Published in conjunction with the May 2000 exhibition at the Grolier Club, New York, of 254 books selected from a collection of 19th-century publishers' bookbindings, sanning the period from about 1815 through 1915. The color illustrations and accompanying descriptions present an overview of the varied and imaginative history from the time such bindings were first introduced at the end of the Napoleonic wars, through the 19th century during which books became diverse and elaborate vehicles for graphic arts and industrial techniques, to the first years of World War I when such concerns disappeared along with the age that spawned them. Oversize: 9x12.25