Guild of Women Binders.- Watts (Alaric A.) Lyrics of the Heart: with other poems, half-title, engraved illustrations, final errata / advertisement f., stunning green crushed morocco by The Guild of Women Binders, signed 'Guild of Women Binders' in gilt to foot of front free endpaper, covers elaborately decorated with deep red (small circles and crescent shapes forming heart-shaped corner-pieces), deep pink, citron, green, and brown inlays and onlays, richly gilt with numerous small hearts and areas of stippled decoration, spine in six compartments, five of which with central stippled decoration within a border of deep red inlaid morocco circles and crescent shapes, the other compartment with title directly lettered in gilt, raised bands with central single inlaid deep red morocco circle, inner covers with central frame of inlaid chestnut morocco and semé with stylised gilt flowers on swirling stems and leaves of single gilt filet outlines semé with dots, all within a delicate art nouveau style gilt frame and outer single gilt filet border, vellum endpapers with small gilt heart in each corner recto, housed in a modern dark green morocco-backed buckram drop-back box, gilt spine in compartments, 8vo (binding 201 x 141mm.), Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1851.

⁂ A simply stunning binding by The Guild of Women Binders. The Guild was founded in 1898 by the London bookseller and founder of The Hampstead Bindery Frank Karslake to teach the craft to other women and market their bindings. Karslake hosted the Guild's first 'Exhibition of Artistic Bookbinding by Women' at his shop, which ran from November 1897 to February 1898. The Guild came to an end in 1904.