(c) 2010 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Agnes St. John

active Boston, 1890 - 1929

BiographySt. John, Agnes
See also sources for Miss St. John's partner Mary Crease Sears. Swift says
that Miss St. John first took "a three years' course in design at the School of Industrial Arts in Philadelphia," after which "For a while she studied with a famous pupil of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson before starting for Paris." (p. 437).
The implication that this original binding instruction was in Philadelphia is not made specific; but if it was, then the unnamed teacher was presumably Elizabeth G. Marot, the main direct Cobden-Sanderson student associated with that city. In Paris, St. John "arranged to study with Gruel's head assistant, M. Provost, a wonderfully able man, who, as a perquisite for long service, was allowed to give private lessons several evenings in each week."
(ibid.) She also, predictably, studied with Jules Domont. After 1929 Miss
Sears worked alone; we may presume that Miss St. John died or perhaps
retired in that year. Miss St. John was never a member of the Guild of Book Workers.
Swift, Claire Coburn. "The Fine Art of Bookbinding." The Outlook (October
24, 1908), p. 433-40.

Person TypeIndividual

Last Updated8/7/24

Terms