Born: 1853, United Kingdom
Died: 1933
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: NA
Sarah Prideaux was a bookbinder, teacher, historian and author of books about binding and illustration. Along with Katharine Adams (one of her students, and a close friend) and Sybil Pye, she was one of the noted women bookbinders of the period.
In 1888, at age 35 she started learning bookbinding, later studying in Paris. For several years she experimented, wrote articles and produced bound books inspired by Art Nouveau designs, with her work shown in various exhibits. By 1894, bindings bearing her signature were of professional quality. It has since been discovered that although she designed the bindings, selected the leather and marbled endpapers to a very detailed specification, the actual bookbinding was carried out by a French tradesman, Lucien Broca, and possibly others under her name. More than 276 books were bound and published under her signature.
As an expert on the history of bookbinding, Prideaux taught, lectured, and wrote reviews and articles for journals and magazines throughout the 1890s. These articles were collected and published as Bookbinders and their Craft. Her other books included Modern Bookbindings Their Design and Decoration and Aquatint Engraving A Chapter in the History of Book Illustration. She served as one of the directors of the Women’s Printing Society.