3 by Denslow

It’s been quite a while since I’ve shown a Rand McNally title with cover art by W. W. Denslow, and here I have three! 

 

The first is Hernani the Jew, written by A. N. Homer and published in 1897. This is a classic example of Denslow’s “shield” style of cover design, using some basic elements found in a number of his other covers.

The story concerns the marital misunderstandings of Hernani, a wealthy banker, and his wife. The setting is Poland, with the backdrop of the unsuccessful January Uprising of 1863. The red and white eagle, emblem of Poland, is the main feature of the cover, together with a pair of torches and a sword and crown on the spine. On the rear cover, we see a profile of Sara, the wife of Hernani. The story is one of loss, both of country and wealth, while Poland was under the control of Russia. It ends on a happier note, but is rather depressing overall.

The next is My Invisible Partner, by Thomas S. Denison and published in 1898. This is a sparser style of design, with elements scattered across the front and rear covers, and featuring some very Ozzy looking poppies!

This is billed as a story of the supernatural, and primarily takes place in New Mexico, with detours to Michigan. It’s a tale of mining life, romance and murder, with a main character who is subjected to several out-of-body experiences, and a mystery solved by the discovery of an unknown twin. 

Finally we have A Daughter of Cuba, by Helen M. Bowen, published in 1898. This title combines a shield design with a landscape, including a poison ring on the rear cover.

Events take place during the Cuban revolution of 1897, leading up to the entrance of America into the Spanish American war. The daughter of a wealthy planter is committed to the Cuban cause, and inspires others to join her campaign. Bandits, a lost heir, an American journalist and of course that poison ring all play parts in the story.

Rand McNally

I’ve posted a number of times in the past about books published by Rand McNally, with cover designs by W. W. Denslow. Recently, I picked up a Rand McNally catalog of Holiday Books from 1898 that features quite a few of these titles.

I enjoy seeing the verbiage used to sell the books - in some cases, like Enoch the Philistine and Romola, Denslow is mentioned as the cover designer. The presence of Denslow's name in connection with the design for Romola is nice, as it confirms that this is indeed a Denslow design. Of his various Rand McNally covers, this one looks the least like one of his works to me!

 

In others, like Phoebe Tilson, we are given the artist's description of the cover design - although Denslow isn't actually mentioned:

 

"In the words of the artist's description of the cover design, "Phoebe Tilson" treats of the life of an eccentric maiden lady who is dragging out a drab-colored existence in the gray atmosphere of a quaint New England village, when that existence is enlivened and entirely changed by the advent of a bright little girl child, a waif, left at her door. This child brings cheer and color into the neglected house as does the gay little geranium against the dusty panes of a garret window. The other side of the cover is suggestive of the tender care bestowed upon the "waif", while on the back (spine) is represented the locket which proved her right to her estates and a name beside the "Blossom"that she is."

Illustrations are included from some of his other titles; the only books I'm aware of with interior drawings are An Arkansas Planter, and A Cruise Under the Crescent.

 

All in all, it's a fun little reference!

Pirates on the Aegean

Here’s another example of a W. W. Denslow cover for a Rand McNally novel - in fact, it’s two examples! Written by Richard Henry Savage and published in 1897, A Modern Corsair is a fairly typical adventure novel of the period.

The story centers on fraud in the insurance business; more specifically, in the shipping trade, where shipwrecked freighters could collect large payouts for lost goods. Much of the action takes place in and around Smyrna, and the story is filled with stereotypical Turks, Greeks, and other ethnic types, who are thwarted by our hero, a young American journalist posing as a British lord.

This is a case of Denslow designing two covers - one for the paperback and one for the hardcover. I came across the paperback version and blogged about it several years ago, but only recently found the hardcover. The paperback design focuses on Agathe the Serpent, a woman whose intentions are mysterious and possibly deadly. The hardcover is more sedate, focusing on a wrecked freighter in the foreground. In both cases, one of Denslow’s more elaborate seahorse signatures is featured.

Denslow Atlases

W. W. Denslow's covers for Rand McNally covered a broad range of subject matter. Novels, reminiscences, travelogues and even atlases were decorated with his work. Here we have a Bible Atlas, written by J. L. Hurlburt, with a cover that was first designed in 1897. This copy is from 1910, showing that this cover design was in use for at least 13 years. The book itself was first published in 1884, and remained in print into the 1950's (possibly later) with varying cover designs.

