Leighton, John, designer

Style Publishers binding

Owner Author Bell, Robert

Title Golden Leaves from the Works of the Poets and Painters.

Date of Publication 1863 [1862] London

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John Leighton (1822-1912) was the most productive designer of bookbindings of the nineteenth century, his work spanning the years 1845-1902. His father and uncle were in business together as J. and J. Leighton, bookbinders, but John studied first as an artist, writing and illustrating a number of works under the pseudonym Luke Limner. The Great Exhibition of 1851 provided the opportunity for a wider range of work, and during the 1850s and 1860s he produced an astonishing number of binding designs while continuing to publish as an author and illustrator. In his later years he became interested in local government, and his last recorded work is a pamphlet of 1902, proposing improvements to the London underground system.(http://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/pr_leigh.html)