Collecting Fine Bindings and Designs: Margaret Armstrong
- by Renee Roberts
Title page from Henry Van Dyke, Music and Other Poems. New York : Scribner's, 1904. Signed by Margaret Armstrong in the plate.
By Renee Roberts
This weekend I was, as usual, working, going over some boxes of books that had just arrived, and a slender volume caught my eye. It was bound in green silk, with the word “Music” in a stylized script encircled by a wreath of doves, a violin in the center with two horns to either side, and a flurry of ribbons ending in small hearts, in gilt. The title page was also pretty —printed in red and black again with stylized script, the “u” in “Music” a roman “V”, the “R” a delicate toe–pointing, slightly trembling Art Nouveau marvel, surrounded by a design in black and white, partly in reverse, of entwined flowers and vines, finished off with a muse in flowing robes playing what looks to be an early stringed instrument, perhaps a lute. And then the expected “MA” at the top, indicating that this was the work of one of America’s most gifted book designers, and one of the earliest recognizable women book artists, Margaret Neilson Armstrong (1867-1944). This particular book was one of a series Armstrong designed for works by Henry Van Dyke and published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, clearly more notable for their design than their content.
One thing led to another, and I found myself perusing The Boston Book Company’s (www.bostbook.com) online catalogue of its Margaret Armstrong collection (asking price $19,500.00). With over 300 titles, the catalogue is a handy guide to Armstrong’s work, both in books bearing her name as author and/or illustrator, as well as books containing decorative bindings, titles, and internal decorations, signed and unsigned, as well as books that might be attributed to her.
Armstrong lived in Greenwich Village, on West 10th Street, virtually her entire life. She was born to an old New York family of means (descended, according to one writer, from Peter Stuyvesant) who had her privately educated and trained by working artists. According to Charles B. Gullans and John Espey, Armstrong collectors and authors of the primary bibliography of her work (Margaret Armstrong and American trade bindings: with a checklist of her designed bindings and covers. Los Angles: Department of Special Collections, University Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles, 1991), most of her work was done for Scribner’s — some three hundred book designs — between 1890 and 1940. One of her most famous series, the works of Myrtle Reed, was done for Putnam. Armstrong was also hired by publishers in New York and Chicago, including Macmillan, Harper, Bancroft, McClurg, Dodd Mead, and Bobbs-Merrill.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.