Tales of Two Countries

Author Alexander Lange Kielland Norwegian

1891

Not on view

A leading New York book-cover designer in the late nineteenth century, Morse studied at the Woman’s Art School of the Cooper Union, then under John La Farge before working for Louis C. Tiffany as a painter and designer of stained glass. In 1887 she began to concentrate on book-covers, fufilling eighty-three commissions for New York commercial publishers by 1905. Complementing the text, she chose imagery ranging from classical, to Renaissance, Celtic, Arabic, Gothic, Rococo, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. Morse first designed this cover for Harper's, the first title by Guy de Maupassant in "The Odd Number series," published between 1889 and 1899. All are bound in dark blue plain-weave cloth with silver and gold stamping.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Title: Tales of Two Countries
Designer: Alice Cordelia Morse (American, Ohio 1863–1961)
Author: Alexander Lange Kielland (Norwegian, 1849–1906)
Publisher: Harper & Brothers (American, New York)
Date: 1891
Medium: Dark blue cloth covered boards with silver and gold decoration
Dimensions: Overall: 7 × 10 3/16 in. (17.8 × 25.9 cm)
Front cover: 7 × 4 7/16 in. (17.8 × 11.2 cm)
Front cover and spine: 7 × 5 13/16 in. (17.8 × 14.7 cm)
Classification: Bindings
Credit Line: Gift of Alice C. Morse, 1923, transferred from the Library
Object Number: 56.522.62
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Old Ways and New, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Beige cloth covered boards with brown and gold decoration — Old Ways and New
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Curiosities of the American Stage, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Red cloth covered boards with gold decoration — Curiosities of the American Stage
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Tanagra: an idyl of Greece, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Green cloth covered boards with gold decoration — Tanagra: an idyl of Greece
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Seth's Brother's Wife: A Study of Life in the Greater New York, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Gold cloth over boards with brown and gold decoration — Seth's Brother's Wife: A Study of Life in the Greater New York
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1887

Crow's Nest and Belhaven Tales, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Pale brown cloth covered boards with green decoration — Crow's Nest and Belhaven Tales
Multiple artists/makers
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