Via the contact form:

I am researching a series of books written by George Sand that were produced as limited editions by The De Vinne Press for George H. Richmond Co. between 1893 and 1897. Contemporary advertising indicates that the books in the set were limited to 750 copies each on Windsor paper. The copy I have of Fadette has a beautiful pictorial cover of a group of iris in gold on black cloth — it is very unusual — as it looks engraved and definitely has raised and sunken portions to it — almost as if the cloth had been carved. I would like to try to find out the method by which this dimensionality in the binding design was achieved as well as who designed the binding. For this, I assume I would have to have access to the De Vinne production records if they still exist.

My question is for [Theodore Low De Vinne biographer] Irene Tichenor: could she tell me if the De Vinne production records still exist and if I might be allowed access and how? Or if she is familiar with the De Vinne productions I am talking about and knows how these bindings were produced and who designed them, might she tell me?  I appreciate your time very much.
Kind Regards,
Adrienne Kitts
Austin Abbey Rare Books

Note that the leaves and the iris flowers themselves are sunken and the cloth of the leaves is quite smooth with no visible grain. The grain of the cloth is however, visible beneath the gilt used for the flower heads. I’m guessing that the heating(?) process by which the leaves were made fused the cloth and gave it a darker finish than the surrounding cloth that was not pressed. The background cloth that was not pressed is diagonally ribbed.