Female bookbinders, Arts and Crafts. 1902 Poems of Wordsworth (but 1903 binding)

This beautiful copy of the 1902 Poems of Wordsworth was bound by Maud Marshal and Edith Gedye as a 1903 Easter gift and "signed" (stamped) at the end "M&G 1903".

The British Library (BL), in their Untold Lives Blog, highlighted Miss Marshall and Miss Gedye in a work titled, "Miss M. Marshall, the Mysterious Bookbinder".

From the BL article - "Based in London during the first decade of the 20th century, Maud Marshall worked as a bookbinder in collaboration with Edith Gedye. Their binding styles were influenced by William Morris and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson's Arts and Crafts movement (as were many contemporary hand binders) but it is not known who taught them. The pair exhibited their bindings at Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society shows in 1903 and 1906. From 1904 to 1907, the book seller Bain helped them sell their work. Newspaper articles indicate that they submitted their bindings to many amateur and professional competitions, and they regularly received first prizes, certificates and honorable mentions."

The BL article contains many more tidbits and press clippings from the time, I would recommend reading it.

Nudelman notes that Miss Marshall's bindery was located at 5 Bloomsbury Square, where Sangorski and Sutcliffe also operated for a time, indicating she was possibly trained under their tutelage.

About Wordsworth -

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature. - Wikipedia

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 15.5 x 9.5 x 2 cm. Green morocco leather binding. Front board with central gilt medallion of entwined leafing and flowering vines, with the central gilt, "E.T.F. Easter 1903". Boards with outer frame of double gilt fillet; the inner fillet with corner leafy florets with onlaid red flowers, and pointille dots around the inside with onlays of red. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with a central medallion of four flowers with red onlays, surrounded by pointille dots of gilt with red onlays, and one compartment with "Poems of Wordsworth" in gilt. All edges gilt.

Pages - xxxi, (1), 331, 1 blank page

Condition -

See pictures. Binding worn at edges and corners; hints of starts along joints. Some rubbing to back board. Chipping to head of spine. Sunning to spine. Turn-ins have ghosted facing leaves. "To Co" written in ink on flyleaf. A few rust spots throughout the text block but mostly limited to the binder's endpapers. Occasional crease in paper. Hint of green along the fore-edge, under the gilt.