The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-06-14

PRIZE DESIGN BY HELEN NJ. ARMSTRONG.
subject Of the book for which the de-
sign is made is another characteristic
of Miss Morse. For instance, In MAX
ing the cover for "On Newfound
River" by Thomas Nelson Page, she
introduced dolphins into her designs.
"Marse Chan" by the same author, Is
ornamented with Virginia creeper;
"Meh Lady" with yellow jasmine;
Our Home Pets" by Olive Thorne
Miller, with conventional parrots;
"Phantoms of the Footbridge," by
Craddock. with pines and guns An
other elaborate and decorative design
of Miss Morse was done for a recent
edition of Charles Reade's novels in
octave form. When at Cooper Union
Miss Morse took prize in designing.
In an interview with Miss Morse, she
said: The difficulty in book-cover de
signing is the necessity of CARRYING out
a theme In all its details in very
limited space A design should con
tain something symbolic of the subject
matter, and no artist can make
thoroughly good and correct design
without first reading the book which Il
is to ornament
The remuneration which one reI
ceives for book-cover designing alone is
not sufficient to make comfortable
living notwithstanding the fact that
the best paid workers receive from fff-
teen dollars to twenty-five dollars for
single cover, because, though there are
many new books issued in year, COM
paratively few of them have new de-
signs. Mrs. Whitman is probably the
only designer who makes her living
wholly by designing bool1-covers.
Nearly all book designers supplement
their income by side issues, which,
though not so high in the artistic scale,
are perhaps more lucrative"
Miss Margaret Nelson Armstrong.
the third of the trio mentioned at the
beginning, is young woman whose
natural ability has been greatly aided
by the art atmosphere in which she
has lived. Her father, Mr. D. Matt
land Armstrong, was for many years
with his family resident of italy, and
Miss Armstrong; early life was passed
in an artistic atmosphere. Her first
work was done while she was connect
ed with the Tiffany Glass company;
after that She made some successful
covers for Harper & Bros, and later
for a. c. McClurg & Co., of Chicago;
but probably her most successful work
has been done for Charles Scribner's
Sons.
Her designs are characterized by ver-
satility, adaptability and reasonable
ness, both in ornament and the color
scheme suggested. The publishers are
always able to use her designs exactly
as drawn, as the design is complete in
itself, showing the kind of material.
the color of ink, the distribution of
gold. and is made the exact size of the
cover OF the book on which it is to be
used.
Miss Armstrong; sister, Miss Helen
Maitland Armstrong, who is noted for
her stained glass window drawings,
has made some very successful book
covers, notably the design for Eugene
Fields Love Songs of Childhood" and
Stockton's "Fanciful Tales"
Miss Margaret Armstrong; designs
are so numerous that it would be diff
cult to make a selection of those most
worthy Of mention. The design of
'Trilby" is hers, and also the design
for McClurg's Sweet William" For
the Scribner's she made a cover for
Miss Aldrich's Songs About Life, Love
and Death" Parkhursts Birds Calen-
lar" Danas "How to Know the Wild /
Flowers" and Bourgeois "Outre Mer.r
ALICE AMoBY.