Design

Everyone judges a book by it’s cover, and Fine Arts Press Books are no exception. In fact, it could be said that they, more than most books, are judged by their covers and end papers. The featured edition of 1601 has been rebound at least once, though remnants of the original cover remain on the spine: a deep, sultry red with the title in gold accents. 

None of the design elements were chosen by Mark Twain. Instead, the design for the first edition was chosen by Alexander Gunn.[1] In 1880, John Hay, who would later become the Secretary of State, announced 1601 as a “masterpiece” after Twain gave him the script.[2] Hay then sent it to Gunn, who printed the first issue in pamphlet form with no covers or wrappers. Only four copies were made, and it wasn’t until 1882 at West Point, New York that the pamphlet would become a book.

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Charles Erskine Scott Wood, a lieutenant at the military academy, claimed that Twain told him he could “do as he liked,” so long as Twain was given the necessary amount of copies.[3] It was Wood and a foreman named Tucker who would print the book in it’s Elizabethan script: black letter gothic and substituting ‘the’ for the dated ‘ye.’ In a foreword written for a special edition of 1601 printed by the Grabhorn Press, Wood writes that “The only editing I did was as to the spelling and a few old English words introduced….[Twain] was greatly pleased with the results.”[4] Fifty copies of this edition were made.

The edition featured here is likely a second or third edition, one printed after the West Point edition. Printed on hand-laid, textured paper, this 1601 is an incredible example of Gothic Revivalism that was popular during the early 1900s. It even features a woodcut of the supposed author – the Cupbearer – on the page opposite the frontispiece, a design feature often attributed to books in the 17th century. The pages are deckled as well, and there are some pages, both before and after the text, that remain uncut, signaling the organic quality of the ARCHES paper. The book is doing everything it can to look as if it were printed straight from the Elizabethan period, and is a great example on how the text can directly influence a book’s design. 

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References: 

[1]Twain, Mark. "Mark Twain's [Date 1601.] Conversation as It Was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors: Embellished with an Illuminating Introduction, Fac." Archive.org. May 24, 2012. Accessed December 03, 2018. https://archive.org/details/marktwainsdate1600twai/page/n7.

[2]Ibid.

[3]Ibid.

[4]Ibid.