M. Lilian Simpson — artist and bookbinder
- Title:
- [Electrosilver Binding Commissioned by the Council of the Art Union London]
- Publication/Origin:
- Dublin: The work is issued to the members of The Art Union of London, 1896
- Description:
- M. Lilian Simpson was a student at the Royal Academy when she created this electrosilver plate binding in 1894, for which she won the gold medal in the National Competition for Schools of Art. Simpson described her subject as a “Book of Life,” modeling the figure of Love in the center, surrounded by winged angels in each corner. She pierced and stamped the metal, unifying her design with flowers and pods of seeds. Love also appears on the clasp, “bind[ing] together the pages of the Book of Life.” She had intended the binding to cover a copy of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poems; however, the only two known copies are on blank-leaved albums. The British Library holds the other. This copy is bound in purple goatskin. Simpson died at twenty-six, just two years after completing this work.
- Citation:
- [Electrosilver Binding Commissioned by the Council of the Art Union London], Dublin: The work is issued to the members of The Art Union of London, 1896, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 20, 2024, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4311