[FINE BINDING]
HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL. The Scarlet Letter. A Romance Literally Reprinted from the First Edition. New York: s.n., Privately Printed, 1904. "Unique Edition," one of 125 copies on Japan Imperial paper. Bound by Bradstreet's, finished by Alfred William Launder (signed "A. Launder" on the rear lower dentelle), full black morocco with onlays in Art Nouveau style in red, white and taupe, the last with a gilt seme of dots, framed with rules in gilt, the spine in six compartments, lettered in the second, the spine decoration echoing that of the covers; red morocco doublures with a central oval onlay of white morocco surrounded with radiating arch-shaped ornaments also in onlay, the red morocco with a seme of small floral tools, surrounded with a swagged onlay border in white overtooled with gilt; cream moire silk free endpapers; housed in the original brown morocco pull-off case. 10 1/8 x 6 3/4 inches (26 x 17.5 cm); [vi], 333, [1] pp.; 15 plates by A Robaudi and C. Graham, in colored state and in uncolored proof. Minute wear but a overall a very fine example of a major American fin-de-siècle bookbinding. Henry W. Poor's copy with his book label.

This work was bound by Alfred William Launder for Bradstreet's, and unusually is signed by him. Launder was a London bookbinder who emigrated to New York, after working as a finisher, first in his father's shop and later for the Mansell Bindery. He worked for the small fine bindery run by Bradstreet's, a firm that primarily specialized in the publication of reference books. Many of the leading collectors in New York used Bradstreet's services for fine bindings: Henry William Poor collected Launder's work, and he also bound for J.P. Morgan and others. Some of Launder's bindings for Poor are represented in Henri Pène Du Bois American Bookbindings in the Library of Henry William Poor. He later became the binding specialist for the Department of Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2017/alfred-launder.