The cover is a dark teal fabric, stamped in black, burnt sienna, gold and silver. It's an elaborately produced book, with color printing and two large fold out pages.

I've shown another example of a Denslow designed atlas in the past, The World's People and the Countries They Live In.  It also dates from 1897, but the cover style of this book is quite different. Rather than the simplified image used on the Bible Atlas, Denslow has produced a detailed drawing featuring women of various cutures. This book also included color printing.

These two examples provide an interesting contrast of the many styles in which Denslow worked.

Those Marbeau Cousins

The Marbeau Cousins was published by Rand McNally in 1898, and W. W. Denslow's cover for this title went through quite a few changes in color and design. I recently picked up another copy of the book, but I doubt I'll ever have all the variations!

 The original edition had a wraparound cover design. The cover fabric on my copy is a putty/tan color, but there do seem to be other colors. Denslow's seahorse is visible between two of the crows.

This copy has changed to cover and spine only, and a reduced size which resulted in one crow losing his tail! As usual, Denslow's seahorse has vanished from the cover. The cover does still use gilt for the title and author. A version also exists with white lettering rather than gold. There's no indication of when these changes occurred.

The simplest of the batch is this version, which keeps only the lettering and three of the birds. I have seen copies of this binding using white lettering and the pictorial spine design, but this is an even simpler one-color stamping. This copy does have a 1914 inscription, which might indicate when it was published.

It's endless!

And Another Variation

Here's yet another example of a variation within the Rand McNally covers designed by W. W. Denslow. This is a later printing of Whoso Findeth a Wife, by William LeQueux. The image is the same as the original printing,  but the background is now a rich teal color, and the design has been slightly simplified.


On the original, the letter bears three seals printed in black. The newer version drops the black ink, which was a fourth color, and consequently loses the effect of the seals. The gilt ink seems to be replaced by a duller gold, and Denslow's signature seahorse has vanished.

As I've said before, the variations on these books are both plentiful and mystifying!

Cursed by a Fortune

I'm afraid my poor blog has been neglected for the past 8 months, but here's a new post starting up right where I left off - another Rand McNally title with a W. W. Denslow cover design.

This time it's Cursed by a Fortune, from 1897, written by G. Manville Fenn. This book has a striking cover image of a woman in a window, overlaid by a sealed will, together with a large English pound sign - all pertaining to the story within. It's a very Victorian tale of a girl who loses her father and inherits a large fortune, surrounded by guardians and relatives intent on obtaining her money through marriage. She is spirited away and kept under lock and key, but of course in the end it all comes right and she marries the poor doctor who loves her. Then she loses the fortune and everyone is happy. Except the bad guys, who are left in broken health to regret their actions.

There is no seahorse emblem on the cover, which makes me suspect this may be a slightly later printing of the book. It still uses gilt stamping and a gilt top to the pages, so it hasn't been drastically changed.

A Savage Denslow

I haven't come up a W. W. Denslow binding in a rather long time. He did quite a bit of work for Rand McNally from 1896 - 1898, but aside from a handful of titles that are a little more common, the books are difficult to find. The majority of his covers are easy to recognize when you see them, due to a distinctive sense of imagery and type style. Certain elements are often repeated, such as coats of arms - in this case, the double headed eagle of the Romanovs of Russia.

This is For Her Life, from 1897, written by Richard Henry Savage. Denslow did covers for several Savage titles, of which I have 4. This particular cover is interesting for being very subtle. The book shows little wear, but the light grey used for the imagery is very pale against the background. This is a wrap around cover, and Denslow's seahorse is present - though difficult to see - in the band of grey water below the boat.

Summertime

I've been taking a bit of a summer break from blogging - but this weekend was the local annual antiquarian book fair, so I thought a post was in order. There was actually very little of interest for me this year at the fair, but I did find a W. W. Denslow cover variant that I needed.

The King of the Mountains is one of the most picturesque covers Denslow designed for Rand McNally. On the right are two copies of the book in my collection. The first one I bought was rather rough, but I was happy to find a copy of the book. Later, I was able to upgrade to a very nice example, far brighter and cleaner than the first. But, neither of those books had Denslow's signature seahorse on the cover. In fact, most copies I ran across lacked the seahorse.

