Vintage Halloween Covers
Vintage Spooky Bindings for Halloween
Cobwebbed Clothbound Classics
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A few days ago I posted a bunch of spooky contemporary special editions, and today I wanted to balance that with some beautiful vintage editions with 10 gorgeous Hallowe'eny bindings. Treasures where gilt spiderwebs catch the light, witches fly across the sky, and creepy bats peer at you from the margins.
I do have lots of vintage decorative Victorian and Edwardian bindings that I never seem to get around to posting. So I’m thinking of making this a cozy annual tradition and adding new titles each year, building a fun gallery of spooky, beautiful bindings over time. (I've previously shared some of my favourite witchy picture books and Folio Society titles in this vein if you'd like more titles in the meantime.)
If you think this would be valuable, or if you have a beloved cobwebby cover to share, please mention your favorites in the comments or drop me a note – I’d love to consider them for the next edition.
Vintage Halloween Bindings
The Blue Fairy Book - Andrew Lang
Longmans, Green & Co, London (1889).
The best known collection in Andrew Lang's collection of famous Rainbow Fairy Books, this first edition has a delightfully sinister witch flying on her broomstick across a starry night sky.
Trilby - George du Maurier
Harper & Brothers, New York (1895).
In bohemian Paris, artist’s model Trilby O’Ferrall falls under the hypnotist Svengali’s control, becomes a celebrated singer, and pays a tragic price when his spell breaks.
Another Margaret Armstrong cover, this one references the plot with its book, quill, and artist’s palette. The winged heart caught in a spider’s web symbolises Svengali ensnaring Trilby.
The Tyranny of the Dark - Hamlin Garland
Harper & Brothers, New York (1905).
In bohemian Paris, artist’s model Trilby O’Ferrall falls under the hypnotist Svengali’s control, becomes a celebrated singer, and pays a tragic price when his spell breaks.
This creepy cover features bound hands and a huge bat in front of a full moon.
Blackstone’s Secrets of Magic - Harry Blackstone
George Sully & Co, New York (1929).
Known as “The Great Blackstone,” Harry Blackstone was one of the most influential American magicians of the early twentieth century.
This cover is a lot of fun, with the beckoning skeleton peering out from bat-festooned curtains.
A Book of Spiders - William Bristowe
King Penguin K35, (1947).
The 24 color plates in this volume were taken from previously unpublished spider drawings by A. T. Hollick. Despite being a very slim text, it actually scored a review in Nature magazin. However, many readers were nervous about picking up a book full of spider pictures, and it ended up being heavily remaindered.
The front and back covers were designed by Mary W. Duncan.
Death in the Pot - Fredrick Accum
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York (1906).
The full title of this book is actually A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons, exhibiting the fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustards, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and other Articles employed in domestic economy, and Methods of detecting them. It was essentially a chemistry textbook for checking if food had been adulterated.
The macabre cover in sickly green features a snakely border surrounding a spider eating a fly. It's crowned by crowned by a skull and a warning from the Old Testament that “There is Death in the Pot.” This line actually became a bit of a public health catch-cry in the 1800s due to the popularity of this title!
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