#Shakespeare400 writ small… exquisitely small!
The Yale Center for British Art celebrates its grand reopening on May 11th, and this summer it will offer a marvelous exhibition: “The Poet of Them All”: William Shakespeare and Miniature Designer Binding from the Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert. Nearly one hundred exquisitely bound miniature editions of plays, sonnets, and books inspired by Shakespeare—each measuring three inches high or less and selected from the singular collection of Neale and Margaret Albert—will be on display. The exhibition includes miniature editions of Shakespeare’s works published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by William Pickering, Knickerbocker Press, and others, all bound with artistic designer bindings commissioned by Neale Albert during the past decade. Today, in celebration of #Shakespeare400, we honor the Bard with a selection of images from this wildly imaginative collection.
Brush Up Your Shakespeare (New York: Piccolo Press, 2009), linen-covered box by Yehuda Miklaf for his bound copy of the book, 2010, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Timon of Athens; Coriolanus; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra (vol. VII) from The Plays of Shakespeare (London: William Pickering, 1825), bound by James Reid-Cunningham, 2011, in pierced-vellum binding with goatskin spine, gold lettering on goatskin strap, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Julius Caesar from Shakespeare’s Works (New York: Knickerbocker Leather and Novelty Company, ca. 1910), bound by Santiago Brugalla, 2004, in goatskin with tooling and miniature hand-painted portrait medallions on front and back covers by John Hodgson, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Shakespeare to Music (Huddersfield, West Yorkshire: Final Score, 2011), printed and bound by Stephen Byrne, in black leather with inset embroidered panel by Marian Byrne, illustrated by Marian Byrne, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Brush Up Your Shakespeare (New York: Piccolo Press, 2009), bound by Eri Funazaki, 2013, in transparent vellum over full calfskin, with box covered in full calfskin with onlay of two figures, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
King Henry IV, Part 1 from Shakespeare’s Works (New York: Knickerbocker Leather and Novelty Company, ca. 1910), bound by George Kirkpatrick, 2007, in leather with embossed silver covers, shown with casket enclosure made of resin, board, and leather, with paint and gold tooling, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare’s Works (New York: Knickerbocker Leather and Novelty Company, ca. 1910), bound by Paul Delrue, 2005, in multicolored goatskin with goatskin onlays, shown with box, Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert
Available now! The Poet of Them All: William Shakespeare and Miniature Designer Bindings from the Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert by Elisabeth R. Fairman; With an essay by James Reid-Cunningham.