At the book fair, I ran across an inexpensive copy of the title complete with seahorse. It's even in decent condition, with some minor wear. What interests me, aside from the seahorse signature in the lower right corner, is how much different the color is - the background is a teal fabric, rather than plain blue, and the king's hair and moustache are stamped in a light grey, rather than a bright white. The overall effect is a bit more muted and balanced than the later printings, which altered the subtle colors.

Denslow was creative in his color choices for the Rand McNally book covers, and it's nice to see what the original choices were!

Rosemary and Rue

In the past I've posted quite a few titles published by Rand McNally with covers designed by W. W. Denslow. Denslow also designed posters for many of the books, including this lovely example from 1896 for Rosemary and Rue, which I recently added to the collection.

This is a good example of the way that Denslow's book posters could contain far more than his book covers. The cover makes use of the images of rosemary, heart and harp but the elaborate poster makes different use of these elements.

This poster is printed in two colors on a heavy, fibrous brown paper, creating a third tone for the entire image. There is a small inscription at the bottom of the poster reading "Compliments of the artist" - as there was on the poster shown two weeks ago, for the Chicago Times-Herald.

The author Amber was Martha Everts Holden, who founded the Bohemian Club in Chicago. She also happened to be Denslow's mother-in-law, although she passed away shortly before he married her daughter, Ann Waters Holden, in 1896. Denslow met Amber while working at the Chicago Herald, where she wrote essays and verses for the special features department, which she also managed.

After her death, Denslow was instrumental in having Rand McNally publish two books of Amber's writings, Rosemary and Rue and Amber Glints. The proceeds were used to help support her young son.

The Bohemian Club met in rooms at the Boyce Building which were decorated in red and brown - perhaps the inspiration for the colors of this poster!

Blue Bell Inn

At the Blue Bell Inn features another of W. W. Denslow's cover designs for Rand McNally, from 1898.

Denslow created quite a few covers for the publisher this year, and I find them interesting in that they show off a few different general styles - those done more or less in fine line,  those with crests, and those in his bolder poster style. 

What I think of as the bolder poster style can be seen in the examples above. These all have larger blocks of color, and striking imagery.

 Examples of the crest style can be seen above. These all feature coats of arms, or other armorial designs and are, on the whole, a bit less interesting.

The finer drawing style is shown above. These are titles that, at first glance, don't necessarily catch my eye as Denslow designs. I also have not seen any examples of these particular titles bearing the Denslow seahorse.

These are only a few of the Rand McNally covers from 1898, but they are an interesting sampling - Denslow did enjoy variety!

Margaret Wynne

Another Rand McNally title with a W. W. Denslow cover - Margaret Wynne, by Adeline Sergeant, published in 1898. Denslow's trademark seahorse signature can be seen at the lower right, outside the border of the title box. This is a rather worn copy, and the colors appear a bit dull. A fresher copy might be more striking!

This isn't one of Denslow's more imaginative efforts, and it uses elements seen in a number of his other cover designs - namely, the coat of arms crest and the decorative fleur-de-lis, as well as a wrap-around design.

Adeline Sergeant also wrote A Valuable Life, which received a much more evocative treatment from Denslow in 1897.

Louise

I haven't had a new W. W. Denslow cover design  to show in quite a while. This one is a little different - The Story of Louise, by De Fontages and translated by Deshler Welch. I don't think I've ever run across the name Deshler before!

Although it falls right into the style of the covers Denslow designed between 1896 and 1898 for Rand McNally, this was done in 1901 for a different publisher - the Royal Columbia Press. It's a lovely wraparound design, featuring a woman with a parasol viewing sailboats on a river. Denslow's seahorse is easily spotted by the hem of the woman's dress. On the rear cover, the woman is seen from afar, walking with a man toward a town in the distance.

I think the color scheme of soft blues and pink on a tan ground is particularly nice!

Under the Ban

It's been a while since I've had a Rand McNally book with a cover by W. W. Denslow to feature. Here's Under the Ban, a South Carolina romance from 1898. I think this is one of Denslow's most streamlined and graphic covers!

This is the third variation of this cover that I'm aware of. It is a later printing of the design - two earlier versions (seen below, courtesy of Cindy Ragni) carry Denslow's hippocampus signature at the bottom of the woman's skirt, and use gold ink on the title, author's name, the woman's hair, and her bow. What appears to be the earliest version also features a blue background at the top of the cover, where the book title appears, and carries the design to the rear cover.

