This is the supreme Book Beautiful or Ideal Book, a dream, a symbol of the infinitely beautiful in which all things of beauty rest and into which all things of beauty do ultimately merge.
¶ The Book Beautiful, then, should be conceived of as a whole, & the self-assertion of any Art beyond the limits imposed by the conditions of its creation should be looked upon as an Act of Treason. The proper duty of each Art within such limits is to co-operate with all the other arts, similarly employed, in the production of something which is distinctly Not-Itself. The wholeness, symmetry, harmony, beauty without stress or strain, of the Book Beautiful, would then be one in principle with the wholeness, symmetry, harmony, and beauty without stress or strain, of that WHOLE OF LIFE WHICH IS CONSTITUTED OF OURSELVES & THE WORLD, THAT COMPLEX AND MARVELLOUS WHOLE WHICH, AMID THE STRIFE OF COMPETITIVE FORCES, SUPREMELY HOLDS ITS OWN, AND IN THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE WRITES, UPON THE ILLUMINED PAGES OF THE DAYS, THE VOLUMES OF THE CENTURIES, & THROUGH THE INFINITUDES OF TIME & SPACE MOVES RHYTHMICALLY ONWARD TO THE FULL DEVELOPMENT OF ITS ASTONISHING STORY THE TRUE ARCHETYPE OF ALL BOOKS BEAUTIFUL OR SUBLIME.
This Tract, written by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, was printed by him & Emery Walker at The Doves Press and finished Oct. 19, 1900. Compositor J. H. Mason. Pressman H. Gage-Cole. Sold at The Doves Press.