Makers of Venice

I guess what caught my eye at first glance when I spotted this book was the beautiful binding, and that the gold leafing is on all corners of the pages.  



A lovely scroll design in gold and an illustration are on the front of the book, and the binding.  I love the way gold looks against the deep navy blue cover.

"Venice has long borne in the imagination of the world a distinctive position, something of the character of a great enchantress, a magician of the seas.  Her growth between the water and the sky; her great palaces, solid and splendid, built, so to speak, on nothing; the wonderful glory of light and reflection about her; the glimmer of incessant brightness and movement; the absence of all these harsh, artificial sounds which vex the air in other towns, but which in her are replace by harmonies of human voices, and by the liquid tinkle of the waves...all these unusual characteristics combine to make her a wonder and a prodigy."

This book was written by Mrs. Oliphant.  Mrs. Oliphant first published The Makers of Venice in 1887. Margaret Oliphant (née Wilson) was born in Wallyford, near Edinburgh, on April 4, 1828.



I love to visualize where an author might have written a book.  I found a wonderful site that shows where she lived and gives photographs of her homes.



Mrs. Oliphant was quite an interesting person, and has quite an impressive body of work.  A list of her non-fictional works and fictional novels, as well as her journalism can be found on her web site.



Published in New York  by A.L. Burt Publisher. Written by Mrs.Oliphant
and illustrated by R. R. Holmes 1900






Table of Contents


I. The Doges.
II. By sea and land.
III. The painters.
IV. Men of letters.



The book contains 382 pages, filled with gorgeous black and white illustration plates.



A dark blue hard cover with gold gilt lettering and design.



There is a photograph of Leonardo Loredango at the front of the book.  Leonardo Loredan (or Loredano) (November 16, 1436 – June 21, 1521) was the doge of the Republic of Venice from 1501 until his death, in the course of the War of the League of Cambrai.



The book is in my etsy shop, For The Love of Old Books.




The song for this post is an Instrumental by Angels of Venice.