On the copy I'm showing, the seahorse is gone and the author's name is now stamped in white ink, along with the woman's hair and bow. Also, the rear cover is blank. I'm quite surprised by how difficult these titles can be to find, when they clearly went through a number of printings!

As it happens, I've also run across another Denslow cover, this time a paperback. This one is "There Is No Devil", and it features a cover design that could easily double as a poster for the book. This is one of a number of titles published in paperback by Rand McNally that don't seem to exist in hardcover versions with Denslow covers.

Paperback Denslow

It's been a while since I've had a new W.W. Denslow book cover to show! Here we have a Rand McNally paperback printing of A Modern Corsair, by Richard Henry Savage - the man who never learned the proper use of exclamation marks!!

The previous Rand McNally titles that I've shown have all been hardcover books. But Denslow designed quite a few paperbacks for the company as well; many times he did the same title in both paper and hardcover, but the designs don't tend to be the same.

For example, on the right is the hardcover version of A Modern Corsair, courtesy of Cindy Ragni of Avant-Garde Books. A shipwreck is a prominent feature of both the hard and soft covers. This must play into the story, but I haven't read this one yet to know the details! The hardcovers make use of bold, colorful stampings, while the paperbacks feature more linear designs.

For another example, here's the hardcover version of In The Swim, also written by Savage. Bill Thompson recently turned up a paperback version with a very different cover design. The paperback cover is much more of an illustration for the story, which deals in part with shenanigans on Wall Street. On the other hand, the hardcover makes use of one of Denslow's more generic shield designs. However, both incorporate a golden calf, symbolizing the worship of money that becomes the downfall of several characters in the story.

The Merchant Prince

This is a slightly different W. W. Denslow cover, created for a Rand McNally printing of The Merchant Prince of Cornville.  This is stated to be a fourth edition of the book, and has an introduction dated 1899 - so it's a little past the general time frame of 1896 to 1898 when Denslow was regularly producing covers for the company. I find this cover interesting, because it isn't what I generally think of for a Denslow piece. It has a paper label, rather than a stamped image, and in fact, I suspect it may be something the publishers put together without Denslow's input.

The first Rand McNally printing of this book from 1896 was very plain, with only the title on the front cover. This is a play, rather than a novel, and is said to have been plagiarized by Edmond Rostand in 1897 for his well-known drama Cyrano de Bergerac. At any rate, Samuel Gross sued Rostand over his play, and won the case.


I know this is a Denslow piece because the artist created a color poster for this book, featuring the same lettering and image seen on the paper label - the photo on the right is from the New York Public Library digital gallery. The poster is clearly signed with the Denslow seahorse, something which is lacking from the book cover. My thought is that the publishers simply pulled elements from this poster for the cover seen on the edition of the book shown above, which would explain the difference from so many of Denslow's other covers.

A Valuable Life

1897's A Valuable Life by Adeline Sergeant is one of W. W. Denslow's more pictorial efforts for Rand McNally. The front cover shows a woman gazing from a window, but when the book is viewed in its entirety, she seems to be watching a ship burning at sea, with a lifeboat of survivors in the foreground.

There is a copy of this book with an alternative front cover design, a bouquet of lilies, using the same spine and rear cover. I don't know if both covers were put into general publication or not - this is the only copy I've run across!

Denslow Possibilities?

Here's another stock cover used by the publishers Donohue & Henneberry for a variety of titles. This cover intrigues me, as it it looks like it could be a W. W. Denslow design - but there's no definite indication. The design uses several common elements seen on Denslow covers - in particular, the band of color across the top and the repetition of a design element, laurel wreaths in this case. This cover was also produced in at least one other color combination. The image isn't signed, and there are aspects that don't look like Denslow to me - but it's fun to speculate and theorize!

This cover was used by Laird & Lee for a set of works by Opie Read. Here again, there are elements that make me think of Denslow, but there's nothing to firmly indicate that this is his work - and it does look a lot like many other stock book covers from the time. Denslow did do work for Laird & Lee, and this particular title has a halftone frontispiece by him - apparently earlier printings contained 4 plates.

Part of the fun of collecting is keeping an eye out for possibilities - these may both be wrong, but they are intriguing!