Seth's Brother's Wife: A Study of Life in the Greater New York

Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons American

1887

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. This example was Morse's first design, bound in gold diagonal-rib reversed cloth, with gold, brown, and blind stamping, and inspired by Renaissance ornament, and was issued in two variants.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Title: Seth's Brother's Wife: A Study of Life in the Greater New York
Designer: Alice Cordelia Morse (American, Ohio 1863–1961)
Author: Harold Frederic (American (active London), 1856–1898)
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY)
Date: 1887
Medium: Gold cloth over boards with brown and gold decoration
Dimensions: 7 11/16 × 11 3/4 in. (19.6 × 29.8 cm)
Other: 7 11/16 x 4 15/16 in. (19.6 x 12.5 cm)
Other: 7 11/16 x 6 3/4 in. (19.6 x 17.1 cm)
Classification: Bindings
Credit Line: Gift of Alice C. Morse, 1923, transferred from the Library
Object Number: 56.522.74
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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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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Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, Alice Cordelia Morse American, Cream cloth covered boards with gold decoration — Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada
Multiple artists/makers
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