or both of the celebrating spouses.’
(Robison p. 354).
In some cases more than one publication accompanied a given
event. Cover designs were re-used, with distinctive colour combinations.
Binding designs were implemented in varying degrees of lavish-