The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-17
BOOKD|ND|NG
 BY 4 WOMAN
Work of Miss Cole, Who Won
 Honors in Europe
THE ART IS FASCINATING
But Is Not u Fad-Long Study Is Need- cd if More Than Decoration Is Aimed at-Must Inter-
 pret Roth

| From the Omaha Bee.
 Il New York-Miss L. Averill is a Cali | fornia girl who first started in the work | of binding books because of a natural | love for books and a natural gift Of de- Il signing. For eight years she studied the | art in Berlin, Brussels and London, and
 during the three years she spent under
 Louis Jacobs in Brussels she made an | ing to art bookbinding, designing, illum-
 mating and dyeing of silks. Il After the triumph of obtaining the first
 prize in an international exhibition at
 Brussels she taught binding in London as the Duke and Duchess of Westmin-
 ster Countess Grosvenor and Lord and
 Lady Beauchamp. Then she came back to America, and an idea of what she has accomplished here may be obtained from an exhibition of her bookbindings now
 being held at the book rooms of Tough
 ton Mifhin company in this coity. N Look for instance, at the copy of Om- ars "Rubaiyat." In the dark rich color ing of the purple grape and green leaf and the merest hint of delicate gilt trac- cry, the very soul of the thing as 1t ap-
 peared to the designer lies before you. II q cannot comprehend the material in II depreciation of the 'Rubaiyat.' she says, Il ''the enjoy today while you may the II meaning seems so much more subtle to me. more spiritual Notice the curves in Il tho vine, how 1t s on and on. It is Il infinity. surpris waits you, for the in II terpretative spirit nor the careful work S1,i II pls silk Things are bordered by leather
 band simply decorated with inlaid self II toned grapes-a hint of gilt. | "Bookbinding is more than mere deco Il ration," she adds. Tt is translation" II "One must bring out the Individuality Il of each book. I have studied a book for months before attemuting to decorate 1t, II to get the spirit of harmony with the Il text; otherwise the thing Is incomplete. Sometimes the revelation Is long in com ing and then flashes. Afterward I can work out the detail'
 Il She places her hand on a copy of Mar | GUS Aurelius.
 | See how austere he looks, she says. The severe gray green shades of the | levant covers do look austere, the only relief being the name of the philosopher | in gilt in the center. But opening the covers the inner side fairly dazzles with | blaze of brilliancy; the background | dotted and gilded-by a tedious process | with hand and microscope-elaborate dec | orations with doublures in levant, inter | laced design and inlaid red borders the | contrast to this almost sombre exterior | is striking.
 "The brilliancy bursts out unexpectedly | from the inside,' smiles Miss Cole. That | was Marcus Aurelius.
 If was this niece of work it's W0r<nau- ship, as well as its interpretative spirit that won for Miss Cole the first prize at an International exhibition of arts and crafts at Brussels where over 200 qual- fled bookbinding artists competed. The delicate gray silk of the inner lining Miss Cole dyed herself to secure the harmonious tone the workmanship is her own, as is the case with the most of her work, some of 1t being done under her direction.
 Miss Cole Is. perhaps, prouder of the volume of Sydney's Love Poems' than of anything else, for it's binding of cream levant is such as it Is almost impossible to work with without staining or blem- ishing in some degree.
 'It took me days to evolve a prepara- tion I could use in the inlaying without staining, she says.
 But there 1t lies-perfect to look at, and reminding you of an old Florentine mis- sal. The atmosphere of the Elizabethan days when Sir Philip wrote his "Certaine Sonnets' and his laws of Already seem symbolized in the color scheme-the wide borders inlaid with delicate rose and green on the cream background and the gliding. Inside the border green dotted and old rose cornered encircling the cream silk Things. only intensifies the suggestion of the spirit of the days when Already was sung.
 Miss Cole deplores the latterday popu- lar tendency to take up bookbinding as something aside, a fad. It should be made lifework she says. an art to do things that will live
 Before attempting a design for the Georgics of Virgil of the year 72 B. C., Miss Cole studied over hundreds of old Roman architectural plates and chapters on old Roman style. The terra cotta pig skin cover, which she designed, suggests dignity and simply placed in the center Is the medallion shaped design inlaid with leaves of shaded green. The effect Is heightened by the outer mosaic border inlaid with green and copper colors. The inner green silk lining Is bordered with green leather, blind fooled and inlaid
 It is interesting to note a second inter- pretation of the Georgics-a month or so later in the country, as it were. Green and brown are here combined and free use of gilt in multitudinous dots-pure gold which will get more rich in color with years.
 "The fascinating part of this work" says Miss Cole, lis that there never Is an end to an idea. It could go on and on and on-from the front to the back, in side and out-the whole thing held to- gether."
 Although the covers of Boccaccios life of Dante look comparatively sim- pie, they were almost the most difficult of all Miss Cole says. Over 60 tools were required to perfect the conventional intri- cate, interlaced design on the wine-col- ored levant of both covers; the dark rich red and the bold use of gilt make for magnfcence, as do the bold lines of the Italian renaissance design It Is these freehand lines that make the work diff fioult, maintaining absolute purity of line.
 Thus it goes through the list of the books exhibted the binding Is nterpre- tative Miss Cole modestly ascribes her success to her instruction.
 "So many teach pupils to try to put on an actual book the incest effect in the shortest space of time." she says But that Is not best Month after month must be spent upon the least little details be- fore the actual decorating is attacked. The individuality of each book must be brought out
 --.S--
 Lesson From the Past
 Errov, tba Chica po Tribllne