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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1925

  • Work on this object began.

2020

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Book, Frontispiece of The Anatomy of Melancholy

This is a Book. It was illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer and published by Nonesuch Press.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Grace Schulman as part of Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

It is dated 1925. Its medium is letterpress. It is a part of the department.

Kauffer proposed that Francis Meynell publish an illustrated edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy, a satirical yet serious study of melancholy as the root of all human thought and emotion. The text was described by one critic as the favorite book of “moody men.” Meynell half-joked that Kauffer had contracted melancholy from the book. Though he missed nearly a year of deadlines, Kauffer produced 150 line drawings for the publication.

It is credited Grace Schulman.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D (open and on mount): 20.3 × 35.6 × 31.1 cm (8 in. × 14 in. × 12 1/4 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805154/ |title=Book, Frontispiece of The Anatomy of Melancholy |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=21 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>