Bookbinders' Union Banner

Description

A banner used to represent the Consolidated Bookbinders' Union featuring related imagery and mottos. Side 1: Two mustached gentlemen in white aprons shake hands with books placed near their feet. Above them, a white dove flies with an olive branch in its mouth and below them a book is displayed within an oval. The pair appear in a stage-like space framed by a stone arch supported by pairs of Corinthian columns with red curtains pulled aside. The symbols of the four provinces appear one in each corner of the banner, with the Dublin crest in the top centre framed by two garlands of roses, and the Irish crest held up by two dogs in the bottom centre, surrounded by a banderole. Side 2: In a central oval, a tonsured monk illuminates a manuscript while sitting in a carved wooden chair. Six bust-length portraits of men related to the literary industry in smaller ovals encircle him. The background is green, with insular-style zoomorphic interlace of birds in gold overlaying it.

Object Name(s): banners

Object Category: MISCELLANEOUS

Production date: 1887

Materials: canvas
Material Part: body

Credit Line: National Print Museum, Dublin

On view: x