Poetical Works - an art of Illustration (An Antique Books Guide)

Poetical works are a staple of British literature, forming an important section of printing history.
Yet these books are also valuable as examples of the art of illustration for poetical works display some of the most extravagant and attractive decorations around.
A poetical works book can focus on any poet, from Longfellow to William Cowper, and generally feature many different poems and several illustrations.

Below are a selection of some that I have had the pleasure of owning. Hopefully my readers might find poetry more attractive once they see what the books are like.

Cover design

Poetical works are most commonly gilt decorated, featuring intricate gold patterns that integrate the book's title and often floral designs to create a highly presentable exterior.

Some feature multiple colours for decoration and generally black is used to complete the effect.

Illumination

Another aspect of these books is the art of illumination.
You can read my blog post about illuminating here:
http://anantiquebooksguide.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/illuminating-illuminated-books-antique.html

These books will often features the usual decoration for the covers but will also feature a similarly designed title page inside which uses colours and gilding to create a design of stunning beauty.
These books are often sought after purely for this page.

Other designs

There are of course other designs for the book overs of Poetical Works - the ones I have shown you already are mostly Victorian era and so similar in appearance.

The book below is Victorian too but features a more subtle design styled in the Art-Nouveau fashion. Note that flowers and gilt play a major role in the design still.

This is a more simple poetical works yet features gilt and a black design on the cover just with lesser impact than some of the more highly decorated editions.

This design is more subtle still and exhibits the style of a Georgian or Edwardian era book. The blank covers are cheaper for printers to create but the decorative spine makes the book look presentable on a bookshelf. 

This highly decorative book is early Edwardian and displays more inventive design with a range of additional colours, partly due to artistic taste and partly due to new technology allowing this.

And that marks the end of this post.
Thanks, as ever, for reading!