Will BRADLEY (binding designer). – Edmond ROSTAND. Cyrano de Bergerac. NY: [copyright 1899].

Will BRADLEY (1868-1962, binding designer). – Edmond ROSTAND (1868-1918). Cyrano de Bergerac : an heroic comedy in five acts translated from the French of Edmond Rostand by Charles Renauld; with an introduction by Adolphe Cohn. New York: Frederick A Stokes Company, [copyright 1899]. Octavo (7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches; 184 x 121mm). Pp. [i-]iv-xviii; [1-]2- 214. 7 half-tone plates. Light orange cloth, upper cover blocked in black with a design incorporating theater masks, a sword, candles, gloves, a lyre and a large leaf along with title and author all within double borders,  the spine blocked in black with title, author, publisher, sword and theater masks, the upper cover signed ‘B [Will Bradley] in the upper right corner. Condition of binding: upper cover clean and bright, the spine bumped at head and foot [see images], the lower cover lightly soiled.

Provenance: Dr. Marjorie Lord Knauth (nee Strauss, 1897-1969, inscribed ‘Marjorie Lord Strauss / Dec 1912 / Ct’)

Reference: American decorated publishers' bindings 1872-1929, p. 87 ; Publishers' bindings online, 1815-1930 : the art of books (see online); A. Bambage ‘Will Bradley: his work’ [Oak Knoll; 1995] A46