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.