An occasional newsletter about forthcoming books and events
 

September 2022

In this newsletter . . .

designer bindings of Lowlands Away and The Phoenix

sheets for binding are available for A Long Story

. . . and the Hand Bookbinders of California

For their fiftieth anniversary, the Hand Bookbinders of California adopted our Lowlands Away as their set book for binding and we provided sets of sheets to them. The book's text was the libretto of an oratorio, taking the form of a set of poems, illustrated by Henri's own pastel drawings. (Some copies are still available.)

Seventeen binders offered bindings for the exhibition and catalogue, details of which can be found at their website. One of them was by Robin Brandes. Robin describes it thus: 'Cover illustration archival pigment printed on cotton vellum laminated with abaca. Spine covered in dark blue Harmatan goat leather. Endbands and leather hinges made with dark blue Harmatan goat leather. Doublures and flyleaves painted with acrylics on abaca. Endsheets painted with acrylics on handmade St. Armand Old Masters paper.'

Her interpretation hinges on the text of one of Adrian Henri's poems: 'The tattered sail during a grave storm suggests the dark dreamy moments before the message in a bottle, “Farewell to all we love: last clinging barnacles of hope; …” written by the Captain of the Cynthia sailing barge entrusted to the sea and “lost in the vague play of the waves.” '

Here is one of Adrian Henri's dramatic images from the book. Sadly, he was very ill at the time, working on them in hospital, and died before he was able to complete all of the images.

. . . and a designer binding by Lester Capon

Designer bookbinder Lester Capon recently sent me a photograph of his second binding of The Phoenix which we published in 2002 (out of print).

The text was a translation from the Latin of a poem by Lactantius, printed from calligraphy, with six striking pochoir images by Peter Allen.

Lester describes it thus: 'It's bound in 'pierced' vellum with underlays of painted hand made paper, tooled in coloured foils and gold leaf. Titled in gold leaf on a multi coloured goatskin spine.'

This is one of the images that Peter Allen prepared and executed for the book:

Sheets are available for binders

We are making a batch of sets of sheets of our book A Long Story available to binders.

The text is a four-part narrative poem by one-time Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, each part accompanied by a fine wood engraving by Simon Brett, one of which you can see below.

You can read the full details of the book at our website, but in brief there are four sections each of six leaves. The sheets come folded and gathered, with notes to guide the trimming. The paper is a heavy Magnani and the text is printed in Fournier italic.

Sheets as well as bound copies are on sale at our online shop for £50 and £72 each respectively, plus shipping.

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Copyright © Martyn Ould 2022