Bibliographic Essay on “Poems by the late William Cowper”

Bibliographic Information

Title: Poems by the Late William Cowper Embellished with Engravings and a Sketch of His Life

Divided in two volumes

Author: William Cowper (November 26, 1731 – April 25, 1800)

Illustrator: Richard Westwall (?)

Publisher: Printed by W. Lewis, published by WH Reid

Publication year: 1820

Language: English

Binding: Maroon morocco with both blind-stamped and gilt tampered decorative borders on covers. Raised bands on spine with gilt lettering and decorations. Gilt edge turn-ins. All edges gilt. Includes engraved title-pages, twelve engraved plates, and numerous vignettes in text. The illustrations are scenes from Cowper’s life and works.

Page count: Vol I – 388, Vol II. 400

Approximate value: $720

Donated by Mr. Robert M. Stephenson, Davidson College Class of 1928

Physical Description

            As noted above, the book is bound by maroon morocco and fashion blind-stamped and gilt tampered decorative borders on covers. Its leather cover material and its gold-tooled decorative pattern characterize the binding style. The book’s spines as well as its edges include gilt lettering and decorations. The book’s spine indicates the book’s volume. There are two volumes to this book, both of which are identical on the exterior, except for the variation of the fore-edge paintings’ subjects. Nonetheless, both volumes feature double fore-edge paintings.

Signature sections and numbers divide both volumes. In the first volume, each poem is titled followed by an epigraph and concluded with an illustration. The second volume is also divided by poems; nonetheless the appearance of epigraphs and illustrations is not as consistent as it is in the first volume. Title pages in both volumes feature the use of different fonts and different letter sizes. The word “poems” is large bold, and capitalized; the phrase “embellished with engravings” is all capitalized and italicized; the phrase “a sketch of his life” is bold and in an entirely different font. The eclectic use of fonts and letter sizes could serve for decorative purposes or to create a typographic hierarchy of the text. Each poem’s title, respective epigraph, and the poem’s body also appear in different fonts in both volumes. The first volume includes a biography of William Cowper (“The Life of William Cowper, Esq.”) whereas the second volume includes an advertisement from the book’s publisher.

There is no mention of the book’s binder, illustrator, or fore-edge painter. Nonetheless, after attempting to find additional copies of this edition in circulation, I came across a similar edition published in 1810. A rare book collecting website – Harrington Books dot com – attributes the illustrations from this edition to Richard Westall, a prolific English painter, illustrator, as well as Cowper’s contemporary. Further, this rare book collector credits the book’s binding to Taylor and Hessey, a British book-binding company that followed Edward and Halifax’s work. Both Edward and Halifax and Taylor and Hessey employed decorative and binding techniques that are reflected in the 1820 edition of Cowper’s poetry. Additionally, the 1810 edition of the book also includes twelve engraved copper plates. According to this website, Taylor and Hessey only signed their work “whenever the boards inside the leather were thick enough to carry the name of the firm.” The 1810 edition of the book, and the mention of its binder and illustrator, provides insight of the 1820 edition of the book’s unaccredited craftsmen.

Fore-Edge Paintings: a Sketch of Cowper’s Life

            As noted by the Boston Library’s website, the practice of fore-edge painting can be traced to the sixteenth century. First developed by Venetian artist Cesare Veciello, the embellishments were easily appreciated when the book covers were closed (“On the Edge: The Hidden Art of Fore-Edge Painting). A century later, Samuel Meare, a British bookbinder, developed the art of the “disappearing painting” on book’s fore-edge (“On the Edge: The Hidden Art of Fore-Edge Painting,” Boston Public Library). Using this method, the book’s fore-edge is painted and then covered in gold. The painting or paintings are revealed when the book’s pages are fanned. It is the latter type of fore-edge painting style that is characteristic of both volumes’ of Cowper’s poetry.

Since the artistry of the paintings cannot be accurately traced to a particular individual, it is important to analyze the paintings’ subjects. The 1820 edition of Cowper’s collection of poetry features a total of four hidden fore-edge paintings. Each volume contains a double fore-edge painting. These are individually revealed when fanning the book’s pages in opposite directions. Portraits of William Cowper, and Charles Churchill are displayed in the first volume, whereas portraits of George Romney and John Newton are displayed in the second. Cowper’s relationships with the individuals featured in the volumes’ fore-edge paintings shed light on biographical aspects of his life and contribute to the book’s visual narrative. In choosing to depict Cowper and the additional four individuals in the books’ fore-edges, the book binding and publishing companies mediate the audience’s response to Cowper’s work, determine how it should be read, and under which framework it should be analyzed.

