Sibylline Leaves - Coleridge - Antique Book

[Figs. 1-3: Blue-green Moroccan goat leather, embossed and gilded hardcover.] [Figs. 4: "Sibylline Leaves" bound by William Zaehnsdorf. The coat of arms of Robert T. Hamilton Bruce (1846-1899) is visible on the cover.] [Fig. 5: Delicate headbands stitched by William Zaehnsdorf.] [Fig. 6: Gilt tooling mark from the Zaehnsdorf workshop.] [Fig. 7: Title page of "Sibylline Leaves."] [Fig. 8: The beginning of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from "Sibylline Leaves."] [Fig. 9: A portrait of Coleridge at age 42, painted by his American friend, poet, and painter Washington Allston (1779-1843).] Author: S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834) Title: "Sibylline Leaves," 308 pages (missing pp. 157-160 / 279-280). Imprint: London: Rest Fenner, 1817. Technique: Letterpress printing. Blue-green Moroccan goat leather, embossed and gilded hardcover, gilded fore-edges, olive green thistle gilded leather pastedowns, with "Bound by Zaehnsdorf" gilt lettering below the front flyleaf. Date: 1817. Dimensions: Folio (23 x 15 cm) (BO 58). Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was a renowned English poet, philosopher, and critic. As a poet, Coleridge greatly influenced his contemporaries, including the Romantic poets William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Lord Byron (1788-1824), John Keats (1795-1821), and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). As a philosopher and theologian, he sought to reconcile reason and religion, becoming a significant proponent of 19th-century Anglo-American idealism and the Broad Church Movement. His most famous poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), is considered the dawn of British Romantic literature. The poem tells the story of a mariner blown off course by a storm into Antarctic seas, who later leaves the ice-bound waters with the guidance of an albatross. The mariner then shoots the albatross, leading to misfortune for the entire crew. This narrative was inspired by James Cook's second voyage of exploration (1772-1775). This volume, "Sibylline Leaves," contains his finest poems from 1793 to 1817. While some poems had been published earlier, this collection features eight previously unpublished works, along with a poem by his American friend, the poet and painter Washington Allston (1779-1843). "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was first published in 1798 in "Lyrical Ballads," co-authored with Wordsworth. However, Coleridge continued to revise it, and it was not until this collection, "Sibylline Leaves," that the poem reached its definitive form, making this volume particularly significant. The binding of this book comes from the Zaehnsdorf bindery. Founded in London around 1842 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf (1816-1886), this bindery was family-operated until 1947, producing many outstanding examples of bookbinding. Joseph initially trained in workshops in Stuttgart and Vienna before arriving in London in 1837. He gained recognition from the then-royal binder James Mackenzie, under whom he apprenticed. By the 1860s, the Zaehnsdorf workshop was among London's most highly skilled. Following Joseph's death in 1886, his son William (Joseph William Zaehnsdorf) inherited the business. He simultaneously opened a space for binding courses and exhibitions, eventually becoming the appointed binder to King Edward VII (1814-1910) and King George V (1865-1936) by the turn of the century. William retired in the 1920s, and the workshop was passed to his son Ernest. After World War II, this esteemed workshop was sold and changed hands several times before being acquired by another renowned London bindery, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, in 1988. According to a manuscript accompanying the book, this particular binding was created by William Zaehnsdorf in 1894 for Robert T. Hamilton Bruce (1846-1899), a prominent merchant from Glasgow, Scotland. The merchant's initials, R.T.B., are visible throughout the binding. William Zaehnsdorf developed the patterns for the front and back covers based on the geometric strapwork favored by the 16th-century bibliophile Jean Grolier (1479-1565), pressing the merchant's coat of arms into the center. The motif of a horse's head and the inscription "Ride thro / Be Crew / By it we live" symbolize the merchant's aspirational spirit, while the thistle motif signifies his Scottish heritage, as the thistle is the national flower of Scotland. Bruce was also an art collector, amassing a significant collection of Barbizon and Hague School paintings, which are still housed today in his former residence, Dornoch, now a museum. * Please feel free to send a message for any detailed inquiries. * Our shop primarily features Western antiques, vintage jewelry, home decor, and old European prints and books. As these are antique items, they may bear marks of age and history. We meticulously select and arrange each piece with personal taste to foster an extraordinary sense of lifestyle and aesthetic. However, please consider carefully before placing an order if you are concerned about such characteristics.