[Bound by John Grabau | Vale Press] Vaughan's Sacred Poems

Vaughan, Henry. The Sacred Poems. London: Ballantyne Press [Vale Press], 1896. Limited to 210 copies. Wood-engraved frontispiece and opposite page within honeysuckle leaf borders, and ornamental initials, all by Charles Ricketts. This book is the only Vale Press publication in which these borders were used, and where the colophon is printed in the form of a cross.

Bound in full dark blue crushed morocco by John Grabau, with triple gilt ruled design accented with dots and small flowers. Front cover features a small circular centerpieces of leaves and flowers. Similar design to large center spine compartment, with title in second compartment and dots & flowers in remaining compartments. Double thick blue and orange headbands. Gilt ruled turn-ins, signed "-BEST- GRABAU", presumably indicating this volume was a gift. Metallic textured endpapers. Top edge gilt. Housed in a fleece-lined slipcase covered in the same material. Bookplate on front pastedown of Cleveland industrialist William G. Mather (1857-1951). Measures 5.25" x 7.75". Some light rubbing to joints, with some fading and light wear to spine. Slipcase sunned and with some edgewear. 

Grabau was a protégé of Louis H. Kinder and worked with the Roycrofters from 1902-1905. He left to found the short-lived Derome Bindery in Buffalo, and shortly thereafter, he and D.J. Bunce founded The Garret Bindery, also in Buffalo. For the majority of his career, however, he bound under his own name.