Royal School of Art Needlework
- Creator(s):
- Shakespeare, William
- Title:
- Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- Publication/Origin:
- Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1887
- Description:
- The Royal School of Art Needlework was founded in 1872 to create employment for women and to restore ornamental needlework to the significant place it once held among the decorative arts. The school did make embroidered bindings, but more frequently created painted vellum bindings. Blank vellum bindings were made by either Zaehnsdorf or Morrell’s trade binderies and were painted by the women workers at the Royal School of Art Needlework to be sold. The woman who painted this illuminated vellum binding is not identified, as was often the case for RSAN bindings. RSAN produced painted vellum bindings between 1888 and 1898. They are often fragile, and many do not survive. This exquisite example shows the art of interpreting scenes from the literary work within. The image on the front cover depicts Ophelia drowning with a quote from Act III, Scene 1.
- Citation:
- Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1887, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 25, 2024, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4293