The first fore-edge painting depicts William Cowper in East Dereham surrounded by blackberries and hares. Cowper settled in East Dereham with his wife, Mary Unwin, five years prior to his death in 1795. The reverse portrait in this volume shows Charles Churchill in Westminster, London surrounded by apple blossoms and goldfinches. Usually recognized as Cowper’s predecessor, Churchill was a British poet known for his “lampoons and polemical satires written in heroic couplets” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). In his essay, “Churchill’s Literary Influence on Cowper,” Morris Golden argues that Cowper borrowed from Churchill’s “poetic strategy” frequently and was a great admirer of Churchill’s work, as seen through their correspondence, as well as his eulogy in “Table Talk” – a poem included in the collection (657, 655). In placing Cowper and Churchill side-by-side in the first volume of Cowper’s collection, the bookbinders visually exploit the parallelisms of both poets’ works. This pictorial depiction, in turn, informs the audience’s reading of the text.

The third fore-edge painting shows George Romney in Rimini, Italy, surrounded by turtledoves and chestnut leaves. Romney, a fashionable painter of English society during the late 18^th century characterized by his style of “dispassionate flattery,” concocted a portrait of Cowper in 1792 (Encyclopedia Brittanica, National Portrait Gallery). According to the British National Portrait Gallery’s archive, Cowper posed for this portrait in William Hayley’s house. Hayley, also a friend of Romney, later wrote posthumous biography of Cowper. The portrait opposite to Romney’s depicts John Newton in the Olney Church, surrounded by bullfinch and honeysuckle. Newton, a slave ship captain turned evangelical Anglican cleric, served Olney and wrote the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Newton influenced Cowper’s religious sentiment and literary works during his time in Onley. Cowper’s co-written hymns with
Newton remain one of his most famous works. Although the nature of Cowper’s relationship to Romney is unclear, it seems as if Romney’s simplistic, clean-cut, and elegant portraits mirror Cowper’s recurrent poetic themes “of simple rural life and placid natural scenes” (Encyclopedia.com). Inferring that is the case, the bookbinder’s choice to place Newton and Romney together speaks to the styles and themes that characterize the second volume of Cowper’s collection.

A close reading of the fore-edge paintings characteristic of Cowper’s collection of poetry highlights the role these individuals played in Cowper’s personal narrative. Since this collection of poetry was published after Cowper’s death, the choice of the painted subject depended solely on the bookbinders and publishers. As a result of such, their individual readings of Cowper’s poetry invariably affect the audience’s collective reading of Cowper’s work and his life.

 Works Cited and Consulted

“William Cowper.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 8

Feb. 2016<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

“Westall, Richard” The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Ed Ian Chilvers.

Oxford University Press 2009 Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University

Press.

“George Romney”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Romney-British-painter>.

“William Cowper”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Cowper>.

“Charles Churchill”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Churchill>.

“Poems. Illustrated with Engravings from the Designs of Richard Westall – See

More At: Http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/pages/books/34471/taylor-and-hessey-r-westall-william-cowper/poems-illustrated-with-engravings-from-the-designs-of-richard-westall#sthash.8gyTSimG.dpuf.” Adrian Harrington Rare Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. <http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/pages/books/34471/taylor-and-hessey-r-westall-william-cowper/poems-illustrated-with-engravings-from-the-designs-of-richard-westall>.

“William Cowper.” National Portrait Gallery. National Portrait Gallery, n.d.

Web. 5 Feb. 2016. <http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01541/William-Cowper>.

Bromer, Anne C. “On the Edge The Hidden Art of Fore-Edge Book

Painting.” Boston Public Library. Boston Public Library, n.d. Web. <http://foreedge.bpl.org/node/923>.

Golden, Morris. “Churchill’s Literary Influence on Cowper.” The Journal of

English and Germanic Philology 58.4 (1959): 655-65. JSTOR. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/27707362?ref=search-gateway:c493a003f365af1fba5b7454b84b6aee>.