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Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

Designer Alice Cordelia Morse American
Author Washington Irving American
Publisher G. P. Putnam, New York American
1893
Not on view
A leading New York late nineteenth century book-cover designer, 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. To complement the text of The Conquest of Granada, Morse used a mixture of Arts and Crafts, Arabic, Moorish, and Persian ornament. The cover is bound in white plain-weave cloth, stamped in green, pink, and gold. This book and its companion publication, "The Alhambra," also written by Washington Irving, are two of the most elaborately produced gift books designed by Morse. An example of this cover was shown at the Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada
  • Designer: Alice Cordelia Morse (American, Ohio 1863–1961)
  • Author: Washington Irving (American, New York 1783–1859 Sunnyside, New York)
  • Publisher: G. P. Putnam, New York
  • Date: 1893
  • Medium: Cream cloth covered boards with gold decoration
  • Dimensions: Overall: 8 7/8 x 14 3/16 in. (22.6 x 36 cm)
    Front cover: 8 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (22.6 x 15 cm)
    Front cover and spine: 8 7/8 x 8 1/4 in. (22.6 x 21 cm)
  • Classification: Bindings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Alice C. Morse, 1923, transferred from the Library
  • Object Number: 56.522.55
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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