Conference on Bibliography held at florence, September, 1896

F. C.
1896 Library  
As has been already said, the special feature of the work of the younger Whittingham was his beautiful press-work and decorations. Some of his earlier borders were designed for him by Mr. J. A. Montague; most of his later ones by his daughters, Charlotte and Elizabeth Eleanor Whittingham, Mary Byfield engraving almost all of them. The models chosen for their designs were almost exclusively from the French books of the early years of the sixteenth century, including those of Geoffrey Tory, of
more » ... rges, not, as Mr. Warren calls him, " of Bruges," a slip for which we fancy he must be indebted to Dibdin. It is possible to think that this French renaissance work was hardly worth such assiduous imitation, and that Whittingham would have done better if he had gone to Italy for at least some of his models. But for-its day it was certainly a great advance on the work of his competitors, and nephew as well as uncle deserved well of every English speaking book-lover. In bringing out the biographies of these two men, the Grolier Club has more than sustained its high reputation for securing beautiful work ; and the illustrations are as excellently printed as they are numerous. Our only regret is that the Club should nave allowed such a work to go forth without an index I
doi:10.1093/library/s1-8.1.565 fatcat:mcfkc4wmqrcwhjujiqrivegn2u