The Envelope Booklets of T.N. Foulis - Jonkers Rare Books

We love these little "Envelope Booklets" produced by Edinburgh based publisher T.N. Foulis (pronounced Fool-iss). As the name suggests they were designed to be popped inside an envelope and sent as gifts - some of them even came with a wraparound envelope attached.

 

Isabella, or the Pot of Basil booklet in it's original envelope

The booklet perfectly protected by the envelope

The little volumes of poetry are generally between 6 and 7 inches tall with decorative paper or japon covers, although some were also issued in limp suede bindings, usually with images or lettering blind stamped. The covers are often very elaboarate, many drawn by Scottish artists like Jessie M King, Annie French and Katharine Cameron.

Two bindings variants for Kilmeny

Suede binding and pictorial binding design for Rubaiyat by Jessie M. King

Internally the colour plates are frequently not provided by the cover artist, although Jessie M. King did produce drawings for James Hogg's Kilmeny and John Keats' Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.

 Jessie M. King title page and frontispiece for Isabella

Many of the colour plates are by fairly well known artists including, W.Russell Flint, William Hatherell and Harry Rountree.

The booklets contain selections of poetry and were split into series, with appealing titles such as, friendship booklets, garden lover's booklets, open-air booklets and the London series. The selection below are all designed by Jessie M King.

What perfect little gifts to receive in the post!