Royal School of Art Needlework
- Creator(s):
- Keble, John
- Title:
- The Christian Year
- Publication/Origin:
- London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1890
- Description:
- This copy of Keble’s Christian Year carries the ticket of the “Royal School of Art Needlework, Exhibition Road, South Kensington.” The RSAN 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 RSAN to be sold. The woman who painted this illuminated vellum binding is not identified, as was often the case for RSAN bindings. The school produced painted vellum bindings between 1888 and 1898. They are often fragile, sometimes incorporating delicate gilt covered gesso or gold as in the angel’s luminous halo. Many do not survive.
- Citation:
- Keble, John, The Christian Year, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1890, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 24, 2024, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4295