Scott's Lord of the Isles

@ 20032014; edited 09092026

Scott's Lord of the Isles. 1857.

 

 

This handsome cover design, by John Leighton, is on Scott's Lord iof the Isles, published by Adam and Charles Black in 1857. The cover design is identical to the British Library copy, apart from the cloth dye and grain pattern. The copy above is bound in green morocco horizontal-grain cloth. It is sewn on three tapes. The closer one looks at the details of the design, the more impressive is the amount of fine detail blocked within the central medallion showing the lion rampant. The placement of the title and author letters within the ribbon decoration surroundinbg the medallion must have demanded good skills in registration by the binders. Also intriguing are the recessed panels (probably painted in blaue after blocking). It is possible that the blocking of the cloth covers took place after the covers were attached to the boards and the text block.

 

                                                BL C109bb3 


The British Library copy, and a full description of the design, is available at shelfmark C109bb3 . The  copy is bound in red morocco vertical-cloth. It has a Leighton, Son and Hodge binder's ticket.. Scott, Sir Walter, Bart. The Lord of the Isles. With all his introductions, and the editor's notes. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood from drawings by Birket Foster and John Gilbert.

Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, North Bridge,  Booksellers and publishers to the Queen, 1857. Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 367p., 2 plates.

140x213x40mm.

Bevelled boards. Gilt edges. Yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Binder's ticket on lower pastedown: "/Leighton/  Son &/ Hodge,/ London./". [De luxe cloth issue.] Red morocco vertical-grain cloth. Both covers are blocked identically in gold, in blue and in blind and in relief. The blocking on the borders is: 1. a gold fillet and small decoration blocked in relief within it; 2. a border of alternating fleurs-de-lis and clover leaves; 3. a fillet blocked in blind, with hexagons and buds blocked in relief within it; 4. a single gold fillet. The pattern in the central rectangle is a large "flower-petal" one, with the bands raised, blocked in gold. The areas between the petals are recessed and blocked with small patterns in relief, and coloured blue. The words: "/ The/ Lord of the/ Isles/ By Sir/ Walter/ Scott/ Bart./"  are blocked in relief within gold lettering-pieces shaped as pennants. The central medallion has a fillet blocked in gold on its perimeter with small circles blocked inside it in blind. In the middle is a gold lettering-piece which shows a shield, or, and a lion rampant, blocked in relief within it. To the left and to the right of the shield are lizards, blocked in gold.

The spine is fully blocked in gold. The spine has a gold fillet blocked on the perimeter. Inside this, there is an inner border of a fillet with alternating fleurs-de-lis and clover leaves attached to it. From the head downwards, the decoration is: a knight's lance blocked from the tail to the head; the title: "/ The Lord/ of the Isles/" blocked in relief within three pennant-shaped gold lettering-pieces; a shield is formed by three gold fillets; a lion rampant, or; the words: “/ Sir/ Wal/ ter/ Scott/ Bart./ Authors/ Illustrated/ Edition/” are blocked in relief within seven pennant-shaped gold lettering-pieces; a gold fillet; the imprint: "/ Edinburgh./ A &C Black/" is blocked in gold at the tail within a rectangle formed by a gold fillet on three sides. As for the spine design, look for yourself and wonder at the amount of precise heraldic motifs packed into a small space.

McLean, VPBB p.35   States  "... unsigned but almost certainly by John Leighton." Morris & Levin, APB p.50, nos.89-91. The same design is blocked on cloth of three copies with: 1. Green pebble-grain; 2. on magenta bead-grain; 3. On blue morocco-grain cloth

Written by Edmund M. B. King March 2014; edited September 2026