Search

  • Articles
  • Catalog
  • Databases
  • Journals
  • UWDC
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Accounts & Lists
  • Libraries
  • UW–Madison
  • Give
  • Help
  • Website Search

schedule

Next available on Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Additional Options

  • smartphone Call / Text
  • voice_chat Consultation Appointment
  • place Visit
  • email Email

  • Business Library
  • College Library (Undergraduate)
  • Ebling Library (Health Sciences)
  • Gender and Women's Studies Librarian
  • Information School Library (Information Studies)
  • Law Library (Law)
  • Memorial Library (Humanities & Social Sciences)
  • MERIT Library (Education)
  • Steenbock Library (Agricultural & Life Sciences, Engineering)
  • Ask a Librarian Hours & Policy
  • Library Research Tutorials

Search the for
  • Articles Find articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, and more
  • Catalog Explore books, music, movies, and more
  • Databases Locate databases by title and description
  • Journals Find journal titles
  • UWDC Discover digital collections, images, sound recordings, and more
  • Website Find information on spaces, staff, services, and more

language Website Search

Find information on spaces, staff, and services.

  • ASK a Librarian
  • Library by Appointment
  • Locations & Hours
  • Resources by Subject

book Catalog Search

Search the physical and online collections at UW-Madison, UW System libraries, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Advanced Search
  • Browse by...
  • WorldCat

collections_bookmark Database Search

Find databases subscribed to by UW-Madison Libraries, searchable by title and description.

  • Browse by Subject/Type
  • Introductory Databases
  • Top 10 Databases

article Journal Search

Find journal titles available online and in print.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Browse by Subject / Title
  • BrowZine
  • Citation Search

description Article Search

Find articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, and more.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Citation Search
  • Library Databases

collections UW-Digitized Collections Search

Discover digital objects and collections curated by the UW-Digital Collections Center.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Browse Collections
  • Browse UWDC Items
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Libraries
    • UW Home
    • My UW
    • Email/Calendar
    • Canvas
    • Box
    • Google Apps
    • Sign in
      • Loans & Requests
      • Lists
      • Poster Printing
      • Account Details
      • Archives and Special Collections Requests
      • Library Room Reservations
  • Help
  • Give

Search the UW-Madison Libraries

  • Articles
  • Catalog
  • Databases
  • Journals
  • UWDC

Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books

In September 2003, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, in partnership with the University of Alabama, University Libraries, received an IMLS National Leadership grant to create the digital resource, Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO).

All academic libraries have within their holdings books bound in 19th century decorative bindings. These materials are significant in their place within the fabric of American history and culture, but efforts to present these bindings in a collection that is representative of the era as a whole and to make them available virtually, via the World Wide Web have been limited.

PBO, a significant digital collection of decorative bindings, will strengthen the growing interest in and create broader awareness for this "common" object called the book.

Decorative bindings cover many of the books that people have in their homes today, but their owners are often unaware of their cultural and historical significance. These bindings reflect not only social and cultural history, but bibliographic history as well.

PBO expands awareness of the book as artifact and of the role decorative bindings play in providing a window into historical, cultural, and industrial period of 1815-1930. This project increases the awareness of the general public about the importance of publishers' bindings as reflections of historical events, art movements, and the evolution of commercial binderies.

The project will also afford students, teachers, binders, and scholars in many different areas the opportunity to study up to 5,000 decorative bindings from two different physical collections in a single, virtual location.

One can look upon this project as developing a model that other repositories can use with their own collections. PBO greatly broadens a relatively unexplored scholarly field. This resource will encourage interested parties to look at their own collections, and to gain an understanding of design movements and trends both within the United States as well as abroad, comparable to Jugendstil in Germany, Art Nouveau in France, Arts and Crafts in England, and Glasgow School in Scotland.

Additional resources and scholarship were part of a previous website maintained for this project from 2003 until 2018. Essays, resources and other information from that archived site can be visited from the following pages: Teaching Tools and Lesson Plans, Research Tools and Bibliographic Resources, Galleries & Essays Index, and the original Credits for the project.

Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books

In September 2003, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, in partnership with the University of Alabama, University Libraries, received an IMLS National Leadership grant to create the digital resource, Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO). All academic libraries have within their holdings books bound in 19th cent…
Image Source: Detail from the cover of A Boy's Battle from 1898.

Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books Sample items in the collection

  • Oriental acquaintance; or, Letters from Syria
  • Cane
  • The impending crisis of the South : how to meet it
  • The bishop of Cottontown : a story of the southern cotton mills
  • Reflections on the death of a porcupine and other essays
  • The life of Nancy
  • Trinity bells : a tale of old New York
  • Margaret Montfort
  • His soul goes marching on
  • Molly Brown's junior days
  • My moving tent
  • Jahrbuch der Buchbinder-Innung zu Leipzig
  • Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
  • Luther College through sixty years : 1861-1921
  • Yama : the pit
  • launch Search or browse the collection
  • This compilation (including design, introductory text, organization, and descriptive material) is copyrighted by University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.

    This copyright is independent of any copyright on specific items within the collection. Because the University of Wisconsin Libraries generally do not own the rights to materials in these collections, please consult copyright or ownership information provided with individual items.

    Images, text, or other content downloaded from the collection may be freely used for non-profit educational and research purposes, or any other use falling within the purview of "Fair Use".

    In all other cases, please consult the terms provided with the item, or contact the Libraries.

Permalink

https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/PBO

Copied!

Related content

  • The Arts Collection
  • Decorative Arts and Material Culture
  • German Decorative Trade Bindings
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections

Libraries

  • Accessibility
  • Copyright Statement
  • Policies
  • contact_mailContact Us

Feedback, questions, or accessibility issues: libraries@wisc.edu

Support Libraries volunteer_activism
Privacy Notice | © Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Keyboard Shortcuts

Close

Available anywhere

?
Shortcut help message
s
Highlight search box
esc
Close dialog

Available in search results

n
Next page
p
Previous page
f
Toggle filters
1-5
Open nth result on page