Robert Grier Cooke, Inc

I was pleased to be able to acquire recently this vellum bound copy of Three Masques by Ben Jonson, published by Robert Grier Cooke of New York in 1903. It is one of 26 copies which have hand-illuminated chapter initial letters, and hand-illuminated title page. The illumination was done by William Cushing Bamburgh, who also wrote the preface. To hand-illuminate 26 copies of this book must have been a real labour of love!











Robert Grier Cooke is a new name to me. He was president of the Grafton press before setting up his own publishing business in New York, which appears to have been fairly short-lived. Can anyone add any more information about this publisher?

This doesn't add much about the man but still I think it's an interesting tidbit - https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record?libID=o4....

>1 edgeworn: Well that's pretty spectacular. I'm a sucker for limp vellum bindings.

>1 edgeworn:

It's too bad it's such a small limitation. I see some "regular" copies around but less drool worthy. 🤤

>2 AMindForeverVoyaging: Very interesting. Clearly a man with connections!
>3 kdweber: Me too. The only issue for me is that vellum seems to be a magnet for grease and dirt, and can look very soiled. I was fortunate in this case that the covers were in such good condition.
>4 MobyRichard: I was very lucky to come across this copy at a 'Don't Hesitate, Just Buy Me' price. (Doesn't usually work like that for me.) I do wonder how economic it was to produce 26 hand-illuminated copies of this book.