| The
late eighteenth century's fascination with
classical design, stimulated by the excavations
at Pompeii and Herculaneum, continued into
the nineteenth century, fueled by further
archaeological discoveries. Classical ornamental
patterns- particularly, Greek key and egg-and-dart
patterns-had been used on late eighteenth-century
deluxe, hand-decorated bindings. Eventually
classical motifs and imagery were translated
into the very popular medium of gold-stamped
publishers' bindings. Often they appeared
on books with classical subject matter, but
perhaps just as often they appeared on books
where the subjects were not overtly related,
such as volumes of contemporary poetry. Sometimes
classical motifs could be combined with other
imagery to confusing effect, as in the volume
of Samuel Goodrich's poems, which features
a Greek vase on its cover but a thoroughly
nineteenth-century fairy on its spine. |