News Release

96-02

Major Exhibition of Victorian Books Opens at National Library of Canada

OTTAWA  --  March 18, 1996  --  National Librarian Marianne Scott today officially opened “Elegant Editions: Aspects of Victorian Book Design”, an exhibition of more than seventy-five masterpieces of nineteenth-century publishing. The books were selected from the Ruari McLean Collection of Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing in the Robertson Davies Library at Massey College in the University of Toronto. The exhibition is on loan from Massey College until May 26, 1996.

“The National Library of Canada is pleased to offer this exhibition, which is a tribute to books as works of art. Visitors will be able to see sumptuous examples of Victorian lavishness: illuminated borders, ornamental borders printed in gold, embossed leather and cloth bindings,” said Marianne Scott.

“Elegant Editions” covers many of the most visually appealing and technically interesting aspects of nineteenth-century book production. These aspects include colour printing, the introduction of casing to attach the covers to the text, the adoption of cloth as a covering material, and the application of decoration.

The exhibition, consisting primarily of British volumes, pays tribute to the artists and artisans who achieved distinction despite increased mechanization in the book trade. On display are contributions by Charles Whittingham the Younger, Henry Shaw, Benjamin Fawcett, Owen Jones, Henry Noel Humphreys, Matthew Digby Wyatt, John Leighton, William Henry Rogers and Albert Henry Warren.

An exhibition catalogue written by curator Marie Elena Korey, librarian of the Robertson Davies Library, is available for $20.00 on site from the Friends of the National Library or by mail from: Marketing and Publishing, National Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario   K1A ON4   CANADA, telephone: 613-996-1473, fax: 613-991-9871, TTY: 613-992-6969

“Elegant Editions” is on display in the main exhibition hall, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free.

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Contact for the media:
Andrea Paradis 613-992-3052