Title
Henri Hardy Papers, 1746-1946.
Description
Henri Hardy (1854-1945) was one of a few classically trained French bookbinders brought to New York City in the 1890s to produce fine bindings for the Club Bindery (1895-1909), a venture founded by Robert Hoe and Edwin B. Holden to elevate the standards of bookbinding in America. This large scrapbook was received by the Grolier Club Library in 2012 as part of a gift of artwork, ephemera, and photographs donated by Hardy’s family. It contains clippings from contemporary magazines gathered by Hardy for inspiration as well as drawings for bookbinding designs, like this sketch for a prayer book. On a preliminary leaf of the scrapbook, the binder has penned a warning to the reader: “As I consider this book like a part of myself! Don’t mutilate or remove anything.
Source
Gift of Henri Plant, 2012