L. Averill Cole Collection: Finding Aid mssCole
Gayle M. Richardson
The Huntington Library
December 2022
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: L. Averill Cole collection
Creator:
Cole, L. Averill
Identifier/Call Number: mssCole
Physical Description:
1.83 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1904-2015
Abstract: A collection of material related to L.
Averill Cole, American bookbinder.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. L. Averill Cole collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Kenneth Karmiole Bookseller, Inc., April 2015.
Custodial History
Transferred to Archival Processing Team, October 2022, formerly Rare Book call number:
645435.
Biographical / Historical
Louise Averill Taylor Cole (1880-1971) was born in Elmira, New York, the first child of
Frank Taylor and Lillie Bramhall Taylor. The Taylor family moved to San Francisco,
California, around 1883; soon after arriving in California, Frank and Lillie Taylor divorced
and Louise was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Elmira. Louise moved from New
York in about 1890 and, after an unhappy stay with her father in Washington State, moved
back to San Francisco in the mid-1890s; her mother had married Charles Melvin Cole in 1888,
and Louise took the name Louise Averill Cole. In the late 1890s, Louise traveled and studied
in Europe as she decided on a career in fine bookbinding. She studied first in Germany, and
then was accepted as a student in Brussels by Louis Jacobs and Joseph Hendricks. Louise left
Brussels in 1906 for London, where she taught bookbinding to various titled ladies; she
returned to the United States in 1908 to work for Houghton Mifflin, in charge of the
Riverside Press division for fine bindings. Louise Averill Cole married Gerald Shephard
Howland on October 31, 1913, in Belmont, Massachusetts; he was a printer by trade. During
the years of raising their two daughters Louise retired from her work as a bookbinder. The
couple lived in various Massachusetts towns before retiring to Santa Barbara, California, in
1948.
Scope and Contents
A collection of material related to the work of L. Averill Cole, an American bookbinder.
The collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, a volume, photographs, a prize medal,
ephemera, and scrapbooks. The correspondents include: Louis Jacobs, Robert J. Milevski,
George Wolfe Plank, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Sandra Howland Smith, and Marianne Tidcombe; the
correspondence also includes a small number of family-related letters. The collection also
includes research material on Cole collected by Robert J. Milevski, Sandra Howland Smith,
and Marianne Tidcombe. The volume was compiled by Sandra Howland Smith about her grandmother
entitled: "Selected Fine Bindings of L. Averill Cole, (1880-1971)."
Processing Information
Processed by Gayle M. Richardson in December 2022.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Separated Materials
Forms part of L. Averill Cole Bookbinding Collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bookbinding
Embossed bindings
Fine bindings
Leather bindings (Bookbinding)
Women bookbinders
Ephemera
Letters (correspondence)
Manuscripts
Photographs
Prize medal
Scrapbooks
Jacobs, Louis, active 1890-1918
Milevski, Robert
J.
Plank, George
Rosenbach, A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf), 1876-1952
Smith, Sandra Howland
Tidcombe, Marianne
Correspondence, manuscripts, volume, medal, ephemera, and
scrapbooks
1904-2015
Physical Description: 1.83 Linear
Feet(2 boxes)
Scope and Contents
This series includes correspondence, manuscripts, a volume, photographs, a prize medal,
ephemera, and scrapbooks.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Box 1, Folder 1
L. Averill Cole letter to Lillie Taylor Cole
1929 June
Scope and Contents
Written on six postcards; Lillie T. Cole, L. Averill Cole's mother, was known by the
name Donna Rita or Don.
Box 1, Folder 2
L. Averill Cole postcard. Brussels, to May Bramhall Foster
1906 April 24
Box 1, Folder 3
L. Averill Cole letter to A. S. W. Rosenbach
1928 March 14
Scope and Contents
Also with letter: draft copy of the letter, autograph and printed notes.
Box 1, Folder 4
L ' Ecole de Reliure: graduation diploma for L. Averill Cole for study with
Joseph Hendricks
1905 December 31
Box 1, Folder 5
L ' Ecole de Reliure: graduation diploma for L. Averill Cole for study with
Louis Jacobs
1906 January 15
Box 1, Folder 6
Louis Jacobs L. Averill Cole in Jacobs' studio, Brussels: two
photographs
approximately 1904
Box 1, Folder 7
Louis Jacobs Leather monograms, with gold inlay
approximately 1906
Scope and Contents
Also enclosed: autograph note, 1969.
Box 1, Folder 8
Louis Jacobs Thank you note in the form of an illuminated manuscript, sent to
L. Averill Cole for care packages sent during World War I
approximately 1918
Box 1, Folder 9
Robert J. Milevski The Extra Binding Operation at the Riverside Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: talk
2008 February
Box 1, Folder 10
Robert J. Milevski correspondence with Sandra Howland Smith
2006-2008
Scope and Contents
Also includes: photocopies of L. Averill Cole letters.
Box 1, Folder 11
Robert J. Milevski L. Averill Cole: research photocopies
2003-2008
Box 1, Folder 12
George Wolfe Plank letters to L. Averill Cole
1913 October
Scope and Contents
With envelopes; also, six small prints.
Box 1, Folder 13
The Rosenbach Company letters to L. Averill Cole
1928 March-October
Scope and Contents
With envelope; signed by Percy E. Lawler and A.S.W. Rosenbach.
Box 1, Folder 14
Sandra Howland Smith L. Averill Cole Biographical Notes
2015
Box 1, Folder 15
Sandra Howland Smith Selected Fine Bindings of L. Averill Cole (1880-1971):
bound volume
2012
Box 1, Folder 16
Marianne Tidcombe correspondence with Sandra Howland Smith
1993-1995
Scope and Contents
With envelopes and research photocopies.
Box 1, Folder 17
University of California, Santa Barbara, letter to Gerald S. Howland and L.
Averill Cole Howland
1961 May 12
Scope and Contents
Signed by: Donald C. Davidson, University Librarian.
Box 1, Folder 18
University of Kentucky, Lexington, letter to L. Averill Cole
Howland
1953 April 16
Scope and Contents
Signed by: Lawrence S. Thompson, Director of Libraries.
Box 1, Folder 19
Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, gold medal for bindings: framed
gold medal
1915
Box 1, Folder 20
Ephemera: L. Averill Cole bookplate, autograph note, exhibition invitation,
photocopy of marriage certificate, printed material
undated
Box 2, Volume 1
Scrapbook, brown leather, 3-ring binder
1910-1913
Scope and Contents
Clippings, photographs, printed material; some items pasted down but majority have
come loose and are only laid into scrapbook.
Box 2, Volume 2
Scrapbook, brown leather, bound volume
1911-1954
Scope and Contents
Inscribed: To Mother, with dearest love Averill, Sept. 1911. Photographs of bindings,
autograph notes, clippings, and printed proofs; some items loose and laid into
scrapbook.
