Design for a Book Cover: My Study Fire, by Hamilton W. Mabie
Classification
graphic design
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1943-33-1-9
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, as American graphic design blossomed amid the Arts and Crafts movement Alice Cordelia Morse emerged as a pioneering artist specializing in elegant book covers. Born in1863 and living until 1961, created this design around 1899 for *My Study Fire*, a collection of essays by Hamilton W Mabie celebrating the cozy intellectual life of the hearth. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's graphic design collection, it exemplifies the era's shift toward treating book covers as miniature artworks, blending typography, ornamentation, and symbolism to entice readers. Mo...