JOHN MARKLE REPRESENTATIVE AMERICAN

New York: Leonard Scott Publication Co, 1929. No. 56 OF 300 COPIES. 260 x 182 mm. (10 1/8 x 7 1/8"). XIV, [2], 167, [1] pp.
LOVELY BLUE MOROCCO, GILT, BY STIKEMAN & CO. (stamp-signed in gilt on rear turn-in), covers with multiple straight and decorative rules, decorative cornerpieces, raised bands, compartments with central floral motif surrounded by foliate frame and double rules, gilt lettering, gilt ruled turn-ins, light blue watered silk pastedowns and endleaves, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Housed in a light blue cloth slipcase. With frontispiece and 23 plates, with original printed tissue guards. SIGNED by Markle on the limitations page, with an inscription (probably in a secretarial hand): To Karrick M. Castle / With my compliments. Spine very lightly sunned, hint of rubbing to corners, but in very fine condition inside and out.

This is a finely printed and beautifully bound biography of John Markle (1858-1953), one of the nation's most accomplished and affluent engineers and coal mining executives. His chief feat of engineering was the building of the Jeddo Tunnel in Pennsylvania, a drainage tunnel that expels mine water through five miles of solid rock. Under the influence of his friend J. P. Morgan, Markle became a prominent philanthropist, giving away more than $17 million to worthy causes through the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. During the period from the retirement of William Matthews to the establishment of the Club Bindery, there was no better binder in America than Henry Stikeman, who exhibited "extraordinary skill . . . in design, inlaying, and tooling." (Maser Collection) Stikeman's firm did high-end publisher's bindings as "bread and butter" work, and luxurious gilt-tooled bindings for collectors..