The Ingoldsby Legends, Or Mirth And Marvels By Thomas Ingoldsby Esqre. [Arts And Crafts Movement Binding]; [Bournville School Of Art]; Ingoldsby, Thomas; Illustrated By Rackham, Arthur:

Reprint. Quarto (20 x 26cm). Handsomely bound in contemporary full blue morocco with sinuous gilt borders and gilt foliate decoration incorporating red morocco onlays representing berries to the boards, the spine with five raised bands, ruled in gilt and with titles in gilt. Gilt dentelles incorporating red morocco onlays. Binder's signature in gilt to the bottom turn-in of the lower board: "ML 1930". All edges gilt. Attractive colour woodblock-printed floral endpapers. Binder's inscription in pencil to the front endpaper: "Bournville School of Art 1930, M. Laud[?], Oct / '30". Illustrated with 24 tipped-in colour plates (with captioned tissue-guards), 12 full-page tinted illustrations, and numerous black and white in-text illustrations by Arthur Rackham. 549pp. A very good copy, the binding square and tight with fading to the spine and some minor scuffs to the raised bands. The contents remain clean and crisp throughout. An appealing copy of Arthur Rackham's edition of 'The Ingoldsby Legends', splendidly bound in the Arts and Crafts Movement style by a student or teacher at the Bournville School of Art, Birmingham. The grand hall which housed the Bournville School of Art was the first public building in Bournville, the model village founded by the Cadbury family. In line with typical Arts and Crafts Movement ideals, and with a specific aim to further the ideas and principles of John Ruskin, the school was originally conceived as a social centre for the village, offering a practical and artistic education for the community. It became more formalised as a 'School of Arts and Crafts' in 1911, later becoming an art college in the 1920s. As a city, Birmingham served as an important centre of the Arts and Crafts movement, with the 'Birmingham Group' of artist-craftsmen cultivating their own distinct style. Predominantly based around the Birmingham School of Art and the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft, the leading figures of the group included Joseph Southall, Arthur and Georgie Gaskin, Bernard Sleigh, Maxwell Armfield, and Charles Gere. An uncommon example of a bookbinding emanating from the dynamic atmosphere of Birmingham's Arts and Crafts Movement.