librarycompany:

The most recent addition to our ever-growing collection of papier mâché bindings, this copy of Friendship’s Token is bound in embossed leather with a painted “mâché centre.” 

Papier mâché was used for decorative bindings in America only briefly, from about 1850-1855. However, we think the painted image here is of the SS Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold, which sank in 1857, dating this binding to a little later. To see more of our collection, check out our Flickr page!.  To see more of our collection, check out our Flickr page!

Friendship’s Token. New York: Leavitt & Allen, n.d.