One of the privileges in collecting and selling antiquarian books is discovering the absolutely wonderful book cover art and design from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although my specialty has always been books on travel, geography, and history, I often save images of unrelated titles that run across. Such as the copy of POEMS BY COLERIDGE by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. (Eragny Press, 1904) Art binding by Samuel Feinstein. Wood engravings by Lucien Pissarro.

Here are some fine examples along with travel titles too:

THE CARDINAL’S SNUFF BOX by Henry Harland. (London/New York: John Lane, 1903). Illustrated by G.C. Wilmhurst.

THE MILITANTS: Stories of some Persons, Soldiers and Other Fighters in the World by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews (New York: Scribners, 1907). Illustrated by Benjamin West and Arthur Ignatius Keller. Cover design by Margaret Armstrong

MORE MYSTERY TALES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS by Elva Sophronia Smith. (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard,1922). Frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill. Illustrations by L.J. Bridgman.

GLINDA OF OZ by L. Frank Baum (Chicago:Reilly & Lee, 1920) Illustrated by John R. Neill.

DREAM DAYS by Kenneth Grahame. (London/New York: Lane, 1902) Cover and illustrations by Maxfield Parrish.

THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE by Thomas W. Knox. (New York: Harper, 1887)

LORNA DOONE: A ROMANCE OF EXMOOR by R.D. Blackmore. (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1920). Illustrated by Rowland Wheelright and William Sewell

ASGARD AND THE GODS by Wilhelm Wägner, 1800-1886. (London: Routledge, c.1917)

CONSTANTINOPLE by Alexander Van Millingen. Illustrated by Warwick Goble. (London: Black, 1906)

UNKNOWN SWITZERLAND: Reminiscences of Travel by Victor Tissot. (New York: Pott, 1900). Illustrated with black and white photos.

THE SPELL OF ITALY by Caroline Atwater Mason (Boston: Page, 1909)

THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS written and illustrated by George Caitlin (Philadelphia: Leary Stuart, 1913) 2 vols.