Joseph Cundall was a bookseller, publisher, editor, and designer whose efforts in the publishing industry resulted in some of the most attractive and well-designed children's books and gift books of the mid- to late-nineteenth century. Though there are few published writings, and only one book-length study of Cundall's contributions to the publishing industry, his work deserves much greater attention. This paper expands upon Ruari McLean's profile of Cundall in his A Victorian Publisher , and offers an extremely detailed analysis of two of his most beautiful gift books, Songs, Madrigals and Sonnets and A Book of Favourite Modern Ballads . This paper asks the question of what makes a book designer, while trying to ascertain the extent of Cundall's editorial and aesthetic contributions to the two gift books being discussed. Attention is paid to a variety of interdisciplinary, yet very related areas of concern, specifically Victorian print technology and culture, trends in Victorian book design, relevant historical and concurrent Victorian art movements, and the practical aspects of historical and current traditions in the design of books.
