Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897, First Edition, Unique Jeweled Binding by Jamie Kamph

Binding Details: Dracula is a stunning unique binding by Jamie Kamph bound in full blood-red Harmatan goatskin with a goatskin with onlays of a wolf pack in grey leather, bats in purple leather, and gold-tooled garlic flowers. The bats have diamond eyes and the wolves have ruby eyes for a total gem weight of .780 karats.  There is gold gilt titling to the spine, red hand-sewn silk headbands, and Thai hand-marbled endpapers. The book is housed in a custom made red silk and Thai hand-marbled paper clamshell box with leather spine label representing a crypt and a bat.  The “cobwebs” are Remay fabric. The box is lined in same Thai hand-marbled paper as the books endpapers. Jamie Kamph’s Stonehouse Bindery gold gilted stamp appears on the bottom edge of the inside back cover.

In her artist statement, Jamie Kamph commenting on her design concept for Dracula wrote, “I wanted to avoid the clichéd black binding so often associated with the story of Dracula. Blood red seemed more appropriate. The wolves and bats are essential to the story, controlled to some extent by the garlic flower border. The use of gem quality stones for eyes does somehow increase the ferocity of the creatures.”

Included with the book is a signed artist statement by Jamie Kamph that contains information about the book and binding as well are her drawing that formed the basis for her binding.

Book Details:  The first edition points for Dracula are complex but most experts agree that the earliest printing of Dracula was issued on thick paper, contained a blank final leaf (391/392), and no terminal publisher's advertisements. Later issues of the first edition were printed on thinner paper, contain an advertisement for "Shoulder of Shasta" on the rear flyleaf, and included a 16 page publisher's catalog. Richard Dalby, in his 1983 bibliography of Stoker, states that "later issues of the first edition carry an advertisement for The Shoulder of Shasta on the rear flyleaf [392]" and that the "publishers cannot confirm any other points regarding status of the first issue, nor the exact publishing date." In the revised and expanded version of his bibliography published in 2004, he incorporated a variant that contains the points of thicker paper, a blank final leaf, and an eight-page terminal catalogue beginning with an advertisement for The Amazing Marriage by George Meredith, ending with one for The Whitehall Shakespeare, and carrying no mention of Dracula. This copy has the appropriate paper thickness, a blank final leaf (391/392), and does not contain the 16 page publisher's catalog but has the 8 page terminal catalogue mentioned above. The book measure approximately 7.875” x 5.5” with 390 pages.

About the Artist:  Jamie Kamph is an author, educator, book conservator, and artist widely recognized as one of most knowledgeable and accomplished bookbinders in the world. She began her career working with Hope G. Weil before opening her own studio, The Stonehouse Bindery, in 1973. Her writings on bookbinding have been widely published in magazines and she is the author of “A Collectors Guide to Bookbinding, published by in 1982 by the Bird and Bull Press and “Tricks of the Trade: Confessions of a Bookbinder”, published by the Oak Knoll Press in 2015. Her design bindings are housed in private collections and institutions worldwide including Princeton University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Pierpont Morgan Library, the New York Public Library, and the Bridwell Library at the University of Texas. Many of her other bindings have been widely exhibited in such places as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Grolier Club, Yale University, and the Aspen Art Institute. In 2003, she was awarded the Helen Ward DeGolyer Award for American Bookbinding. 

Condition Report:  Both the book and clamshell box are in FINE condition.

Photographs of the binding, clamshell box, and Jamie Kamph’s artist statement appear in the photo section of the listing.